Nano
procrastination symphony
Lore/Legends:
Kitsune - The first kitsune was born when a fox was blessed by the goddess Inari after keeping its promise of abstaining from eating or attacking humans for 1000 days and helping any humans that requested its help. The kitsune was then appointed as a guardian of the shrine of Inari and was granted many descendants. As legend goes, some of the kitsune's descendants had returned to bewitching and harming humans which caused the first kitsune to become distraught and later die as it had come to love humans during its trial. Due to this, many kitsune now view eating the hearts or livers of humans as a taboo and a majority will simply play harmless pranks at most.
Abilities: Although they aren't as good as Tanuki, Kitsune are best known for their transformation abilities. Most weaker foxes will only be able to hold small-scale transformations while with enough practice high-tier foxes will have the ability to even turn into a carbon copy of someone that they have just seen. Other than their ability to transform/shape-shift, kitsune can manipulate fox fire--a kind of blue flame--create illusions to deceive people, and the most powerful of foxes are best noted for their great wisdom and intellect.
Ame-onna - The first Ame Onna was born when a man drowned his wife and their baby in their local river during a stormy day. Though the first Ame Onna didn’t know how she died, she felt an unexplainable grief when she woke up and kidnapped babies to try to fix that grief. Though she never completely healed the grief inside her, she learned to find new happiness in other ways later on. Almost all Ame Onna and Ame Otoko are descendants of this Ame Onna.
Abilities: Ame onna and Ame otoko are well known for their ability to summon rain at just about anytime. Their umbrellas act as both a medium and a plug for their powers and can either be used to summon rain or as a lethal weapon if used in a particular way. The strength of ame-onna and ame-otoko may vary greatly as some may only be able to summon small rain showers while ones with much greater power can even create hurricanes.
Karasu Tengu - As one of the more ancient spirits, it is unknown where exactly the Tengu came from or how the first Tengu had come into existence. The first tengu became known by the humans as harbingers of war and doers of evil. However, the tengu eventually became known as protectors of the forests and mountains in which they resided in after daitengu began taking control of and bringing order to areas where a significant amount of lesser tengu gathered. It was from then on that the majority of tengu became known as relatively peaceful spirits that only attacked those who encroached upon their territory.
Abilities: Karasu Tengu and Yata-garasu are not exactly the same, but they generally share their abilities. These crow yokai can manipulate certain parts of their body to assume either a complete human form or a humanoid form with certain appendages present such as their wings. Despite this, karasu tengu are unable to do full transformations like a kitsune and tanuki and even their human shape can be discerned from a true human as their shadow will assume the shadow of their original form. Karasu tengu are best known for their skill in martial arts and also their strange magical powers that are akin to the techniques that a ninja would use.
Yosuzume - The first of the yokai that humans called yosuzume came into existence when a sparrow who had strayed from its flock noticed a lone traveler in the dark forest. Seeing that he was lost and sensing that there were malicious yokai nearby, the small bird flew down onto a low tree branch and offered to guide the man to the nearest village. After the small sparrow had gotten the traveler to safety, it was not met with gratitude but with greed. The human trapped the bird in a cage and threatened to kill it if it did not guide him through the forest every time he had to venture through it. Fearing for its life, the sparrow obeyed but it's anger and hatred for the human who had betrayed it only grew. Eventually, the small bird died but it later returned as a yokai. The yosuzume cursed the man and made him unable to see in the dim light of the night ever again. Although the first few generations of yosuzume shared the same hatred that the first yosuzume had for humans, over the course of several centuries some families of yosuzume began to become more neutral towards humans and usually do not pay them any mind.
Abilities: Like the power that had manifested within the first yosuzume due to her resentment towards humans, yosuzume are able to afflict their targets with something very similar to very severe nyctalopia. Unlike normal nyctalopia which simply makes it very difficult to see in dim light, those affected by the curse of the yosuzume are unable to see in dim lighting at all. This curse is activated if one allows the feather of the yosuzume to enter into his/her eye. The amount of time that this curse can be activated depends on the strength of the yosuzume (the original yosuzume was extremely powerful and was able to uphold the curse for a whole man's lifetime) and is also affected by the amount of resentment that the yosuzume has towards the target as well as the spiritual power of the afflicted target compared to that of the yosuzume's.
Tsuru onna - One day, an elderly couple had taken pity on a crane that had gotten stuck in a hunter's trap and released it. The crane was extremely grateful and wanted to pay him back but had no means of doing so. Seeing the goodwill of the crane, the gods granted the crane the ability to turn into a human and allowed it to stay with the elderly couple as long as it did not reveal its identity. The crane, disguised as a young woman, approached the couple asking to stay until the snow stopped as it had gotten lost in the storm. The snow did not stop for some time, and in that time, the couple began to see the young lady as their own daughter who had worked fervently to care for them during her stay. The crane eventually requested of the elderly couple that they buy her yarn so that she could weave them some cloth to sell. The young woman locked herself in her room for several days and told the couple not to peek into the room. The crane later emerged with a cloth of the most finest quality that the town had even seen and sold for a great price and the crane asked for more yarn and weaved a second cloth that was even more finer than the first. By this time, the elderly couple was very wealthy. When the crane asked for yarn for a third time, the old woman was overcome with curiosity and peered into the room for the first time only to find a crane who was plucking its own feathers to weave into the cloth. By now, the poor bird was in a sorry state and the old couple was horrified as they truly had come to love and care for the young woman. The crane finished weaving the final piece of cloth, confessed that it was the crane that had been saved by the old man and departed from the home of the sad elderly couple. Although it is unknown when the crane had borne children, the descendants of this crane have retained her ability to transform into a human and genius in medicine as well as poisons. (Note: only the original tsuru was a woman, her descendants are not necessarily female)
Abilities: Tsuru are masters of medicines and poisons (as well as being quite talented at making good sake) and have feathers laced with poison. The potency of these poisons are typically determined by the age of the tsuru and the tsuru itself. Tsuru with the most poisonous wings often are poor physical combatants due to the poison causing their bodies to become weak and sometimes will even lead considerably shortened lives. More able-bodied tsuru train in the way of the sword and typically use speed-based martial arts as they generally have smaller builds than other yokai species. Using certain methods, tsuru can actually turn their feathers into medicines making them excellent healers.
Baku - The Baku were first created when the gods took the left overs of all of the animals of the world and put them together. This gave the baku a chimerical appearance somewhat resembling that of a tapir. Possibly due to the miscellaneous parts used for the baku, a strange power began manifesting itself within these creatures: the power to see into and eat dreams.
Abilities: Like what many people figure, the most prominent of the abilities of a Baku are the ability to enter and eat nightmares and/or dreams. As dream eating demons, Baku also have the ability to induce sleep in others. However, the success rate of this ability depends on the spiritual power level of the baku compared to his/her target and can be anything from gradual to immediate in effect.
Yuki-onna - The first yuki-onna was born from the purest of snow that had settled itself on the top of the Japanese Alps. The young woman lived in solitude for a long time. Eventually, the yuki-onna could no longer take her loneliness and decided to go and see what was beyond her mountain. She stumbled upon a human village and disguised her identity as a yuki-onna in order to live with them. The young woman came to love the humans and even raised her own family amongst the humans. However, her happiness did not last forever. Her husband noticed how she didn't age and the villagers, who were already jealous of her beauty, grew suspicious. They killed her husband and her youngest and only son and called her family monsters. Angered by the actions of the humans, the yuki-onna fled into the mountains to hide her children before bringing her wrath down upon the villagers. She completely destroyed the village in her fury but when her anger died, the yuki-onna could only feel sorrow from the loss of her husband and child. Although her daughters tried their best to console their mother, they could only watch as the yuki-onna became more and more empty. Eventually, the yuki-onna decided to put herself out of her misery by melting herself in a hotspring. After the death of their mother, some of the first yuki-onna's daughters went to exact revenge against humans while others left the humans alone in favor of seeking other yokai for company as to not continue a viscous cycle. These events had greatly scared the yuki-onna and none of them would be able to trust humans for many decades.
Abilities: As their name suggests, yuki-onna's abilities revolve around the cold or ice and snow. Yuki-onna are able to create snowstorms and form chunks of ice to trap their enemies in or hurl at their enemies. They are also immune to the cold--though very sensitive to heat if they do not yet know how to properly manipulate their spirit energy--and are empowered during snowy or cold weather. Younger yuki-onna have much less control of their powers and are usually limited to smaller scaled versions of their abilities. Also, yuki-onna's powers are more likely to go rampant than an ame-onna during times of great stress due to not having a "plug" or "limiter."
Bakeneko - Unlike several other legends, the bakeneko's origins do not typically stem from a single parent yokai. Bakeneko are either normal cats that have turned into yokai after living a long life and being abandoned by a human as a result or be descended from a family of bakeneko. After a normal housecat turns into a bakeneko, the cat will often be identified by its tail that is considerably longer than that of normal cats. As a bakeneko, the cat will gain the ability to summon fireballs, it's tail will act as a torch and it will gain the ability to transform into a human.
Bakeneko are commonly confused with Nekomata. Nekomata have two tails instead of one and do not take on a human form unlike a bakeneko.
Abilities: Unlike nekomata who have two tails and the ability to change their size from the size of a kitten to a very large feline, bakeneko only have one tail and can only shift into a human form, a cat form, and possibly a beast form (size of a panther). Bakeneko cannot alter their size past these defaults, but are able to form claws and reveal/conceal their ears and tail in their human form. Bakeneko's tail are known for acting like torches and they also have the ability to control fire. Younger bakeneko have much less control over fire than older bakeneko and are therefore often discouraged from using fire. Also, the ability to assume the form of a larger feline is more of a latent ability that must be learned and not completely instinctive so the bakeneko must be taught to be able to do so.
Ningyo - The sea-dwelling Ningyo are a mysterious race whose true origins are unknown. Some appear as hideous large fish-like creatures with the face of women while others appear as beautiful women. There are many stories surrounding ningyo, most of which have to do with fishermen. However, it is unknown how many of these legends are true. One of these legends claim that a Ningyo's flesh will bring immortality to any human who eats of it. (Like tsuru-onna, the ningyo are not necessarily restricted to females in this rp)
Abilities: Ningyo can naturally breathe underwater and can even manipulate water to a certain extent if trained properly. They can change from a koi to a part fish-part human to a completely humanoid form. While their flesh does not actually grant immortality, it has been noted that the blood of Ningyo has certain healing qualities and can be used as medicine for some wounds and illnesses if a Ningyo makes the rare decision of entrusting his/her blood to you.
Zashiki-warashi - The legend goes that a daughter who was greatly loved by a couple suddenly was struck by a terrible illness and died at a very young age. The couple was distraught at this loss and wept for days. One day, the couple noticed that they would occasionally find pillows and cushions flipped over, footprints in the ashes and would hear music playing from unoccupied rooms: common pranks that their daughter would play. Gladdened by the thought of their daughter watching over them, the couple left out her favorite food everyday. As the couple continued to leave out food for and care for the "child," they were struck with great fortune and became relatively wealthy. When death came for the couple in their old age, they saw from their death beds the figure of their young daughter who was smiling at them. This daughter was the first of the zashiki-warashi, and her descendants would also bring fortune to households and people who cared for it.
Abilities: Zashiki-warashi are not known for combat. However, they are blessed with great fortune and luck and have the ability to bring luck and happiness to those who they bless and love. A zashiki-warashi usually only blesses those who have treated them well as a blessing is taken as a pact of great trust to a zashiki-warashi. Zashiki-warashi are also known for their excellent guesswork due to their luck. Should you come at a split in the path, ask a zashiki-warashi to guess which way is the right way and you'll most likely be right. Zashiki-warashi are very good at collecting information as they tend to be surprisingly intelligent for their child-like appearance and are very good at wandering about unnoticed. This depends on the individual, of course.
Oni - A woman, recently widowed, gave birth to a son and passed away soon after giving birth due to her poor health. The child would have normally been taken care of by a family kind enough but because of his deformed and hideous face, he was given a mask to wear for his whole life and was isolated in his own shack located a little outside of the village. As the child grew, he discovered that he had a monstrous amount of strength but did not harm anyone as he was timid. The village children made it a common practice to bully the masked boy since he never fought back. When a wolf attacked the children one day, the young boy killed the wolf to save the lives of the children. Despite his good intentions, the masked boy was chased out of the village and was forced to live in complete solitude in the mountains. Betrayed by the villagers whose children he had saved, the masked boy finally began to feel anger and his rage only grew. Soon, he began running rampant and destroyed several nearby villages and became known as the oni. This rage would not last very long and the oni retreated back into his mountain in his sorrow and loneliness.
Abilities: Oni are best known for their monstrous strength and the ability to deal crushing and disabling blows. There are typically two categories of oni. The more common oni is the type with a lot of bulk and focus on strength as their main stat. The second type of oni is less common but equally versed in battle. Although their strength is not as great as the first group, this category of oni are more agile which makes a deadly combination with their still immense strength. Oni have the ability to form sharp claws and some can even alter their size depending on the level of their anger or rage.
Ookami - Ookami were originally just mountain wolves until they began to take on more spiritual forms and gained powers not found in normal wolves. The source of this power were from the prayers of the farmers nearby who would treat the wolves as somewhat of guardians of their rice paddies. This was due to the fact that wolves often protected fields from boars, deer and hares. Despite this seemingly benevolent behavior, ookami are still to be feared as they are swift, agile and masters of hiding. A person will not be let off without retribution should they dare to offend an ookami.
Abilities: Ookami are swift and agile and can be potentially dangerous if angered. Ookami are good at finding hiding spaces and can only be either sniffed out or sensed if the opponent has a high enough power level. Of course, if the ookami is strong and experienced enough, they can suppress the spirit energy that naturally leaks out as well (this refers to all yokai).
Inugami - Folklore has it that the first Inugami was conjured by an onmyouji from a complex and cruel ceremony: A common pet dog was buried up to his neck with only the head remaining free. Then a bowl with food or water was placed close but in unreachable distance before the snout of the dog. Several days after that, when the dog was about to perish and tortured by hallucinations, his head was severed and buried beneath a noisy street. After a certain time, the head and body was placed in a well prepared shrine and an inugami was evoked. Although the inugami was bound to the will of the onmyouji, the onmyouji's control over the inugami began to weaken considerably until it was completely free. The inugami was filled with malice at the cruel treatment it was given and killed its evoker before going rampant and killing several other humans. Over several decades, the inugami would appear periodically and would kill several humans before disappearing once again. This continued until it eventually completely disappeared. After several more decades, descendants of this inugami began to appear but the first inugami was never seen again.
Abilities: Inugami have the odd ability to separate their heads from their main body due to having been first created by beheadment. The Inugami's more normal abilities include that of enhanced agility and stamina. In a sense, Inugamis' abilities are similar to that of an ookami with the ability to detach their head rather than the ability of stealth.
Tanuki - As tanuki tend to be very spread out and numerous, it is nearly impossible to track down the origins of tanuki. Some legends claim that bake-danuki simply just started appearing in the midst of normal tanuki and the yokai began spreading from there. Tanuki today are seen as lovers of mischief and are best known for their skill in transformations, typically the best of all yokai.
Abilities: Tanuki are the best transformers and are very adept at creating illusions by changing the shape of external objects. Although they aren't always the brightest when it comes down to straight memorization of facts, Tanuki tend to be great schemers and love implementing creative tricks into their plots.
Jorogumo - The jorogumo were born when a particular spider had reached 400 years of age and received the ability to turn into a human. This jorogumo would turn into a woman and then seduce men before wrapping them up in her web and devouring them. While the jorogumo of the present who are bound by the treat no longer devour humans, they will still sometimes practice seduction.
Abilities: Jorogumo are sly and seductive creatures who can easily draw their prey into the maws of death. Of course, this is illegal by the treaty but this doesn't mean that no one breaks the terms of the treaty. Along with their deceitfulness, Jorogumo are able to manipulate strings and form webs to entangle and entrap their prey or enemies in.
(Shiro)hebi - As legend goes, Shirohebi was originally just an oddly colored snake. While slithering around town one day, the white snake was trodden upon by a human passing by. Pitying the poor snake, another passerby took care of Shirohebi until he was well enough to be on his own again. Shirohebi desperately wished to repay the human but did not have any means to do so. The snake was given several tasks by the gods when he asked for their help. Several years had passed when Shirohebi finished all of his tasks and by that time, the human who had helped him had already passed away from an illness. Seeing that he could no longer repay the human herself, the snake decided to instead bless the land that she had lived in. Shirohebi's descendants tend to be white just like him, but some families consist of green snakes.
Abilities: Shirohebi, like zashiki-warashi, are blessed with luck and good fortune. They also have the ability to pass on this luck onto others. Due to their relation to water serpents, shirohebi have a loose affinity with water and may or may not be able to manipulate water. Hebi are also known for their excellent sense of smell and taste.
Kamaitachi - A kamaitachi was first born from the left over power of the birth of an evil god. This wind spirit is known for cutting people with it's sickle-like claws. While present-day kamaitachi still ride on the winds and may appear within natural disasters, they are not the cause of it nor will they harm humans directly due to the treaty. Of course, not all kamaitachi will abide by the treaty.
Abilities: Since they are practically manifestations of wind, Kamaitachi are able to manipulate wind and are able to "fly" by using the wind to propel them through the air. These wind blasts act as wind wedges and can cut their opponents. Also, Kamaitachi are noted for their sickle-like claws and ability to form sickles similar to kama/double kai out of think air. While kamaitachi are considered manifestations of air, they cannot turn their own physical body into air. Unlike bird type yokai, kamaitachi are not very discreet flyers as the wind that they use to take flight creates quite the disturbance. Some kamaitachi are actually unable to fly, especially when immature, as it takes practice and patience.
Amefuri kozo - The amefuri-kozo was born when a child had become separated from his mother on a rainy day and drowned when he fell into a river due to slipping on the wet floor. The spirit of the child continued to wander around on rainy days in search of his mother, perhaps not realizing that he had died. Now, amefuri-kozo are frequently seen frolicking in the rain and are sometimes even the cause of it.
Abilities: *see ame-onna/ame-otoko*
Gashadokuro - Gashadokuro don't tend to appear very often and are almost never part of a certain lineage as there are too few gashadokuro and offspring of gashadokuro and another different kind of yokai tend to take on the traits of the other yokai instead of the gashadokuro. Gashadokuro are born where high amounts of unpurified spiritual energy accumulate and intensify in a grave-site for extended periods of time. This is another factor contributing to why gashadokuro tend to be so rare since most cemeteries are purified periodically to prevent this.
Abilities: Gashadokuro may appear to be normal humans at first, but they can actually transform into extremely large skeletons. Due to the way that they are born, gashadokuro tend to naturally have high amounts of spiritual energy and can implant this energy into other corpses or humanoid objects like dolls and turn them into puppets.
Kejōrō - Once upon a time, there was a beautiful woman, praised for her long, silky hair. However, despite her beauty, she was alone, as her family was very rich, and expected her to marry someone with at least as much money as they had. However, one day, while the woman was taking a walk, a young man offered flowers to her, saying that a creature withs uch beautiful hair didn't deserve less. The woman was flattered by his gesture, and although he was a mere peasant, she started talking to him. They soon started to take a liking to eachother, and were planning to get married, but the wowmans parents were against it, as marrying a mere peasant would bring shame to the family. The young man didn't loose hope though, as he said that they would just run away. As such, at midnight, they met on the bridge. The young woman had brought all the money she could get her hands on, and the young amn had brought a knife. He told her that she would need to cut her as to not get recognised. the woman with long hair turned around to get her hair cut, but the young man, instead of cutting her hair, stabbed her in the back, took all the money and left. He didn't go far, as the spirit of the deceased woman had vowed to take revenge. The young amn was killed, and the spirit of the woman with the long hair became the first kejourou.
Abilities: Kejoro have the unique ability to control their hair and bend it to their will. Their hair can go from having the traits of normal hair (other than typically being very long) to becoming as hard as steel. While they can alter the solidness of their hair, Kejoro most often attack by wrapping their hair around their targets. Some Kejoro seemed to have found practical ways to use their hair in normal day to day life...
**If you noticed that almost all of the origin parts of the legends listed here are unable to be found anywhere else on the internet, it's because I couldn't really find origins on a majority of the yokai and had to make most of them up. If you make your own legend and it is approved, I will add it to this list.
Kitsune - The first kitsune was born when a fox was blessed by the goddess Inari after keeping its promise of abstaining from eating or attacking humans for 1000 days and helping any humans that requested its help. The kitsune was then appointed as a guardian of the shrine of Inari and was granted many descendants. As legend goes, some of the kitsune's descendants had returned to bewitching and harming humans which caused the first kitsune to become distraught and later die as it had come to love humans during its trial. Due to this, many kitsune now view eating the hearts or livers of humans as a taboo and a majority will simply play harmless pranks at most.
Abilities: Although they aren't as good as Tanuki, Kitsune are best known for their transformation abilities. Most weaker foxes will only be able to hold small-scale transformations while with enough practice high-tier foxes will have the ability to even turn into a carbon copy of someone that they have just seen. Other than their ability to transform/shape-shift, kitsune can manipulate fox fire--a kind of blue flame--create illusions to deceive people, and the most powerful of foxes are best noted for their great wisdom and intellect.
Ame-onna - The first Ame Onna was born when a man drowned his wife and their baby in their local river during a stormy day. Though the first Ame Onna didn’t know how she died, she felt an unexplainable grief when she woke up and kidnapped babies to try to fix that grief. Though she never completely healed the grief inside her, she learned to find new happiness in other ways later on. Almost all Ame Onna and Ame Otoko are descendants of this Ame Onna.
Abilities: Ame onna and Ame otoko are well known for their ability to summon rain at just about anytime. Their umbrellas act as both a medium and a plug for their powers and can either be used to summon rain or as a lethal weapon if used in a particular way. The strength of ame-onna and ame-otoko may vary greatly as some may only be able to summon small rain showers while ones with much greater power can even create hurricanes.
Karasu Tengu - As one of the more ancient spirits, it is unknown where exactly the Tengu came from or how the first Tengu had come into existence. The first tengu became known by the humans as harbingers of war and doers of evil. However, the tengu eventually became known as protectors of the forests and mountains in which they resided in after daitengu began taking control of and bringing order to areas where a significant amount of lesser tengu gathered. It was from then on that the majority of tengu became known as relatively peaceful spirits that only attacked those who encroached upon their territory.
Abilities: Karasu Tengu and Yata-garasu are not exactly the same, but they generally share their abilities. These crow yokai can manipulate certain parts of their body to assume either a complete human form or a humanoid form with certain appendages present such as their wings. Despite this, karasu tengu are unable to do full transformations like a kitsune and tanuki and even their human shape can be discerned from a true human as their shadow will assume the shadow of their original form. Karasu tengu are best known for their skill in martial arts and also their strange magical powers that are akin to the techniques that a ninja would use.
Yosuzume - The first of the yokai that humans called yosuzume came into existence when a sparrow who had strayed from its flock noticed a lone traveler in the dark forest. Seeing that he was lost and sensing that there were malicious yokai nearby, the small bird flew down onto a low tree branch and offered to guide the man to the nearest village. After the small sparrow had gotten the traveler to safety, it was not met with gratitude but with greed. The human trapped the bird in a cage and threatened to kill it if it did not guide him through the forest every time he had to venture through it. Fearing for its life, the sparrow obeyed but it's anger and hatred for the human who had betrayed it only grew. Eventually, the small bird died but it later returned as a yokai. The yosuzume cursed the man and made him unable to see in the dim light of the night ever again. Although the first few generations of yosuzume shared the same hatred that the first yosuzume had for humans, over the course of several centuries some families of yosuzume began to become more neutral towards humans and usually do not pay them any mind.
Abilities: Like the power that had manifested within the first yosuzume due to her resentment towards humans, yosuzume are able to afflict their targets with something very similar to very severe nyctalopia. Unlike normal nyctalopia which simply makes it very difficult to see in dim light, those affected by the curse of the yosuzume are unable to see in dim lighting at all. This curse is activated if one allows the feather of the yosuzume to enter into his/her eye. The amount of time that this curse can be activated depends on the strength of the yosuzume (the original yosuzume was extremely powerful and was able to uphold the curse for a whole man's lifetime) and is also affected by the amount of resentment that the yosuzume has towards the target as well as the spiritual power of the afflicted target compared to that of the yosuzume's.
Tsuru onna - One day, an elderly couple had taken pity on a crane that had gotten stuck in a hunter's trap and released it. The crane was extremely grateful and wanted to pay him back but had no means of doing so. Seeing the goodwill of the crane, the gods granted the crane the ability to turn into a human and allowed it to stay with the elderly couple as long as it did not reveal its identity. The crane, disguised as a young woman, approached the couple asking to stay until the snow stopped as it had gotten lost in the storm. The snow did not stop for some time, and in that time, the couple began to see the young lady as their own daughter who had worked fervently to care for them during her stay. The crane eventually requested of the elderly couple that they buy her yarn so that she could weave them some cloth to sell. The young woman locked herself in her room for several days and told the couple not to peek into the room. The crane later emerged with a cloth of the most finest quality that the town had even seen and sold for a great price and the crane asked for more yarn and weaved a second cloth that was even more finer than the first. By this time, the elderly couple was very wealthy. When the crane asked for yarn for a third time, the old woman was overcome with curiosity and peered into the room for the first time only to find a crane who was plucking its own feathers to weave into the cloth. By now, the poor bird was in a sorry state and the old couple was horrified as they truly had come to love and care for the young woman. The crane finished weaving the final piece of cloth, confessed that it was the crane that had been saved by the old man and departed from the home of the sad elderly couple. Although it is unknown when the crane had borne children, the descendants of this crane have retained her ability to transform into a human and genius in medicine as well as poisons. (Note: only the original tsuru was a woman, her descendants are not necessarily female)
Abilities: Tsuru are masters of medicines and poisons (as well as being quite talented at making good sake) and have feathers laced with poison. The potency of these poisons are typically determined by the age of the tsuru and the tsuru itself. Tsuru with the most poisonous wings often are poor physical combatants due to the poison causing their bodies to become weak and sometimes will even lead considerably shortened lives. More able-bodied tsuru train in the way of the sword and typically use speed-based martial arts as they generally have smaller builds than other yokai species. Using certain methods, tsuru can actually turn their feathers into medicines making them excellent healers.
Baku - The Baku were first created when the gods took the left overs of all of the animals of the world and put them together. This gave the baku a chimerical appearance somewhat resembling that of a tapir. Possibly due to the miscellaneous parts used for the baku, a strange power began manifesting itself within these creatures: the power to see into and eat dreams.
Abilities: Like what many people figure, the most prominent of the abilities of a Baku are the ability to enter and eat nightmares and/or dreams. As dream eating demons, Baku also have the ability to induce sleep in others. However, the success rate of this ability depends on the spiritual power level of the baku compared to his/her target and can be anything from gradual to immediate in effect.
Yuki-onna - The first yuki-onna was born from the purest of snow that had settled itself on the top of the Japanese Alps. The young woman lived in solitude for a long time. Eventually, the yuki-onna could no longer take her loneliness and decided to go and see what was beyond her mountain. She stumbled upon a human village and disguised her identity as a yuki-onna in order to live with them. The young woman came to love the humans and even raised her own family amongst the humans. However, her happiness did not last forever. Her husband noticed how she didn't age and the villagers, who were already jealous of her beauty, grew suspicious. They killed her husband and her youngest and only son and called her family monsters. Angered by the actions of the humans, the yuki-onna fled into the mountains to hide her children before bringing her wrath down upon the villagers. She completely destroyed the village in her fury but when her anger died, the yuki-onna could only feel sorrow from the loss of her husband and child. Although her daughters tried their best to console their mother, they could only watch as the yuki-onna became more and more empty. Eventually, the yuki-onna decided to put herself out of her misery by melting herself in a hotspring. After the death of their mother, some of the first yuki-onna's daughters went to exact revenge against humans while others left the humans alone in favor of seeking other yokai for company as to not continue a viscous cycle. These events had greatly scared the yuki-onna and none of them would be able to trust humans for many decades.
Abilities: As their name suggests, yuki-onna's abilities revolve around the cold or ice and snow. Yuki-onna are able to create snowstorms and form chunks of ice to trap their enemies in or hurl at their enemies. They are also immune to the cold--though very sensitive to heat if they do not yet know how to properly manipulate their spirit energy--and are empowered during snowy or cold weather. Younger yuki-onna have much less control of their powers and are usually limited to smaller scaled versions of their abilities. Also, yuki-onna's powers are more likely to go rampant than an ame-onna during times of great stress due to not having a "plug" or "limiter."
Bakeneko - Unlike several other legends, the bakeneko's origins do not typically stem from a single parent yokai. Bakeneko are either normal cats that have turned into yokai after living a long life and being abandoned by a human as a result or be descended from a family of bakeneko. After a normal housecat turns into a bakeneko, the cat will often be identified by its tail that is considerably longer than that of normal cats. As a bakeneko, the cat will gain the ability to summon fireballs, it's tail will act as a torch and it will gain the ability to transform into a human.
Bakeneko are commonly confused with Nekomata. Nekomata have two tails instead of one and do not take on a human form unlike a bakeneko.
Abilities: Unlike nekomata who have two tails and the ability to change their size from the size of a kitten to a very large feline, bakeneko only have one tail and can only shift into a human form, a cat form, and possibly a beast form (size of a panther). Bakeneko cannot alter their size past these defaults, but are able to form claws and reveal/conceal their ears and tail in their human form. Bakeneko's tail are known for acting like torches and they also have the ability to control fire. Younger bakeneko have much less control over fire than older bakeneko and are therefore often discouraged from using fire. Also, the ability to assume the form of a larger feline is more of a latent ability that must be learned and not completely instinctive so the bakeneko must be taught to be able to do so.
Ningyo - The sea-dwelling Ningyo are a mysterious race whose true origins are unknown. Some appear as hideous large fish-like creatures with the face of women while others appear as beautiful women. There are many stories surrounding ningyo, most of which have to do with fishermen. However, it is unknown how many of these legends are true. One of these legends claim that a Ningyo's flesh will bring immortality to any human who eats of it. (Like tsuru-onna, the ningyo are not necessarily restricted to females in this rp)
Abilities: Ningyo can naturally breathe underwater and can even manipulate water to a certain extent if trained properly. They can change from a koi to a part fish-part human to a completely humanoid form. While their flesh does not actually grant immortality, it has been noted that the blood of Ningyo has certain healing qualities and can be used as medicine for some wounds and illnesses if a Ningyo makes the rare decision of entrusting his/her blood to you.
Zashiki-warashi - The legend goes that a daughter who was greatly loved by a couple suddenly was struck by a terrible illness and died at a very young age. The couple was distraught at this loss and wept for days. One day, the couple noticed that they would occasionally find pillows and cushions flipped over, footprints in the ashes and would hear music playing from unoccupied rooms: common pranks that their daughter would play. Gladdened by the thought of their daughter watching over them, the couple left out her favorite food everyday. As the couple continued to leave out food for and care for the "child," they were struck with great fortune and became relatively wealthy. When death came for the couple in their old age, they saw from their death beds the figure of their young daughter who was smiling at them. This daughter was the first of the zashiki-warashi, and her descendants would also bring fortune to households and people who cared for it.
Abilities: Zashiki-warashi are not known for combat. However, they are blessed with great fortune and luck and have the ability to bring luck and happiness to those who they bless and love. A zashiki-warashi usually only blesses those who have treated them well as a blessing is taken as a pact of great trust to a zashiki-warashi. Zashiki-warashi are also known for their excellent guesswork due to their luck. Should you come at a split in the path, ask a zashiki-warashi to guess which way is the right way and you'll most likely be right. Zashiki-warashi are very good at collecting information as they tend to be surprisingly intelligent for their child-like appearance and are very good at wandering about unnoticed. This depends on the individual, of course.
Oni - A woman, recently widowed, gave birth to a son and passed away soon after giving birth due to her poor health. The child would have normally been taken care of by a family kind enough but because of his deformed and hideous face, he was given a mask to wear for his whole life and was isolated in his own shack located a little outside of the village. As the child grew, he discovered that he had a monstrous amount of strength but did not harm anyone as he was timid. The village children made it a common practice to bully the masked boy since he never fought back. When a wolf attacked the children one day, the young boy killed the wolf to save the lives of the children. Despite his good intentions, the masked boy was chased out of the village and was forced to live in complete solitude in the mountains. Betrayed by the villagers whose children he had saved, the masked boy finally began to feel anger and his rage only grew. Soon, he began running rampant and destroyed several nearby villages and became known as the oni. This rage would not last very long and the oni retreated back into his mountain in his sorrow and loneliness.
Abilities: Oni are best known for their monstrous strength and the ability to deal crushing and disabling blows. There are typically two categories of oni. The more common oni is the type with a lot of bulk and focus on strength as their main stat. The second type of oni is less common but equally versed in battle. Although their strength is not as great as the first group, this category of oni are more agile which makes a deadly combination with their still immense strength. Oni have the ability to form sharp claws and some can even alter their size depending on the level of their anger or rage.
Ookami - Ookami were originally just mountain wolves until they began to take on more spiritual forms and gained powers not found in normal wolves. The source of this power were from the prayers of the farmers nearby who would treat the wolves as somewhat of guardians of their rice paddies. This was due to the fact that wolves often protected fields from boars, deer and hares. Despite this seemingly benevolent behavior, ookami are still to be feared as they are swift, agile and masters of hiding. A person will not be let off without retribution should they dare to offend an ookami.
Abilities: Ookami are swift and agile and can be potentially dangerous if angered. Ookami are good at finding hiding spaces and can only be either sniffed out or sensed if the opponent has a high enough power level. Of course, if the ookami is strong and experienced enough, they can suppress the spirit energy that naturally leaks out as well (this refers to all yokai).
Inugami - Folklore has it that the first Inugami was conjured by an onmyouji from a complex and cruel ceremony: A common pet dog was buried up to his neck with only the head remaining free. Then a bowl with food or water was placed close but in unreachable distance before the snout of the dog. Several days after that, when the dog was about to perish and tortured by hallucinations, his head was severed and buried beneath a noisy street. After a certain time, the head and body was placed in a well prepared shrine and an inugami was evoked. Although the inugami was bound to the will of the onmyouji, the onmyouji's control over the inugami began to weaken considerably until it was completely free. The inugami was filled with malice at the cruel treatment it was given and killed its evoker before going rampant and killing several other humans. Over several decades, the inugami would appear periodically and would kill several humans before disappearing once again. This continued until it eventually completely disappeared. After several more decades, descendants of this inugami began to appear but the first inugami was never seen again.
Abilities: Inugami have the odd ability to separate their heads from their main body due to having been first created by beheadment. The Inugami's more normal abilities include that of enhanced agility and stamina. In a sense, Inugamis' abilities are similar to that of an ookami with the ability to detach their head rather than the ability of stealth.
Tanuki - As tanuki tend to be very spread out and numerous, it is nearly impossible to track down the origins of tanuki. Some legends claim that bake-danuki simply just started appearing in the midst of normal tanuki and the yokai began spreading from there. Tanuki today are seen as lovers of mischief and are best known for their skill in transformations, typically the best of all yokai.
Abilities: Tanuki are the best transformers and are very adept at creating illusions by changing the shape of external objects. Although they aren't always the brightest when it comes down to straight memorization of facts, Tanuki tend to be great schemers and love implementing creative tricks into their plots.
Jorogumo - The jorogumo were born when a particular spider had reached 400 years of age and received the ability to turn into a human. This jorogumo would turn into a woman and then seduce men before wrapping them up in her web and devouring them. While the jorogumo of the present who are bound by the treat no longer devour humans, they will still sometimes practice seduction.
Abilities: Jorogumo are sly and seductive creatures who can easily draw their prey into the maws of death. Of course, this is illegal by the treaty but this doesn't mean that no one breaks the terms of the treaty. Along with their deceitfulness, Jorogumo are able to manipulate strings and form webs to entangle and entrap their prey or enemies in.
(Shiro)hebi - As legend goes, Shirohebi was originally just an oddly colored snake. While slithering around town one day, the white snake was trodden upon by a human passing by. Pitying the poor snake, another passerby took care of Shirohebi until he was well enough to be on his own again. Shirohebi desperately wished to repay the human but did not have any means to do so. The snake was given several tasks by the gods when he asked for their help. Several years had passed when Shirohebi finished all of his tasks and by that time, the human who had helped him had already passed away from an illness. Seeing that he could no longer repay the human herself, the snake decided to instead bless the land that she had lived in. Shirohebi's descendants tend to be white just like him, but some families consist of green snakes.
Abilities: Shirohebi, like zashiki-warashi, are blessed with luck and good fortune. They also have the ability to pass on this luck onto others. Due to their relation to water serpents, shirohebi have a loose affinity with water and may or may not be able to manipulate water. Hebi are also known for their excellent sense of smell and taste.
Kamaitachi - A kamaitachi was first born from the left over power of the birth of an evil god. This wind spirit is known for cutting people with it's sickle-like claws. While present-day kamaitachi still ride on the winds and may appear within natural disasters, they are not the cause of it nor will they harm humans directly due to the treaty. Of course, not all kamaitachi will abide by the treaty.
Abilities: Since they are practically manifestations of wind, Kamaitachi are able to manipulate wind and are able to "fly" by using the wind to propel them through the air. These wind blasts act as wind wedges and can cut their opponents. Also, Kamaitachi are noted for their sickle-like claws and ability to form sickles similar to kama/double kai out of think air. While kamaitachi are considered manifestations of air, they cannot turn their own physical body into air. Unlike bird type yokai, kamaitachi are not very discreet flyers as the wind that they use to take flight creates quite the disturbance. Some kamaitachi are actually unable to fly, especially when immature, as it takes practice and patience.
Amefuri kozo - The amefuri-kozo was born when a child had become separated from his mother on a rainy day and drowned when he fell into a river due to slipping on the wet floor. The spirit of the child continued to wander around on rainy days in search of his mother, perhaps not realizing that he had died. Now, amefuri-kozo are frequently seen frolicking in the rain and are sometimes even the cause of it.
Abilities: *see ame-onna/ame-otoko*
Gashadokuro - Gashadokuro don't tend to appear very often and are almost never part of a certain lineage as there are too few gashadokuro and offspring of gashadokuro and another different kind of yokai tend to take on the traits of the other yokai instead of the gashadokuro. Gashadokuro are born where high amounts of unpurified spiritual energy accumulate and intensify in a grave-site for extended periods of time. This is another factor contributing to why gashadokuro tend to be so rare since most cemeteries are purified periodically to prevent this.
Abilities: Gashadokuro may appear to be normal humans at first, but they can actually transform into extremely large skeletons. Due to the way that they are born, gashadokuro tend to naturally have high amounts of spiritual energy and can implant this energy into other corpses or humanoid objects like dolls and turn them into puppets.
Kejōrō - Once upon a time, there was a beautiful woman, praised for her long, silky hair. However, despite her beauty, she was alone, as her family was very rich, and expected her to marry someone with at least as much money as they had. However, one day, while the woman was taking a walk, a young man offered flowers to her, saying that a creature withs uch beautiful hair didn't deserve less. The woman was flattered by his gesture, and although he was a mere peasant, she started talking to him. They soon started to take a liking to eachother, and were planning to get married, but the wowmans parents were against it, as marrying a mere peasant would bring shame to the family. The young man didn't loose hope though, as he said that they would just run away. As such, at midnight, they met on the bridge. The young woman had brought all the money she could get her hands on, and the young amn had brought a knife. He told her that she would need to cut her as to not get recognised. the woman with long hair turned around to get her hair cut, but the young man, instead of cutting her hair, stabbed her in the back, took all the money and left. He didn't go far, as the spirit of the deceased woman had vowed to take revenge. The young amn was killed, and the spirit of the woman with the long hair became the first kejourou.
Abilities: Kejoro have the unique ability to control their hair and bend it to their will. Their hair can go from having the traits of normal hair (other than typically being very long) to becoming as hard as steel. While they can alter the solidness of their hair, Kejoro most often attack by wrapping their hair around their targets. Some Kejoro seemed to have found practical ways to use their hair in normal day to day life...
**If you noticed that almost all of the origin parts of the legends listed here are unable to be found anywhere else on the internet, it's because I couldn't really find origins on a majority of the yokai and had to make most of them up. If you make your own legend and it is approved, I will add it to this list.
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