View source for Konaki-jiji

{{Short description|Yōkai}}
{{use dmy dates |date=April 2022}}
'''Konaki-jiji''' (子泣き爺, ''Konaki-Jijī'', translated into ''Old man crying'') is a kind of Japanese [[yōkai]], a supernatural spirit in [[Japanese folklore]]. It is similar to the Scandinavian [[myling]], the Slavic [[poroniec]] and the Germanic [[Aufhocker]]
==Description==
The Konaki-jiji is said to be able to take the appearance of an old man or a baby.<ref name="News1">{{cite news   | last = Baker  | first = Tom  | title = A procession of countless demons; From animated trash to sharp-toothed education mamas, there's a yokai for everything  | newspaper = The Daily Yomiuri  | pages = 9  | date = December 24, 2010  }}</ref><ref name="News2">{{cite news   | last = Kan  | first = Saori   | title = TV's 'Kitaro' turns 40  | newspaper = The Daily Yomiuri  | pages = 12  | date = January 18, 2008  }}</ref> In either case, the spirit lures an unwary passerby towards it and allows him or her to pick it up. After the spirit is picked up, it suddenly becomes a heavy stone that crushes the victim to death.<ref name="News1"/><ref name="News2"/> In some versions of Konaki-jiji stories, the spirit is that of a baby left to die in the wilderness.<ref name="Harper">{{cite encyclopedia  | title = Konakijiji  | encyclopedia = Element Encyclopedia of the Psychic World  | pages = 369  | publisher = Harper Collins  | date = 2006  }}</ref>
The Konaki-jiji can be traced back to family records in [[Shikoku]] where the term was used to describe an old man who sounded like a child when he cried.<ref name="Lunning2008">{{cite book|author=Frenchy Lunning|title=Mechademia 3: Limits of the Human|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FM9Y5EKSOakC&pg=PA27|access-date=28 October 2011|date=5 November 2008|publisher=U of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-0-8166-5482-6|pages=27–}}</ref> The term was eventually used in a national encyclopedia of yōkai and became a nationally known phenomenon.<ref name="Lunning2008"/>
==In popular culture==
In the manga series [[Dandadan]], the spirit known as onbusuman is based on the Konaki-jiji. In the manga it appears as a creature with the large head of an old man, the shell of a turtle, the arms and legs of a infant and a long hairy tail.<ref>{{Cite web |title=[第124話]ダンダダン - 龍幸伸 |url=https://shonenjumpplus.com/episode/14079602755280966766 |access-date=2024-11-08 |website=少年ジャンプ＋ |language=ja}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Japanese folklore long}}
[[Category:Japanese folklore]]
[[Category:Yōkai]]