Takaonna

Takaonna

Takaonna (高女) is a yokai that walks and wanders in people's rooms, they are jealous and ugly ladies who are unpopular with men. These become Takaonna because of their jealousy, some say it is a kind of oni.

The carpenter and the Taka-Onna

Once in Wakayama prefecture there was a man who worked with wood. This man got married and had a child. He hired 30 servants whom he managed. When his son was 5 years old, he mysteriously disappeared.

After this situation, his servants began to die one by one. Finally, when there were less than half of them left, a medium came to the house and asked what happened. The husband replied that nothing special.

The medium then took precaution. The man of the house felt strange. His wife asked what the medium had done and the husband replied that he had only asked what was going on in the house and then left.

The man's wife became neurotic and the man, seeing her reaction, became frightened. The man then lied to his wife that he had a fever and went to bed early. Someone came to the foot of his bed and said, "When your wife returns look at her appearance and you must escape to the mountains.

You must run and flee!" After hearing this, his wife returned and he watched her as she tried to lie down on the bed pretending to sleep. His wife turned into an oni.

She was 2.1 meters tall. She took off her clothes and turned into a beautiful lady accompanied by a rumbling sound similar to thunder, but half of her body was still spellbound.

The husband was surprised and escaped into the mountains. His wife was a Takaonna who could control the length of her body parts. She had exterminated the servants and if the husband had stayed there he would also have been killed by her.

 

 

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