Japanese folklore is populated by many a weird critter. I am constantly amazed by the bizarre menagerie of monsters that Japanese believed populated their home country. Possibly the strangest I’ve come across so far is the Nuppeppo.
The Nuppeppo is actually kind of cute, in a morbid, Tim Burton-esque way. It is a blob of fatty flesh standing about 1.5 meters tall, with stubby arms and bulbous fingers and toes. The ink drawing of a Nuppeppo kinda reminds me of Mr. Potatohead! There’s a hint of a face in there among the fat folds as well. It generally hangs out in lonely places, especially temples and cemeteries, and no wonder as it is purported to have a horrible smell, like rotting flesh.
Despite being the lonely outcast of the J-folklore world, the Nuppeppo are harmless. They’re classified as yurei, but unlike many other yurei they aren’t deadly to humans, and in fact don’t seem to pay much attention to people. The thing that makes the Nuppeppo unique among Japanese folklore is that it is said that anyone who eats the flesh of one will be gifted with eternal youth. Whether that’s worth a mouthful of rotting, blubbery flesh, well, I’ll leave that for you to decide.
i love the nuppeppo so much
Japan has all kinds of neat folk-creatures.