To this day, I am conflicted about today’s yokai. I mean, as a small kawaii critter, it looks like a dog-monkey pokémon. I have always seen it in Toriyama Sekien’s illustrated series and it is as cute as a new-born puppy. On the other hand, there are accounts of experienced hikers who claim that they got terribly lost in the mountainous forests because of the yokai. These accounts make me hope and pray to never encounter the yamabiko.
The yamabiko is a sound-type yokai that will repeat anyone or anything it has heard before. Even though the name is written as ‘mountain boy’, the way its read or pronounced means ‘echo’. The yokai is able to echo any sound, even after prolonged periods of time.
Those who were lost in the forests claim to hear whispers of their doppelgänger voices echoing their words, mocking them constantly. These disembodied whispers seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. One of them even heard a child singing an old fold songs.
Forgotten Tale
An old monk claimed to have found himself lost in the misty morning when he was younger. Hours later, he heard the sound of a running brook and decided to follow it. But instead of reaching a stream, he was standing in the middle of a thick, withered bamboo forest.
Recalling his grandmother’s yokai stories, he realised that it was the call of the yamabiko. The young man immediately turned away from the gushing sound and walked while chanted a mantra aloud. Minutes later the sound stopped and he found himself on a hunter’s trail.
Such are the stories of those rescued, but what of those who weren’t. How many lives have the yamabiko claimed? We will never know.
Yokai Details
- name: yamabiko (yah-mah-bee-koh)
- kanji: 山彦 (やまびこ)
- meaning: echo of the mountains
- abilities:
- sound mimicry — able to replicate any sound, projected from any source
- sound dampening — remove sound from an area
