copperbadge:

zapponinja:

mutant-aesthetic:

mute:

In Japanese folklore, Gashadokuro, also known as Odokuro, are giant skeletons, fifteen times taller than an average person, and are constructed from the bones of people who have died from starvation. Their bones are collected into this giant skeleton creature which is filled with intense anger and a thirst for human blood. He wanders around at night, grinding his teeth and making a “gachi gachi” sound. The giant skeleton towers so high above the ground and walks so quietly that he can be almost invisible. The only warning you get when the giant skeleton is near is a strange and inexplicable ringing in your ears.

If the Gashadokuro finds you, he will reach down with his bony hand and snatch you off the ground. Then he will pluck your head off and suck the blood out of your headless body until his thirst is quenched.

Japanese folk lore is fucking brutal holy shit

Why can’t Japan ever have it just be “Giant skeleton drinks water from lake” or “Giant skeleton goes to McDonalds and orders a happy meal”, all we ever have is “Giant skeletons vore”

I dug into this a little because one of the other comments said they couldn’t believe this yokai has only been around since the 70s, and it turns out that if you do a book compilation of yokai in Japanese mythology, you’re basically allowed to add your own. 

During the 1970s, many books were published that introduced yokai through encyclopaedias, illustrated reference books, and dictionaries as a part of children’s horror books, but along with the yokai that come from classics like folklore, kaidan, and essays, it has been pointed out by modern research that there are some mixed in that do not come from classics, but were newly created. Some well-known examples of these are the gashadokuro and the jubokko.  [….] However, since there have already been those from the Edo period like Sekien Toriyama who created many new yokai, there is also the opinion that it is unreasonable to criticize modern creations without doing the same for classical creations too.

So there could totally be a “giant skeleton that goes to McDonalds and orders happy meals” yokai, you just have to make up the story and insert it into the conversation every time yokai come up.