NOPPERA-BO

Lore

At a glance, the Noppera-bo appears to be an ordinary human, until the victim notices a crucial detail: its face is completely smooth - no eyes, no nose, no mouth. Although these yokai do not inflict physical harm, they terrify adventurers with their sudden, ghostly "vanishing face."

One of the earliest known stories comes from Kyoto, involving a merchant who was returning home late at night over the Kiyomizu Bridge. There he saw a young woman standing by the railing, crying. Feeling concerned, he asked why she was upset. When she turned around, the dim moonlight revealed that her face was utterly blank.

Panicking, the merchant fled and, upon reaching a nearby teahouse, frantically told the proprietor what he had witnessed. The teahouse owner listened intently, then asked if the woman's face had looked "something like this?"-at which point his own features disappeared, becoming a smooth void.

The merchant lost consciousness, and when he came to, the bridge lay silent and deserted. No one could confirm anything had happened at all.