Kowai

Kanji: 狐者異
Kana: こわい
Pronunciation: kowai

TRANSLATION: Strange fox person
ALTERNATE NAMES: None recorded
ORIGIN: Late Edo period; Ehon Hyakumonogatari (1841), an illustrated ghost-story encyclopedia

HABITAT: Food stalls, garbage dumps, and town streets at night
DIET: Any scrap of food — rotten leftovers, garbage, and carrion

ABILITIES:

• Endless devouring hunger
• Scavenging through trash and carrion
• Raids on food stalls and late-night shops
• Intimidation through a grotesque, fox-like face

WEAKNESSES:

• Its hunger never ends, so Kowai is always in pain and can never stop

OVERVIEW: Kowai is the ghost of a glutton from late Edo folklore. It appears near food stalls and garbage heaps with an appetite that never stops.

APPEARANCE: Kowai looks like a grotesque, disheveled human. It has blood-shot eyes and a long, drooling tongue. Its mouth has sharp teeth, and fox-like whiskers and a sniffing nose cover its face. The body is thin and gaunt, as if Kowai is starving even while it eats. The fox-like features match the kanji 狐 ("fox") in its name. People say the sight of Kowai is the origin of the Japanese word 怖い, which also reads "kowai" and means "scary."

BEHAVIOR: Kowai walks around towns at night and searches through trash bins for scraps. It attacks food stalls, threatens vendors, and even eats carrion in the street. No matter how spoiled the food is, the spirit eats it. They are never full, so the hunt for the next bite continues without end.

INTERACTIONS: Shopkeepers and food vendors see Kowai most often, and they make it leave their wares. Townspeople fear its grotesque face and disgusting habits. The story acts as a warning against greed and gluttony, and it reminds readers of the Buddhist gaki, or hungry ghost, even though Kowai is a yokai and not a Buddhist figure. Old illustrations show Kowai attacking an udon stand, because the soft noodles go through the body fast and leave the eater hungry again — a fitting target for a spirit that can never be full.

OTHER FORMS: Kowai was once a living human, a glutton who ate so much in life that he even took other people's portions. That attachment to food went with him into death, and he became this yokai. No animal or shape-shift form is recorded. The kanji 狐者異 reads "strange fox person," and the name itself is said to be the source of the modern word for "scary."