Yamawaro

Yamawaro (山童; or yamawarau) is a yōkai (spirit) said to appear in mountains in Western Japan, starting in the Kyūshū region. According to mythology, it is sometimes said that they are kappa that have come to dwell in the mountains.

Yamawaro are known by a number of different, similar terms; in Ashikita District, Kumamoto Prefecture, they are also known as yamawarō, yamamon, yamanto, yaman wakkashi (山の若い衆, "young person of the mountain") and yaman ojiyan (山の伯父やん, "mountain uncle"). In Kuma District in the same prefecture, they are also known as yaman-tarō (山ん太郎) or yamanbo (山ん坊).

The kanji for yamawaro can also be written as 山𤢖 (yamawaro). The sansō (山𤢖) is the name of the Chinese yōkai that this comes from.

According to the Edo-period Wakan Sansai Zue, yamawaro lives in the depths of the mountains in Kyushu. It appears as a child about 10 years in age, has long perssimon and navy colored hair on its head, and has intricate fur all over its body. The Wakan Sansai Zue states that yamawaro has a short torso, walks upright on two long legs, and speaks in human language. The same book (the version published by Kyōrindō) states that there are yamawaro in the Chikuzen Province (now Fukuoka Prefecture) and on the Gotō Islands, and they have a human-like appearance with a round head, long red hair that reaches their eyes, pointy ears like that of a dog, one eye above their nose, and they eat crabs, tokoro (some types of dioscorea), and kōzo (a hybrid of two broussonetia species) roots.

In the Kumamoto Prefecture, yamawaro hate ink lines, which are used for carpentry, so it is thought that in places where carpentry work is done in the mountains, if one uses an ink line to make lines of ink, yamawaro would not come close.

It is said that sometimes they help out with lumberjack work in the mountains and that they would help out again by giving them alcohol and nigirimeshi as thanks. The goods given to a yamawaro as thanks must be the same as the ones promised at first, and if something different is given instead, they get unfeelingly angry. It is also said that if they are given their thank-you presents before the work is done, they sometimes run away with it. In the Ashikita District, Kumamoto, it is said that when there is a lot of work in the mountains, they say "let's ask for some help from some yaman wakkashi" and ask yamawaro for help.

Like the kappa, they also perform sumo and like to play pranks on cattle and horses. They are also said to enter people's homes without permission and enter into their baths, and it is said that the baths that a yamawaro enters in would get dirty with grease floating in them as well as a very foul odor.

Tengu-daoshi and other strange events in the mountains are often considered to be the deeds of mountain gods or tengu in the Eastern half of Japan, but in the Western half they are considered to be the deeds of yamawaro. Phenomena such as the tengu-daoshi (sounds such as that of a large tree falling) are considered to be done by the yamawaro themselves, and in the Kumamoto Prefecture, other than stories where they would make falling tree or falling rock noises, there are also stories where they would imitate human songs and where they make sounds imitating mokko (a tool made of bamboo or woven grass for carrying heavy loads) dropping dirt or even the explosion sounds of dynamite. However, the tengu does not play no role at all in those regions, because in some parts, such as the Oguni in Kuamoto Prefecture, there are no yamawaro legends and they are instead considered to be the deeds of tengu.