KENMUN

Lore

Kenmun is a yokai whose name literally means “Tree Person.” Folklore paints him as a blend of two better-known spirits from southern Japan: the kappa and the kijimunaa. From the kappa he inherits the saucer-like hollow on the crown of his head, filled with water that stores his power; from the kijimunaa he takes the habit of nesting among the limbs of sacred trees—most often banyans and sea figs. In warm weather the spirit prowls the coastal belt, but when the air turns chilly he withdraws to the mountain forests.

Kenmun’s build is child-sized and wiry, his entire body covered in reddish or rust-colored fur. His arms and legs are unnaturally long—storytellers say that when he sits, his knees almost touch his face. The eyes are round and glossy, sometimes glowing red; dangling ear-lobes recall his kappa lineage, though he lacks a shell. One vulnerability never changes: if the water in the saucer atop his head is spilled or evaporates, the spirit loses all strength and fades away.

His domain is tied strictly to the archipelago’s wild places. By day Kenmun hides in the thick canopies of banyans or sea figs; by night he slips to the shore to hunt fish and shellfish. Cutting down one of these trees without an offering invites a curse, for it is considered the spirit’s home. In many tales he appears as a boundary guardian—materializing where village meets jungle to gauge how people treat the natural world.