YAOBIKUNI

Lore

Yaobikuni, whose name literally translates as “the Eight-Hundred-Year Nun,” belongs to the rare category of Japanese beings of human origin who have gained eternal life. In folklore taxonomy she is neither a yurei nor an animal bakemono, but a hito-yokai—a yokai that arose from a human—and her particular sub-type is best described as a “cursed immortal.”

In appearance Yaobikuni remains perpetually young; even after centuries her body is that of a girl untouched by age. She wears a severe Buddhist hood (the ritual head-covering of monks), a robe, a staff, and prayer beads, creating a strange contradiction between her youthful face and the eyes that carry the weight of passing centuries. Legend says Yaobikuni’s metabolism is slowed to its absolute minimum; disease and poison cannot reach her, yet serious injuries require long regeneration. Immortality spares her from natural death, but not from pain.

Folklore gives the following account of her origin. One day a fisherman caught an unusual fish with a human face. He invited his neighbors to taste the curious meat, but one guest warned of a curse. The man explained that the creature was a ningyo—a mermaid—whose flesh is poisonous and will doom anyone who eats even a bite. The meat was thrown away, yet the fisherman’s daughter, driven by hunger, secretly tasted it and thereafter stopped aging. Realizing the weight of what had happened and watching generations of loved ones die, she took monastic vows and set off on an endless pilgrimage. Since ancient times it has been said that whoever eats mermaid flesh becomes immortal, but one must always remember that such a gift has its price. Given enough time, a life without release can become a crushing burden.