Yamawaro (山童, oryamawarau) is ayōkai (spirit) said to appear in mountains in Western Japan, starting in theKyūshū region. According to mythology, it is sometimes said that they arekappa that have come to dwell in the mountains.
Yamawaro are known by a number of different, similar terms; inAshikita District,Kumamoto Prefecture, they are also known asyamawarō, yamamon, yamanto,yaman wakkashi (山の若い衆, "young person of the mountain") andyaman ojiyan (山の伯父やん, "mountain uncle"). InKuma District in the same prefecture, they are also known asyaman-tarō (山ん太郎) oryamanbo (山ん坊).[1]
Thekanji foryamawaro can also be written as山𤢖 (yamawaro). Thesansō (山𤢖) is the name of the Chineseyōkai that this comes from.[2]
According to theEdo-periodWakan Sansai Zue,yamawaro lives in the depths of the mountains inKyushu. 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. TheWakan Sansai Zue states thatyamawaro 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 areyamawaro in theChikuzen Province (nowFukuoka Prefecture) and on theGotō 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 eatcrabs,tokoro (some types ofdioscorea), andkōzo (a hybrid of twobroussonetia species) roots.[2]
In the Kumamoto Prefecture,yamawaro hateink 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.[1]
It is said that sometimes they help out withlumberjack work in the mountains and that they would help out again by giving themalcohol andnigirimeshi as thanks. The goods given to ayamawaro 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 theAshikita 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 someyaman wakkashi" and askyamawaro for help.[3]
Like thekappa, they also performsumo and like to play pranks oncattle andhorses. They are also said to enter people's homes without permission and enter into their baths,[3] and it is said that the baths that ayamawaro enters in would get dirty with grease floating in them as well as a very foul odor.[4]
Tengu-daoshi and other strange events in the mountains are often considered to be the deeds of mountain gods ortengu in the Eastern half of Japan, but in the Western half they are considered to be the deeds ofyamawaro. Phenomena such as thetengu-daoshi (sounds such as that of a large tree falling) are considered to be done by theyamawaro 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 imitatingmokko (a tool made of bamboo or woven grass for carrying heavy loads) dropping dirt or even the explosion sounds of dynamite.[1][5] However, thetengu does not play no role at all in those regions, because in some parts, such as theOguni in Kuamoto Prefecture, there are noyamawaro legends and they are instead considered to be the deeds oftengu.[1]
In various places in the Western half of Japan, there have been confirmed to be legends whereyamawaro arekappa that have moved into mountains. In many of them,kappa would move into the mountains during the autumnHigan to becomeyamawaro, and during the spring Higan they would move back to the rivers to becomekappa.
The folkloricistKunio Yanagita theorizes with words such as "river-child migration" that these seasonal changes betweenkappa andyamawaro comes from the seasonal changes between faith and the field gods (Ta-no-Kami) and the mountain gods (Yama-no-Kami) and that since birds could often be heard in many places during those times, it may be related to thebird migrations that happen with Japan's seasonal changes.[8]
It is said that whenkappa andyamawaro go to and from mountains, they would move in a group through an'osaki'. It is said that if a human ever built a house in this passageway, thekappa andyamawaro would get angry and open a hole in the walls. Is also said that if one ever tried to catch sight of theyamawaro returning to the mountains, one would fall into an illness.[9]'Osaki' (尾先) refers to the landscape and places that go down from a mountain and are considered to be lands that are not suited towards building houses.[10] In the town of Omine,Aso District, Kumamoto Prefecture, the pathway that yamawaro use to move are calledtoorisuji (通り筋).[1]
In theHida Region (Gifu Prefecture), they are also calledyamagaro and they are said to play pranks such as stealing bentō from woodcutters.[11]
Similaryōkai toyamawaro include theseko, thekashanbo, and thekinoko. Theseko told about inNishimera,Miyazaki Prefecture are said to go into mountains during the evening and return to the rivers during morning.[3] Also, in legends in Omine,Aso District, Kumamoto Prefecture, calling them"yamawaro" is thought to anger them so"seko" would be used instead as a more polite alternative.[1]
In theyōkai emaki of the Edo period (such as theHyakkai Zukan) and theJikkai Sugoroku (十界双六) among others,yamawaro are written about under the name ofyamawarawa (山童, alsoyamawarau) and they are often depicted with tree branch arms and one eye. According to the Edo-periodKiyū Shōran (嬉遊笑覧), it can be seen that one of theyōkai that it notes is depicted in theBakemono E (化物絵) drawn byKōhōgen Motonobu is one by the name of"yama-warawa" (山わらは).[12]
ThePokémonDusknoir is inspired by the yamawaro.