Rokurokubi

Hi guys! this is an image done long time ago. Love yokai (japanese ghost) stories so I hope you like it too.

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The rokurokubi (ろくろ首, 轆轤首) is a type of Japanese yokai. They look almost completely like humans, with one major difference. There are two types of Rokurokubi: one whose necks stretch, and one whose heads come off and fly around freely (nukekubi). The Rokurokubi appear in classical kaidan (spirit tales) and in yōkai art works. It has been suggested, however, that the idea of rokurokubi may have been created purely for entertainment purposes rather than from any folk beliefs or legends.

Starting in the Edo period, tales were written about people's necks stretching when they were asleep. Examples of these tales are Buya Zokuda (武野俗談), Kanden Kōhitsu (閑田耕筆) and Yasō Kidan (夜窓鬼談).It's thought that the idea of an extending neck originated from people misinterpreting visual depictions of nukekubi, the earlier kind of rokurokubi. There was the idea that nukekubi had a string attaching the head to the body, and when this string was depicted in visual depictions, people misinterpted this string as an elongated neck. In the Kasshi Yawa (甲子夜話), there is a tale which tells of a female servant with a pale face who is suspected to be a rokurokubi. One night, her master checks on her while she is sleeping and sees something like steam gradually rise from her chest. The steam becomes thick and obscures her head and then suddenly it appears as though her neck has risen up and stretched. Perhaps due to being surprised from seeing her master, the girl stirs, turns over and her neck returned to normal. This servant had a pale face, but otherwise looked completely normal, but despite this, she was fired and in fact has had trouble staying in any job, always being fired shortly after being employed. For the soul to leave the body and create the shape of a neck, as seen in this story and the before mentioned Hokusō Sadan, is sometimes interpeted to be "ectoplasm" in parapsychology. In the late Edo period yomihon (illustrated novel), Rekkoku Kaidan Kikigaki Zōshi (列国怪談聞書帖) by Jippensha Ikku the author suggests the elongated necks of rokurokubi originate in the spiritual principle, karma. In Ikku's work, Kaishin, a monk from Enshū and a woman called Oyotsu elope together. However, when Oyatsu collapsed from an illness, they ran out of money, so he killed her. When Kaishin eventually returned to secular life, he slept with a girl he met at an inn. When they sleep together, the girl's neck stretched and her face becomes that of Oyotsu, who then told him about her resentment. Kaishin felt regretful his actions and proceeded to tell Oyatsu's father everything. The girl's father then told Kaishin that he has also killed a woman before. He stole her money and with it, he opened his inn. He had a daughter was born soon after who, due to karma, became a rokurokubi. Kaishin then reentered the priesthood. He built a grave for Oyotsu, said to be the Rokurokubi no Tsuka (Rokurokubi Mound), which told the story to future generations. In some stories, rokurokubi are not a yōkai, but rather people who have an affliction that affects the body. For example, the Edo period author Ban Kōkei in his work "Kanden Kōhitsu" told a tale of a geisha at the Yoshiwara brothel whose neck would elongate in her sleep when her "heart became loose". It stated that her neck stretched to due her "heart becoming loose"