The Wise Trickster of the Sacred Forests

Japanese Name	狐
Romanization	Kitsune
Classification	Shapeshifting Animal Spirit
Expedition	Expedition I — Sacred Forests
Threat Level	■■□□□ (Level II – Caution)
First Recorded	8th Century CE

The Kitsune is among Japan’s oldest and most enduring supernatural fox traditions. Both guardian and trickster, it has appeared in Japanese stories for more than a thousand years, serving as a sacred messenger in some religious contexts while elsewhere deceiving, possessing or interacting with humans through transformation and illusion.

The Blood-Drinking Tree of the Battlefield

Japanese Name	樹木子
Romanization	Jubokko
Classification	Blood-Feeding Tree
Expedition	Expedition I — Sacred Forests
Threat Level	■■■■□ (Level IV – Severe)
First Recorded	1966 CE

Jubokko is a modern yōkai described as a tree transformed by death and bloodshed. In its best-known form, it grows on former battlefields, absorbs the blood of the dead through its roots, and later attacks living people who pass beneath its branches. Despite often being presented today as an ancient Japanese monster, no secure pre-twentieth-century source for this familiar form has been identified.

The Thing That Drops from the Trees

Japanese Name	釣瓶落とし
Romanization	Tsurube-otoshi
Classification	Tree Spirit
Expedition	Expedition I — Sacred Forests
Threat Level	■■■□□ (Level III – Dangerous)
First Recorded	Early 20th Century Folklore Records

Tsurube-otoshi is a regional Japanese apparition associated with large trees and sudden danger from above. Modern depictions often show an enormous human head dropping from the canopy, but recorded traditions are far less consistent. In some places, a bucket descends from a tree; elsewhere an unseen being calls out, seizes travellers, or drops suddenly from the branches. The name and downward movement are more stable than any single physical form.

The Corpse-Thief of the Funeral Road

Japanese Name	火車
Romanization	Kasha
Classification	Corpse-Stealing Spirit
Expedition	Expedition X — Spirits of Death
Threat Level	■■■■□ (Level IV – Severe)
First Recorded	Kii Zōdan-shū — 17th Century CE

Kasha is a funerary apparition associated with the removal or seizure of the dead. Its name originally referred to the Buddhist image of a fiery cart carrying sinners toward hell, but later folklore transformed the idea into something that could descend during funerals, seize coffins, or steal corpses. In some regional traditions Kasha became strongly associated with monstrous or supernatural cats, though the feline form was not the beginning of the tradition.

The Dead Who Would Not Be Ignored

Japanese Name	御霊
Romanization	Goryō
Classification	Vengeful Spirit
Expedition	Expedition X — Spirits of Death
Threat Level	■■■■□ (Level IV – Severe)
First Recorded	Heian Period — 9th Century CE

Goryō are feared spiritual beings historically associated with epidemic, calamity, and social disturbance. The category included the spirits of people who had lost power or status as well as certain epidemic-associated kami. From the medieval period onward, the term increasingly came to refer to angry spirits of the dead. Rather than simply destroying them, communities could attempt to appease, send away, or permanently enshrine these spirits, transforming dangerous spiritual power into protection.

The Corpse-Eater Condemned by Hunger

Japanese Name	食人鬼
Romanization	Jikininki
Classification	Corpse-Eating Spirit
Expedition	Expedition X — Spirits of Death
Threat Level	■■■■□ (Level IV – Severe)
First Recorded	Kwaidan — 1904 CE

Jikininki is a corpse-eating supernatural being best known from Lafcadio Hearn’s 1904 Kwaidan. In Hearn’s story, a former Buddhist priest is condemned after death to consume the bodies of people who die nearby because he once performed funerary rites only for personal gain. The creature is horrifying, but the story is ultimately one of punishment, shame, and possible release. Older Japanese literature contains related corpse-eating and hungry-spirit motifs, but the securely documented Jikininki under this name should not simply be projected backward as an ancient standardized entity.

The Four-Eyed Exorcist Who Drove Out the Dead

Japanese Name	方相氏
Romanization	Hōsōshi
Classification	Ritual Exorcistic Figure
Expedition	Expedition X — Spirits of Death
Threat Level	■□□□□ (Level I – Protective)
First Recorded	706 CE — Shoku Nihongi

Hōsōshi was not originally a monster or wandering spirit, but a ritual figure whose role was to drive away demons, pestilence, and dangerous unseen influences. The practice reached Japan from China and became part of the imperial court ceremony known as tsuina, performed around the end of the year. Japanese records show the rite being conducted by 706 CE. In its earlier form, the Hōsōshi represented the force pursuing the demons rather than the demon itself. Over time, however, the appearance and role changed so dramatically that the figure eventually became one of the things symbolically driven away.