Price range: 34.00 $ through 39.00 $ Tax

The Silent Guardian of Ancient Trees

Japanese Name 木霊
Romanization Kodama
Classification Tree Spirit
Expedition Expedition I — Sacred Forests
Threat Level ■□□□□ (Level I – Minimal)
First Recorded 927 CE — Engishiki

Kodama are spirits associated with trees, particularly old or significant trees. Japanese tradition remembers them as presences inhabiting the wooded landscape, capable of inspiring reverence as well as fear. The word later also came to mean an echo, reflecting an older belief that voices returning from mountains and valleys could be the response of a spirit within the landscape.

Price range: 34.00 $ through 44.00 $ Tax

The Voice That Returns from the Mountain

Japanese Name 山彦
Romanization Yamabiko
Classification Mountain Echo Spirit
Expedition Expedition I — Sacred Forests
Threat Level ■□□□□ (Level I – Minimal)
First Recorded 1776 CE — Gazu Hyakki Yagyō
Yamabiko is the supernatural presence traditionally associated with echoes returning from mountains and deep valleys. Rather than being defined by one fixed body, it is most strongly identified by sound: a human voice, shout, or sudden noise repeated back from somewhere unseen. Toriyama Sekien gave Yamabiko a recognizable illustrated form in 1776, but later regional traditions continued to describe it primarily as a mysterious answering voice within the mountains.

44.00 $ Tax

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.