Japanese Urban Legends

Noppera-bō

A Noppera-bō is a yōkai that looks like a human, with a slight difference- they have no face.

At first, they seem to be ordinary people. At most times they disguise themselves to look like people familiar to the victim, such as a relative or spouse. They blend in perfectly with society, acting completely normal. But, as time goes on, the illusion wears off and their facial features quickly vanish. There are no eyes, mouth, nose, or anything whatsoever on their face. It is just a smooth, blank sheet of skin where a face would be.

They are also known as faceless ghosts, due to their shocking appearance. When people meet them, they usually fear that the Noppera-bō will kill them and flee the scene. However, they're relatively harmless. The only goal of the yōkai is to give people a good scare, and they do that tremendously well. They're so mischievous that they even like to form groups and work together to scare people.

Legend has it that they usually appear in empty streets, and anything that can catch a person alone. Then, they put on their disguise and face away from the unsuspecting victim in order to hide the truth. When the person interacts with the man or woman, they suddenly turn around and reveal that they are a Noppera-bō. They love the scared and panicked look on the person's face, and will try their best to get the most fearful reaction out of the victim. An example of this would be for a Noppera-bō to appear to have a face at first, and then dramatically wipe it off with their hand at the perfect time.

Then, if the Noppera-bō isn't alone, this is where the other ones come in. As the victim runs away in terror of what they just saw, they'll see a stranger nearby. The stranger might ask them what is wrong, and why they look so terrified. The person will explain to the stranger the whole ordeal, only for the stranger to reply, "Oh, you mean like this?" and wipe off their face as well.

This can happen over and over again, to a point where a person can go through multiple of these faceless ghosts, only to go home and watch all of their loved ones also reply, "Oh, you mean like this?" and wipe off their faces as well.

There are many tales involving this legend, and most of them are similar in the fact that the main character has to constantly go through a Noppera-bō's trickery. Ones of these tales, titled The Noppera-bō and the Koi Pond, goes like this:

There once was a lazy fisherman that decided to go fishing in the imperial koi ponds. They were near the Heian-kyō palace, and looked beautiful. However, they were near a graveyard, and were known to be sacred ponds that shouldn't be messed with. The fisherman's wife was suspicious and wary about the koi ponds, and warned him not to go. But the fisherman didn't care at all and ignored everything that she said.

Once he arrived at the pond, and met a beautiful young woman there. She began to plead with him, begging him to not fish in the sacred pond. The fisherman ignored her and was about to turn away when she suddenly wiped off her face and turned out to be a Noppera-bō.

Horrified, he quickly rushed to his home to hide from the faceless ghost. When he finally reached his house and shut the door behind him, he was greeted by his angry wife. She confronted him for his wickedness, and how he is too lazy and ignorant. Then, before he could respond, she wiped her face off as well.

So, overall, these yōkai are less focused on hurting people and more focused on scaring people. It's similar to Hanako-san's motives- wanting to make everyone have a bad day for the fun of it.