Konaki-jiji

Accounts link the Konaki-jiji to regional oral traditions of Tokushima. Some tellings identify the spirit as the ghost of a baby left to die in the wilderness; other material traces the term to family records in Shikoku where it described an old man whose cry resembled that of a child. Folklorists later collected and incorporated these local tales into wider yōkai encyclopedias, producing the nationally recognized Konaki-jiji figure.

Reports describe the Konaki-jiji as able to take the form of either an old man or a baby; popular summaries and modern visual depictions sometimes portray mixed or striking imagery, but traditional accounts emphasise its ability to appear as an infant or an elderly person. Sources note variant origin narratives that explain appearance either as a dead infant's spirit or as a name derived from a real old man's plaintive cry.

The Konaki-jiji lures lone travelers by mimicking the sound of an infant crying in isolated mountain or roadside locations. When a passerby picks it up out of pity, the spirit suddenly becomes a heavy stone (or is said to become extremely heavy), crushing the carrier to death. This deceptive ambush—compassion turned lethal—is the central behavioral motif in recorded accounts.