Kurozuka (Fukushima)

Kurozuka is a demon-crone yokai of Adachigahara in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima. The figure is said to lodge travellers, then to kill and devour them; eventually unmasked and subdued, she is buried beneath a mound, the "Kurozuka." The figure is the subject of the Noh play Adachigahara (Kurozuka). Within the precincts of Kanze-ji in Adachigahara stands the mound said to be hers. The canonical narrative places the travelling priest Toko-bo Yukei at a remote house in Adachigahara; while the old woman is absent he peers into the inner room and finds heaps of human bones; pursued in demon form as he flees, the old woman is subdued by Yukei through the power of the bodhisattva Nyoirin Kannon. The early waka of Taira no Kanemori, "On the Plain of Adachi, in the mound of Kurozuka, is it true that a demon dwells?" (Yamato Monogatari and other sources, late 10th century), is regarded as the early literary attestation; the Noh play Adachigahara (attributed to Zeami) establishes the narrative form. Edo-period joruri and kabuki, including Oshu Adachigahara, develop the figure further. Kanze-ji preserves the mound and a rock-cave shown to visitors as the demon-crone's dwelling. Murakami Kenji's Nihon Yokai Daijiten and the Nichibunken Strange Phenomena and Yokai Folklore Database treat the figure as an independent entry. Variant readings include "Iwate" as the crone's name in the Oshu Adachigahara lineage.