Nodera-bo (Nagano)

Nodera-bo ("priest of the field temple") is a priest-form entity appearing at ruined, unattended field temples. He is shown as a gaunt old monk who lingers in a collapsing bell tower and strikes the bell of mourning at midnight. Toriyama Sekien's Gazu Hyakki Yagyo, in no maki (Anei 5, 1776) depicts the figure in a roofless main hall, with phrases such as "the priest of the field temple" and "receiving no alms," foregrounding the grief of monks who could not gather offerings and were left to the open air. Through later picture-books and essays the figure expanded into encounter tales of travelers meeting Nodera-bo on night mountain paths. Murakami Kenji's Nihon Yokai Daijiten (Kadokawa, 2005) treats it as a discrete entry, and the International Research Center for Japanese Studies Yokai Folklore Database also records it. Nagano has no distinct local layer; the entry treats Nodera-bo as a generalized ruined-temple entity rooted in Sekien's image.