Nopperabo

Nopperabo is an entity with a smooth, blank face lacking eyes, nose, or mouth. Edo-period kaidan and picture-books made it famous as a typical "startle" entity, often shown as a disguise used by foxes, tanuki, or mujina. Typical tales place it on night roads: a weeping woman who turns to reveal a blank face, or a meeting in Edo's Kii-no-kuni-zaka where a soba-shop owner and customer both prove faceless. Lafcadio Hearn's Kwaidan (1904), in "Mujina," retells the Akasaka Kii-no-kuni-zaka tale and brought the figure to English-language readers. Earlier kaidan such as Ihara Saikaku's Saikaku Shokoku-banashi and Jippensha Ikku's Rekkoku Kaidan Kikigaki-cho contain analogous tales. Yanagita Kunio's Nihon no Densetsu and Kyogoku Natsuhiko and Tada Katsumi's Yokai Zukan organize the tradition.