Bunagaya (Okinawa)

Bunagaya is a red-haired, child-form spirit of the Yanbaru region of northern Okinawa, centered on Kijoka in Ogimi Village, Kunigami District. It is akin to the Kijimuna (tree spirit) of the central and southern parts of Okinawa's main island and is said to dwell in old gajumaru (banyan) and other large trees, and at night to help fishermen at the shore or wrestle with people. In the representative tale, Bunagaya has a red-haired child's body, lives in an old gajumaru, and takes fish with fishermen on night beaches. Fishermen who befriend Bunagaya enjoy plentiful catches, but those who disturb its home by cutting the tree are punished, with livestock blinded in retaliation. Iha Fuyu and Nakamatsu Yashu's Okinawan folklore studies, Yanagita Kunio's Kainan Shoki, Murakami Kenji's Nihon Yokai Daijiten (Kadokawa, 2005), and the International Research Center for Japanese Studies Yokai Folklore Database organize the tradition. Ogimi Village commemorates Bunagaya as a local emblem.