Yokai come in all shapes and sizes; creatures, demons, spirits possessing objects, and curses.

The Rokurokubi is not some otherworldly entity, but a curse placed on someone who’s committed a great sin.

Most victims don’t even know they’re cursed, since during the day they look completely normal. However, once they have fallen asleep for the evening, their head will begin to move on it’s own, the neck stretching endlessly as it begins to wonder.

Even though most of the time Rokurokubi are portrayed as a woman, this Yokai can be any gender.

There are stories of travelers encountering entire villages possessing the curse of Rokurokubi. In these communities everyone seems to be wearing some sort of cloth or scarf around their neck, even during the hottest parts of the day. It’s believed this was intended to hide any visible stretch marks on the neck.

This may have occurred from some sort of collective sin, or perhaps passed down to future generations. Causing entire communities to develop the curse.

While the descriptions are terrifying, they aren’t actually dangerous. Rokurokubi prefer living more hidden lives, but still enjoying the occasional tricks, or scaring a passerby at night. Preferring the nourishment of drinking the oil from lamps and eating insects.

However there is a similar Yokai, that’s far more sinister – The Nukekubi.

The primary difference is Nukekubi heads completely detach from the neck. Flying off in search of human blood. Lucky there is a way to combat the more malevolent spirit. Villagers must find the body – and either hide or destroy it – before the head returns. (Similar to the legend of the Manananggal from the Philippines.)

The stories of these Yokai may have originated in southern China. The first story mentioning Rokurokubi was in 1712, after a Japanese author returned from a trip. He learned stories of human-like creatures detaching their heads at night, using their ears to fly around eating bugs.