Winter Yokai: Oshiroi babā

 

❄️Oshiroi babā❄️

The white face powder hag.

This Yokai can be traced back at least as far as 1537.

Oshiroi babā are yokai that take the form of  old woman who appear in snowy mountainous areas near the end of the year. 

Oshiroi Baba (oshiroi; white face powder) +  (baba; old woman, hag). The word oshiroi specifically refers to the white face powder used by geisha and maiko.

She wears a tattered old kimono and a massive, straw umbrella hat covered in heavy snow,she carries a bottle of sake, usually a classic ceramic tokkuri and her face is covered in oshiroi powder, usually slathered on without  care for appearance.

Some claims say you will hear the sound of a mirror dragging and clattering abut from behind her as they hobble through the streets. Though the mirror is almost never actually seen.

 Her back is disfigured, twisted and bent like an old woman’s after a lifetime hard work. 

She carries a cane in one hand, and a sake bottle in the other, and wear a broken straw hat. 

Her most defining feature is their wrinkly old face caked with thick, sloppy, white face powder.

Oshiroi babā don’t tend to interact with humans too often. For the most part, their looks alone are  enough to ward if interactions.

 Though they will occasionally bother people, demanding makeup or trying to buy sake. In this way they are somewhat similar to other old hag yōkai who wander the streets at night, such as amazake babā. However, nearly every account of oshiroi babā describes them as hideous or scary, but not dangerous. 

Other version of the myth claims she appears on cold snowy nights and offer's warm sake to those in need.

According to some local legends, oshiroi babā are a variation of yuki onna. They leave the  mountains and wonder into villages on snowy nights.

 Others say they are more similar to yama uba, who sometimes demand makeup from travelers or can be found  at the bases of mountains trying to buy alcohol.

 According to Toriyama Sekien, oshiroi babā serve as the attendants of Shifun Senjō, the goddess of cosmetics which would explain the mirror, and make up requests.

  

❄️🍺🪞🧓🏔️