Tsurube-otoshi
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Tsurube-otoshi (釣瓶落とし) or tsurube-oroshi (釣瓶下ろし) is a yōkai told about in Kyoto Prefecture, Shiga Prefecture, Gifu Prefecture, Aichi Prefecture, and Wakayama Prefecture, among other places. They are said to drop from above the trees and attack, and even devour humans.
According to the oral legend about Kuchitanba (the southern part of the Tanba region of Kyoto Prefecture) recorded in the Taishō period local research documentation book, the "Kuchitanba Kōhi Shū" (口丹波口碑集, "Collection of Oral Legends about Kuchitanba"), it is said that in the Hōki section of the village of Sogabe in Kyoto Prefecture (now Kameoka), a tsurube-oroshi would suddenly drop down from a kaya tree and make a sniggering laugh saying "has your night work ended, how 'bout let's drop a bucket, gii-gii" ("yagyō sunda ka, tsurube oroso ka, gii-gii") and then rise up above the tree again. Also, in the Tera section of Sogabe village, tsurube-oroshi are said to appear as a severed head that would drop down from an old pine tree and then eat and feed on someone and after that not appear for about two to three days, and then they would appear once again. Also, in the village of Tomimoto, Funai District, Kyoto (now Nantan), an eerie tree wrapped with ivy was feared for the appearance of tsurube-oroshi from there. In the Tsuchida section of the village of Ōi, it is also said that tsurube-oroshi would devour humans.[1]
In the Tsukumi part of the village of Kuze, Gifu Prefecture (now Ibigawa), it is said that from above a large tree that stands in a place that's dim even at noon there would appear a tsurube-oroshi,[2] and in Hikone of Shiga, it is said that a tsurube-oroshi from the tree's branches would catch the eye of passers-by and drop buckets.[3]
In a Genroku period yōkai tale told about in the Kuroe part of Kainan, Wakayama Prefecture, it is said that a certain old tree would have something shining at its base when passers-by would look, and when someone would reach out to it thinking that it was a koban (coin), they would get dragged into a bucket and lifted up to above the tree where they would be menaced and then devoured by the tsurube-otoshi living there, finally losing their life as they strike the ground.[4]
