Mikoshi-nyūdō (見越し入道 or ūdō見越入道) is a type of bald-headed yōkai "goblin" with an ever-extending neck. In Japanese folklore and Edo period (1603–1868) kaidan "ghost story" texts, mikoshi-nyūdō will frighten people who look over the top of things such as byōbu folding screens. The name combines mikoshi 見越し (lit. "see over") "looking over the top (of a fence); anticipation; expectation" and nyūdō 入道 (lit. "enter the Way") "a (Buddhist) priest; a bonze; a tonsured monster".
Summary
When walking to the end of a road at night or a hill road, something the shape of a monk would suddenly appear, and if one looks up, it becomes taller the further one looks up. They are so big that one would look up at them, and thus are given the name "." Sometimes, if one just looks at them like that, one might die, but they can be made to disappear by saying "." They most frequently appear when walking alone on night paths, but they are also said to appear at intersections, stone bridges, and above trees.
It is said that getting flown over by a mikoshi-nyūdō results in death or getting strangled by the throat, and if one falls back due to looking up at the nyūdō, one's windpipe would get gnawed at and killed.
On Iki Island off Kyushu, a mikoshi-nyūdō would make a "wara wara" sound like the swaying of bamboo, so by immediately chanting, "," the nyūdō would be made to disappear, but it is said that if one simply goes past them without saying anything, bamboo would fall resulting in death. In the Oda District, Okayama Prefecture, it is said that when one meets a mikoshi-nyūdō, it is vital to lower one's vision to the bottom of one's feet, and if one instead looks up to the head from the feet, one would be eaten and killed. Other than chanting "mikoshita (seen past)" or "minuita (seen through)," there are also examples where they would disappear by mustering one's courage and smoking tobacco (Kanagawa Prefecture), or by calculating the height of the mikoshi-nyūdō by a margin (Shizuoka Prefecture), among other methods.
In the essay by Hakuchō Nishimura from the Edo period, the mikoshi-nyūdō is a yakubyōgami that inflicts people with fever, and there is a story as follows: In the Shōtoku era, in Yoshida, Mikawa Province (now Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture), the merchant Zen'emon, while on the way to Denma in Nagoya, encountered a whirlwind, and the horse he rode on started to have its feet hurt, and when Zen'emon also felt unwell and started crouching, an ōnyūdō with a height of about one to and three or four shaku (about four meters) appeared. The nyūdō was almost like Nio, and as the eyes shone like mirrors, Zen'emon came closer. When Zen'emon trembled in fear and lay down on the ground, the nyūdō jumped over him and went away. At dawn, Zan'emon stopped by a private house and when he asked, "Are there strange things like tengu around here?" he received the reply, "Isn't that what's called a 'mikoshi-nyūdō'?" Afterward, Zen'emon reached his destination of Nagoya, but he lost his appetite, was afflicted by a fever, and even medical treatment and drugs had no effect, and died on the 13th day.
In a certain region of the Okayama Prefecture, if a female squats at a toilet, a fox (kitsune) shapeshifted into a mikoshi-nyūdō would appear and say menacingly, "." Also, it is said that on the night of Ōmisoka, by chanting "mikoshi-nyūdō, hototogisu" while at a toilet, a mikoshi-nyūdō would definitely appear. Concerning legends like these relating to toilets, there is the theory that they may have been confused with the kanbari-nyūdō.
True identity of mikoshi
There are many where the true identity of mikoshi-nyūdō is unclear, but there are regions where they are animals that possess the ability to transform. In the legends of Hinoemata, Minamiaizu District, Fukushima Prefecture, they are shapeshifted weasels, and it is said that if one gets lured to look up from the nyūdō's expansion, the weasel would take that opening and bite at one's throat. In the "Tonoigusa," they are shapeshifted tanuki, and there are also some regions where they are shapeshifted foxes (kitsune). In the Shinano Province (now Nagano Prefecture), they are said to be shapeshifted mujina. Also, in the aforementioned Hinoemata, it is said that the mikoshi-nyūdō's true form is a hand-held object like a paper lantern, bucket, or rudder, and that it would be possible to exterminate the nyūdō by striking at the object.
Similar tales
Yōkai similar to the mikoshi-nyūdō, such as the shidaidaka, the taka-nyūdō, the taka-bōzu, the nobiagari, the norikoshi-nyūdō, the miage-nyūdō, the nyūdō-bōzu, the yanbon, etc. throughout the country.