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Yama-uba looks like an old woman, usually a hideous one. Her unkempt hair is long and white, and her kimono is filthy and tattered. Her mouth is sometimes said to stretch the entire width of her face, and some depictions give her a second mouth at the top of her head. She is able to change her appearance, though, and she uses this tactic to great success in capturing her victims.
Yama-uba inhabits the deep forests of the mountains of Japan. Various regions claim her as a native, including Sabana (where she is supposed to have once lived in a cave at the base of Mt. Nabekura ), the Tohoku region (northern Honshu), and the Ashigara Mountains . Most stories say that she lives in a hut .
Yama-uba preys on travelers who have become lost in her wooded lair. Her exact tactics vary from story to story. Sometimes, she changes her appearance to that of a beautiful woman or possibly one of her victim's loved ones. Other times, she retains her hag-like form and plays the part of a helpless old woman. Once she has gained her quarry's trust, she often closes and eats them then and there. She is able to animate her hair (or turn it to snakes in some legends) and use it to pull the prey into the maw atop her head. She may also offer to "help" the lost soul and then lead him to a dangerous area of the mountain where he falls to his death and allows her to feed. Alternately, she may offer to lodge the victim in her hut. Once the luckless traveler is sufficiently fattened up, she pounces. In addition to killing adults, Yama-uba is often blamed for missing children, and parents use her as a sort of bogie man.
Because her behavior is similar to that of female oni, some scholars suggest tha Yama-uba is simply a named member of that class of creature. Others suggest that several Yama-uba live all throughout Japan. Unlike the invincible oni, however, Yama-uba is fallible. A few tales make her a nocturnal creature unable to move about in sunlight. At least one tradition holds that her only weakness is a flower that holds her spirit, so that if the flower is destroyed, the mountain crone is as well. She is often depicted as quite gullible, and tales of her would-be prey fooling her to make their escape are common.
Yama-uba is skilled in the arts of sorcery, potionA potion (from Latin potio meaning beverage, potion, poison) is a drinkable medicine or poison. In legend a potion is a concoction used to heal, bewitch or poison people, made by a magician, sorcerer or witch. there can be cited love potions, intended tos, and poisonThis article is about the dangerous substance. For the band see Poison. skull and crossbones symbol traditionally used to label a poisonous substance. In the context of biology, poisons are substances that cause injury, illness, or death to organisms, usus. She sometimes trades this knowledge to human beings if they bring her a substitute victim to eat or satisfy some similarly wicked bargain.
Despite her predatory nature, Yama-uba has a benevolent side. Fo example, she raised the orphanAlternative uses: see orphan (typesetting), and orphan process in computing. An orphan is a being, typically a human or animal child, whose parents have both died. Half-orphans are children with one surviving parent. Most adults beyond a certain age have heroThis article is about the type of character. For other meanings, see Hero (disambiguation . Sir Galahad, a prototypical hero In many myths and folk tales, a hero is a man or woman (then often called a heroine , traditionally the protagonist of a story, le KintaroKintaro ("Golden Boy") is a hero from Japanese folklore. He is based on a real man named Kintoki Sakata who lived during the Heian period and probably came from what is now the city of Minami-ashigara. He served as a retainer for the samurai Yorimitsu Min, who became the famous warrior Sakata no Kintoki , a relationship that forms the basis for the nohItsukushima Shrine, Miyajima, Hiroshima Noh or No ( Japanese: No) is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Together with the closely related kyogen farce, it evolved from various popular and arist drama Yama-uba . In this story, Yama-uba is portrayed as a loving mother, which has influenced some more modern tales to depict her as a matronly figure. Some even make her a representation of loveFor the 1960s band, see Love (band). The term is also used in tennis. Love has many meanings in English. It can mean an intense feeling of affection, an emotion or emotional state. In ordinary use, it usually refers to interpersonal love. Love is one of t. Other storytellers hold that she is simply a solitary wanderer who represents harmony with natureFor alternative meanings, see nature (disambiguation). universe, the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI) and the HUDF team. hydrogen atom electron orbitals shown as cross-sections with color-coded probability density flea.