Hyottoko

Local dialects transformed it into Hyottoko (ひょっとこ)[citation needed], palatalizing hio to hyo and making the /t/ geminate.

There is a well known folk story in the form of music, izumoyasugibushi (出雲安来節) where a fisherman dances with a bamboo basket, having the same visual expression as the mask of Hyottoko.

Upon satisfying the requests of the unknown figure with his own gathered sticks, the old man is drawn into a subterranean realm ruled by a fire god.

The old man's so-called "shifty" wife impatiently unties the bundle and a malformed baby with a swollen belly button, which it constantly picks at, is revealed.

The wife is frustrated with this "treasure" and harbours a dislike for the baby, but the old man grows attached to it and nurtures it.

Distraught, the old man carves a wooden mask of the baby, the eponymous Hyottoko, and hangs it within sight of the realm that it came from, in the hopes that it might one day return.

This portrayal came probably from the popular stereotype of the meshimori onna, also known as okame, and was used in Zen poetry to reflect the doctrine of nondualism.