Noppera-bō

The noppera-bō (のっぺらぼう) or 野箆坊, or faceless ghost, is a Japanese yōkai that looks like a human but has no face.

Lafcadio Hearn used the animals' name as the title of his story about faceless monsters, probably resulting in the misused terminology.

[2] In Showa 4 (1767), in the kaidan collection Shinsetsu Hyakumonogatari, there were stories that told of how in Nijugawara in Kyoto (near the Nijo-ohashi bridge in the Nakagyō-ku, Kyoto), a monster called noppera-bō appeared and those that were attacked by it would have several thick hairs attached to their clothing, indicating that it was the disguise of some kind of animal.

The story tells of a man who, travelling along the Akasaka road to Edo, comes across a young woman in a remote location near Kunizaka hill, crying and forlorn.

After he attempts to console the young woman and offer assistance, she turns to face him, startling him with the blank countenance of a faceless ghost.