Ubagabi

They are mentioned in old literature, such as the Tenpō period book the Shokoku Rijin Dan (諸国里人談)[2] and Ihara Saikaku's collection of miscellaneous tales the Saikaku Shokoku Banashi (西鶴諸国ばなし)[3] as well as Edo period kaidan books such as the Kokon Hyaku Monogatari Hyōban (古今百物語評判'),[4] the Kawachi Kagami Meishōki (河内鑑名所記),[5] and Toriyama Sekien's collection of yōkai depictions, the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō, among other mentions.

[6] According to the Shokoku Rijin Dan, on a rainy night, in Hiraoka, Kawachi (now Higashiōsaka, Osaka Prefecture), it would appear as a ball of fire with a length of one shaku (about 30 centimeters).

[5] It is said that in the past, an old woman stole oil from Hiraoka Shrine and became a mysterious fire from a resulting curse.

[7] In the tale where an old woman became an ubagabi, the Saikaku Shokoku Banashi, it is written about here as the "Mi wo Sute Abura-tsubo (the oil pot that threw away its body)."

[1] In the Kokon Hyaku Monogatari Hyōban, there was once an old woman who lived near Kameyama (now Kameoka, Kyoto Prefecture) who would receive money from parents, telling them that she would take them to meet people they needed to see, and put the children into the Hozu River.