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[[Image:Ryoi Nopperabo.jpg|thumb|Depiction of a ''noppera-bō'' (by [[Asai Ryōi]] in his ''Otogi Boko'', early [[Edo period]])]]
The {{nihongo|'''''Noppera-bō'''''|のっぺらぼう|}}, or faceless [[ghost]], is a [[Japan]]ese [[yōkai]] (legendary creature) that looks like a human but has no face.

Noppera-bō are known primarily for frightening humans, but are usually otherwise harmless. They appear at first as ordinary human beings, sometimes impersonating someone familiar to the victim, before causing their features to disappear, leaving a blank, smooth sheet of skin where their face should be.

==Noppera-bō in legends==
Often in legends, a noppera-bō was actually the disguise of a [[mujina]], a fox [[kitsune]], or a [[tanuki]].<ref>{{Cite book|author=[[村上健司]]編著|title=日本妖怪大事典|year=2005|publisher=[[角川書店]]|series=Kwai books|isbn=978-4-04-883926-6|pages=255頁}}</ref> 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|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.<ref>{{Cite book|author=高古堂小幡宗佐衛門|editor=太刀川清校訂|title=続百物語怪談集成|year=1993|publisher=[[国書刊行会]]|isbn=978-4-336-03527-1|pages=216頁|chapter=新説百物語}}</ref> However, sometimes their real identity is not known, and in the [[Kanbun (era)|Kanbun]] 3 (1663) kaidan collection ''Sorori Monogatari'', it was written that in the Oike-cho of the capital (now Nakagyō-ku, Kyoto), there appeared a noppera-bō with a height of about 7 shaku (about 2.1 meters), but nothing was written about what its true identity was.<ref>{{Cite book|author=編著者不詳|editor=[[高田衛]]編・校注|title=江戸怪談集|year=1989|publisher=[[岩波書店]]|series=[[岩波文庫]]|volume=中|isbn=978-4-00-302572-7|pages=63–65頁|chapter=曾呂利物語}}</ref> They are also said to appear in folktales in the [[Osaka Prefecture]]<ref>{{Cite web|author=山川隆平|url=http://www.nichibun.ac.jp/YoukaiCard/2180483.shtml|title=民間伝承 26巻2号 船場怪談|website=[[怪異・妖怪伝承データベース]]|publisher=[[国際日本文化研究センター]]|accessdate=21 August 2010}}</ref> and [[Kotonami, Kagawa|Kotonami]], [[Nakatado District, Kagawa|Nakatado District]], [[Kagawa Prefecture]] among other places.<ref>{{Cite journal<!-- |和書 -->|author=北條令子|date=August 1985|title=海と山の妖怪話|journal=香川の民俗|issue=通巻44号|pages=7頁|publisher=香川民俗学会}}</ref>

===The Noppera-bō and the Koi Pond===
This tale recounts a lazy fisherman who decided to fish in the [[Imperial Household of Japan|imperial]] [[koi]] ponds near the [[Heian-kyō]] palace. Despite being warned by his wife about the pond being sacred and near a [[graveyard]], the fisherman went anyway.  On his way to the pond, he is warned by another fisherman not to go there, but he again ignores the warning. Once at the spot, he is met by a beautiful young woman who pleads with him not to fish in the pond.  He ignores her and, to his horror, she wipes off her face.  Rushing home to hide, he is confronted by what seems to be his wife, who chastises him for his wickedness before wiping off her facial features as well.

===The Mujina of the Akasaka Road===
The most famous story recollection of the Noppera-bō comes from [[Lafcadio Hearn]]'s book ''[[Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things]]'' titled ''Mujina''. The story of a man who travelled along the [[Akasaka, Tokyo|Akasaka]] road to [[Edo]], he came across a young woman in a remote location near Kunizaka hill, crying and forlorn. After attempting to console the young woman and offer assistance, she turned to face him, startling him with the blank countenance of a faceless ghost. Frightened, the man proceeded down the road for some time, until he came across a [[soba]] vendor. Stopping to relax, the man told the vendor of his tale, only to recoil in horror as the soba vendor stroked his face, becoming a noppera-bō himself. It turns out that all of these noppera-bō were really just [[mujina]] in disguise.

There are other tales about noppera-bō, from a young woman rescued from bandits by a [[samurai]] on horseback whose face disappears; to stories of nobles heading out for a tryst with another, only to discover the [[courtesan]] is being impersonated by a noppera-bō.

==Recent reports==
Although most tales of noppera-bō predate the 20th century, there are exceptions, both in Japan itself as well as locations where Japanese have emigrated, most notably the U.S. state of [[Hawaii]].  Among the most recent reports:

* On May 19, 1959, [[Honolulu Advertiser]] reporter Bob Krauss reported a sighting of a noppera-bō at the Waialae Drive-In Theatre in Kahala.  Krauss reported that the witness watched a woman combing her hair in the women's restroom, and when the witness came close enough, they turned, revealing her featureless face.  The witness was reported to have been admitted to the hospital for a nervous breakdown.  Noted Hawaiian historian, folklorist, and author [[Glen Grant (historian)|Glen Grant]], in a 1981 radio interview dismissed the story as rumor, only to be called by someone claiming to be the witness, who gave more details on the event, including the previously unreported detail that the mujina in question had red hair.<ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.geocities.com/area51/hollow/6166/faceless.html
 |title       = The Faceless Woman
 |accessdate  = 2008-10-01
 |archiveurl  = https://www.webcitation.org/5knBOti1S?url=http://www.geocities.com/area51/hollow/6166/faceless.html
 |archivedate = October 25, 2009
 |deadurl     = yes
 |df          = 
}}</ref> 
* Grant has also reported on a number of other sightings in Hawaii, from [[Ewa Beach, Hawaii|Ewa Beach]] to [[Hilo, Hawaii|Hilo]].{{citation needed|date=February 2017}}

==Modern usage==
* The 2001 film [[Spirited Away]] featured a "no face" being; that consumed others in a state of constant greed.
* S1E11 of the [[List_of_Inuyasha_episodes|Inuyasha]] & S1E6 of '''''The Haunted House: Secret of the Ghost Ball'''''<ref>https://www.netflix.com/title/81028939</ref> [[anime]]s use this kind of entity.

==See also==
*[[Mujina]]
*[[Changeling]]
*[[Kuchisake-onna]]
*[[Slender Man]]

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*[http://www.scaryforkids.com/no-face/ Noppera-bo (No Face) at ScaryForKids]
*[http://www.obakemono.com/obake/nopperabou/ Entry on "nopperabou" at The Obakemono Project]
*[http://www.monogatari.org/figures/mujina.htm Lafcadio Hearn's story at Monogatari.org]
*[http://www.holott.org/contes.htm Pierre Wayser's flash video of the mujina story] {{fr icon}}
*[https://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/area51/hollow/6166/faceless.html&date=2009-10-25+12:34:17 webpage regarding the 1959 and 1981 reports of the Waialae Mujina]
*[http://www.k-i-a.or.jp/main/kiaeigopage/KaidanPage/articles/Kwaidan.htm Discussion of the confusion of terms brought about by the titles of Hearn's stories.]

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[[Category:Japanese folklore]]
[[Category:Japanese ghosts]]
[[Category:Shapeshifters]]
[[Category:Yōkai]]
[[Category:Legendary creatures with absent body parts]]