Jubokko, the blood tree of the battlefields

The Jubokko is a demon of the Japanese tradition.

The vampire tree that drinks blood on old battlefields.

Jubokko

The Jubokko is the Japanese vampire tree: a tree yokai that, according to the story, arises on former battlefields from a blood-soaked tree and catches passers-by in order to drink their blood.

The origin of the figure is important: the Jubokko is not old folklore but a creation of the 20th century, popularised by Mizuki Shigeru. Outwardly it looks like an ordinary, often withered tree; only when it strikes do its branches turn into tube- and hose-like formations.

At a glance: Jubokko

Type: tree yokai with a vampire motif, modern figure
Origin: Japan, 20th century, no pre-modern records
Texts: manga and yokai picture lexicons, no old body of sources
Period: 20th century to the present
Appearance: outwardly an ordinary, often withered tree with branches transformed into tube-like forms

Textual history

Period of the Texts

Modern: the Jubokko is a figure of the 20th century without pre-modern records; folklorists such as Yanagita Kunio cite no precursor.

Area of Diffusion

No regional folkloric origin: the Jubokko was spread through manga and yokai picture lexicons, not through local folk belief.

Sources

Sparse and part of popular culture: manga, yokai picture books and modern yokai research; there is no serious pre-modern primary literature.

Name and variants

Japanese: The name is written with the characters for tree and child, literally something like tree-child. Despite the harmless name, it denotes a blood-sucking being; the exact original authorship of the figure has not been conclusively established.

Form and effect

Appearance

The Jubokko disguises itself as a normal, often withered-looking tree. When it strikes, its branches turn into tube- and hose-like formations, through which it draws the blood of its victims.

Effect

According to tradition, the Jubokko arises on battlefields where the ground is soaked with the blood of the fallen; the tree absorbs the blood and becomes a yokai. It then seizes passers-by, regardless of person or status, and draws blood from them through its transformed branches. Symbolically it stands for a place poisoned by the blood of war and for nature, which absorbs human violence and returns it: a memorial to past battles.

Profile: Jubokko

The key aspects of the vampire tree at a glance.

Tradition

Modern yokai creation of the 20th century, usually attributed to Mizuki Shigeru; a panel of yokai experts found no trace in folklore records.

Relates To

Passers-by, regardless of person or status: whoever comes too close to the disguised tree is seized.

Depiction

Outwardly an ordinary, often withered tree; its branches turn into tube- and hose-like forms when it grasps its prey.

Function

A horror and cautionary motif: the blood-soaked site of battle that itself becomes a predatory being and demands the blood of the living.

Practice

No traditional protective or cult forms are known, which fits the modern origin of the figure.

Related beings

The old tree spirit Kodama as its traditional counterpart; internationally, the literary motif of the man-eating tree.

A yokai invention of the 20th century

The Jubokko is very likely modern and has no older folklore: folklorists such as Yanagita Kunio cite no forerunner, and a panel of yokai experts found no trace of the blood tree in folklore records and consider it an invention of Mizuki.

A competing attribution names Saito Morihiro and a 1972 picture encyclopedia; the exact original authorship has not been finally settled. Only the modern character of the figure is certain. This sets the Jubokko fundamentally apart from old tree spirits such as Kodama, behind which lies centuries of folk belief.

Reception and classification

The Jubokko became popular through Mizuki Shigeru’s GeGeGe no Kitaro as a battlefield-dwelling antagonist, and from there found its way into yokai picture books, video games and trading card games.

From the perspective of religious studies, the Jubokko is a tree yokai with a vampire motif: less an expression of traditional tree veneration than a modern horror and cautionary motif without cultic roots. Classifying it among the demons is defensible in the sense of a harmful, hostile being. Two clarifications are important: the Jubokko is most likely not an old being of folk belief but a modern invention. And its lethality applies only within the narrative logic of the figure, not as handed-down folk belief.

Why there is no traditional means of defence

No traditional protective or cult forms are known for the Jubokko, which fits its modern origin: where there is no old folk belief, no grown defensive practice exists either. This gap should be stated honestly; invented protective means would be inappropriate. General folk-belief protective symbols such as salt or amulets belong to the broad handling of harmful beings, not to a distinct Jubokko tradition.

Predatory trees and vampire trees worldwide

The motif of the blood- or man-devouring tree is international: the man-eating tree and the so-called Madagascar tree of the 19th century are likewise literary inventions, and the Jubokko stands within this worldwide tradition of the vampire and predatory tree motif. Within the East Asian world of tree spirits, the Japanese Kodama and the Chinese Penghou form the traditional counterpart, and in West Africa the Iroko Man.

Frequently asked questions about the Jubokko

Is the Jubokko a real, old being of folk belief?

Most likely not. Experts find no premodern source; it is considered a modern invention, usually attributed to Mizuki Shigeru, with Saito Morihiro named as a competing attribution.

Where does the Jubokko come from?

According to tradition, from trees on battlefields that absorbed the blood of the fallen and thereby became yokai.

Can one protect oneself?

There are no traditional protective means handed down, which fits the modern origin of the figure.

Further links

Literature (selection)

Further standard works in the bibliography.

As Japan’s vampire tree, the Jubokko is a young yokai: a blood-sucking tree yokai that tells less of an old tree cult than of the memory of battlefields, whose blood lives on in its wood.