Oshiroi-baba - 白粉婆 - [Yokai]
Oshiroi-baba - 白粉婆 - [Yokai] - Image 2
Oshiroi-baba - 白粉婆 - [Yokai] - Image 3
Oshiroi-baba - 白粉婆 - [Yokai] - Image 4

Oshiroi-baba – 白粉婆 – [Yokai]

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Description

Oshiroi-baba – 白粉婆 – “Face Powder Hag.”
•About this yokai:  A Yama-Uba (Mountain crone.) who takes on the appearance of a  hunched-back old hag, wearing a large, tattered umbrella hat and dressed  in all white often coming to town on winter evenings to buy some sake. –  As the name suggests, her face is absolutely caked in the finest quality Oshiroi & rouge makeup: However, her application is sloppy,  it’s been smeared, giving her a terrifying “appearance which would even make the mountain gods tremble…”
• History: Another yokai which was earliest drawn & included in Toriyama Sekeins; Konjaku Hyakki Shui [1781] – The included passage goes as follows, 
“The God of beni and oshiroi is known as “Jifun Senjō” The oshiroi baba is the gods handmaiden. As the saying goes, theres nothing scarier than a womans appearance in the December moonlight.” – Japandemonium [2017]
According to them, Oshiroi babā serve as the handmaidens of  “Jifun Senjō” 脂粉仙娘  who is (a seemingly fictional) Goddess of rogue and makeup. The saying is referencing an old proverb – “Even the mountain gods tremble at a woman’s makeup in December.” – Everyones so busy around that time of year that nobody has time to apply make up properly!
More often than not, Oshiroi-baba is simplified as a type of “Yuki-onna“ – However, Unlike yuki-onna, Oshiroi-baba are said to help people who are frozen or in distress, providing them with warm sake & rice. – [Apparently pouring it down the frozen victims throats, not unlike like a saint Bernard.] – Other modern tales (which I’ve read on various sites online.) say that she coats the victims face in the white powder and it tears off their skin, eating it. (Terrifying!)  There are actually a few cases of make-up-related yokai [“Ohaguro bettari” & “Taka onna” for instance] perhaps it was intended as a way to ‘poke fun’ towards the upper class? who can say with 100% certainty. Either way, I’d certainly be quite concerned if I saw an elderly woman with her face caked in makeup running around barefoot in the snow on a December night!! … Also worth note is that there’s always the sad chance that older accounts of this yokai where of an actual senile &/or insane old ladies.. if it was based on an actual person (As Yama-uba legends are often exaggerated true accounts.) in which case, it takes on a sadder, pitiful meaning, I’d suppose.

[Sticker Art by @Samkalensky part of my yokai night parade of 100 demons, yokai sticker collection! check my shop and follow for many more]

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