Ubume

Common card · No. 335294

Ubume (Japanese: 産女) (also ubumedori (姑獲鳥) or ubumetori (産女鳥)) are Japanese yōkai, ghosts of women who died in childbirth, but may have borne a child alive. The creature is equivalent to the Chinese Guhuoniao (Chinese: 姑獲鳥, "wench bird") but local Japanese folklore has been blended into the legend. Throughout folk stories and literature the identity and appearance of ubume varies. However, she is most commonly depicted as the spirit of a woman who has died during childbirth. Passersby will see her as a normal-looking woman carrying a baby. She will typically try to give the passerby her child then disappears. When the person examines the child in his arm, he discovers it to be a bundle of leaves or large rock.

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