page_title: Ouni
hierarchical_section_title: Ouni
caption_attribution_description: English: Wauwau わうわう from Bakemono no e (化物之繪, c. 1700), Harry F. Bruning Collection of Japanese Books and Manuscripts, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.
context_page_description: The ouni is a yōkai depicted in the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by Toriyama Sekien.
  It is a yōkai with a face like that of a demon woman torn from mouth to ear, and its entire body is covered in hair. There is no explanatory text from Sekien, so it is unclear what kind of yōkai this is. The "o" in "ouni" refers to the ramie plant or to bundles of string made from ramie, cannabis, among others, so it is said that Sekien gave it the name "ouni" because it conjures up the image of a yōkai with head and body hair made of layers of this o.
  In the Hyakkai Zukan, a yōkai emaki from the Edo Period, it is given by the name "wauwau," and Edo Period yōkai emaki would usually present it under that name, but all of these were also just pictures, so it is not known what characteristics they had. In another instance, there is a drawing in the Hyakki Yagyō Emaki from after Sekien's era where it is depicted under the title of "uwan uwan," and it is thought that likewise the ouni is a yōkai that Sekien drew while referring to earlier emaki.
context_section_description: The ouni (苧うに) is a yōkai depicted in the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by Toriyama Sekien.
  It is a yōkai with a face like that of a demon woman (kijo) torn from mouth to ear, and its entire body is covered in hair. There is no explanatory text from Sekien, so it is unclear what kind of yōkai this is. The "o" (苧) in "ouni" refers to the ramie plant or to bundles of string made from ramie, cannabis, among others, so it is said that Sekien gave it the name "ouni" because it conjures up the image of a yōkai with head and body hair made of layers of this o.
  In the Hyakkai Zukan (1737, Sawaki Suushi), a yōkai emaki from the Edo Period, it is given by the name "wauwau," and Edo Period yōkai emaki would usually present it under that name, but all of these were also just pictures, so it is not known what characteristics they had. In another instance, there is a drawing in the Hyakki Yagyō Emaki (Oda Gōchō, 1832) from after Sekien's era where it is depicted under the title of "uwan uwan," and it is thought that likewise the ouni is a yōkai that Sekien drew while referring to earlier emaki.
caption: Wauwau (わうわう) from Bakemono no e (化物之繪, c. 1700), Harry F. Bruning Collection of Japanese Books and Manuscripts, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.
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