Rokuro-Kubi

Rokuro-Kubi (ろくろ首, 轆轤首, meaning Pulley Neck) is a Yōkai that can stretch her neck. She appears most prominently in the 2007 anime as one of Kitarō's friends.
Male Rokuro-Kubi have appeared in the 1968 anime and Shin GeGeGe no Kitarō: Sports Era.
==Appearance==
In the 2007 anime, she has short red hair and pale colored skin. In her yōkai form she wears yellow kimono with pink and purple obi and Japanese sandals. When posing as a human, she wears normal modern clothing and refrains from stretching her neck.
==Personality==
==History==
===Manga===
Rokuro-Kubi makes only a few sporadic appearances in the Shonen Magazine series, usually as a background character such as in the stories The Great Yōkai War and Odoro-Odoro.
An elderly Rokuro-Kubi appears as the antagonist of the Zoku GeGeGe no Kitarō story The Great Rokuro Battle. A male Rokuro-Kubi named Rokurozan (ろくろ山) appeared in the Shin GeGeGe no Kitarō: Sports Era story Sumo.
===1968 Anime===
Rokuro-Kubi first appears in the seventh episode of the first anime adaptation, Ghost Train, where she is one of the yōkai Nezumi-Otoko hires for his Yōkai Side Show. A male Rokuro-Kubi named Rokurobei (ろくろ兵衛) had previously appeared in the first episode, Obake Nighter, as a member of the Yōkai Baseball Team.
===1985 Anime===
She appears in episode #104 of the third anime adaptation, Mysterious Yōkai Hunting Tour.
===1996 Anime===
She is seen during the opening of the fourth anime adaptation, appearing during the foot race scene.
===2007 Anime===
She appears as a regular character in the fifth anime adaptation. She lives at Sunakake-Babaa's Yōkai Apartments and is close friends with Neko-Musume. She and Neko-Musume often work part-time jobs together in the human world, where Rokuro-Kubi uses the alias Rokuko (ろく子). In episode #21, Madly in Love? Yōkai Love Story, she meets and soon begins dating a human named Makoto Washio.
Another individual appeared in the first opening of the anime.
===2018 Anime===
She appears in episode #23 of the sixth anime adaptation, The Yōkai Apartment Secret Story.GeGeGe no Kitarō (2018): Episode 23
Rokuro-Kubi is among the crowd of yōkai gathered around the GeGeGe House, trying to drive Agnès out of the forest. She listens to Medama-Oyaji's warning that if they drive her out then the tragedy Malay yōkai will repeat somewhere else. Soon followed by Kitarō as he explains how grave the consequences are if Japan becomes a part of Backbeard's empire. This causes the crowd to look at one another, until their attention is drawn to Kitarō as he stands on his resolve to fight.GeGeGe no Kitarō (2018): Episode 35
==Other Media==
===Live-action===
She appears in the 2007 live-action film as the estranged wife of Wanyūdō. In the film, she is named Kazue (和江) and she first shows up at the Under the Grave Club flirting with Kitarō, but in the film's final scene Kitarō helps mend her relationship with Wanyūdō. They are seen dancing together during the dance scene at the start of the ending credits.
===Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare===
===The Great Yōkai War===
==Powers and Abilities==
Elastic Neck: Rokuro-Kubi is able to stretch her neck to an impressive length rather easily. She uses this in offense to bind those she fights against.
Selective Invisibility: She is also capable of making herself invisible to those she chooses, such as the priest that tried to exorcise her and the others from the apartment.
Teleportation: Similar to other Yōkai, Rokuro-Kubi is able to disappear from sight and is also able to appear somewhere else as well, flashing quickly while doing so, akin to teleporting as her kimono falls down when she appeared in front of the landlords.
==Legend==
Rokuro-Kubi are humans transformed into Yōkai due to a curse resulting from a misdeed. They are normally depicted as women, but there have been male Rokuro-Kubi. They at first appear to be normal people, however they have the ability to stretch their necks to an amazing length where the head roams freely. The head would do a number of things, such as licking lamp oil with their long tongues, attacking small animals, or simply scare humans who sees them. In many cases, it is actually the husband or father who committed the sin, leaving the woman cursed instead. A variation of the Rokuro-Kubi is the Nuke-Kubi, where the head detaches instead of having a neck that stretches.
==Trivia==
* The design of Rokuro-Kubi in the 2007 anime is more akin to the original illustration by Mizuki, notably matching the hairstyle, while another individual appeared in the first opening with the more traditional appearance the Yōkai.
==References==
==Navigation==
Category:Characters
Category:Females
Category:Yōkai
Category:Human-like Yōkai
Category:Yōkai Yokochō residents
Category:Yōkai Apartments residents
Category:The Great Yōkai War characters
Category:Rokuro-Kubi
Category:Japanese Mythology
Category:Races