Dorotabou (Mud spirit)

Dorotabou is a mud spirit that emerges from the black mud of a rice field and, although not entirely dangerous, is terrifying in appearance.

Dorotabou are actually shapeshifting ghosts of old men toiling in their rice fields. They appear as one-eyed, three-toed humanoid figures that emerge from the mud at night. It is said that the five fingers of the human hand represent three vices and two virtues: anger, greed, delusion, wisdom, and compassion. The ghostly Dorotabou that appears with only three fingers represents evil. It was a spirit of vengeance and rage — angry at the ignorance and greed that it was now ashamed of with its life's work.

Dorotabou often appears and wanders through the overgrown grasslands, calling out in a mournful voice, "Give me back the rice fields!" They haunt their fields after nightfall, disturbing the new inhabitants of their land and preventing their sleep. Dorotabou continued to haunt until the wasteful landowners changed their ways or gave up and ran away, selling the field to someone who would take proper care of it.

Legend: Once upon a time, somewhere to the west of Tokyo, there lived a poor but hardworking farmer who worked hard on his land, the land finally became very fertile. and porous, can grow all kinds of trees in the world. But alas, the farmer fell ill and died. His son, a lazy and dishonest man in contrast to his father, spent his days and nights drinking, forgetting about the fertile land. Eventually, his land was sold to another owner.

The farmer's soul has not yet escaped, witnessing the scene of the farm in ruins and his hard work becoming nothing. Every moonlit night, his soul rises from the mud, mourning for his land and his fate. From then on, on the nights of the full moon, we can hear the pitiful cry from afar, the voice of the old farmer reclaiming his land.

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