Editing Kensei (section)

=====Creatures of Death=====

* Jubokko
A giant monster tree with a vertical split mouth in its "trunk" full of teeth. Appearing as if just a tree, Jubokko have developed a vampiric thirst for blood after having so much spilled on them in war. At night it becomes active, draining the juices from men until only brittle bones remain. 

Jubokko myths were common to all regions of Japan, although its been suggested it was invented by folklorists combining similar myths in the more recent era. Basically trees, often but not always, at former battlefields that had so much blood spilled they began to thirst for it. They capture living beings to drain to sate their new thirst. Jubokko always appear to be the healthiest tree around, and if cut bleed like human rather than leak sap. Their "blood" and extracts have healing properties. 

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Image:Jubokko.jpeg
Image:Jubokko Mini.JPG
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* Shinigami

A Kami of death, appearing as a rotund giant monk wearing tattered clothing and carrying a pot full of souls. 

The Shinigami seeks ownership of souls, and causes feelings of dread and hopelessness to cause civilians to commit suicide, or soldiers to lose their will to live so it can collect their souls as well. 

Shinigami are popular in modern Japanese fiction (mostly anime), but are a relatively new concept. They appeared in Edo period fiction which dwelled on suicide and accidental avoidable deaths as a supernatural explanation, and many spirits and even gods like Izanami were retroactively considered types of Shinigami. Also thanks to their new nature there isn't a universally agreed-upon version of them; sometimes they are more like ghosts that possess people and cause them to commit suicide in the same way they themselves did, other times they are unhappy or corrupted (such as by pollution of their domain) spirits who cause depressed and suicidal feelings in humans, and very rarely were used as grim reaper figures. The latter is the most popular interpretation today. 

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Image:Shinigami.jpeg
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* Goryo

See Undead army entry above. 

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Image:Goryo 1.jpeg
Image:Goryo 2.jpeg
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* Ao Bozu
A diminutive blue-skinned cyclopean monk. 

Originally appeared as a sketch and the name Aobozu with no attached story in a famous book compiling various rural ghost myths from the late 1700's. Plenty have elaborated on the myth since then, and Ao Bozu can be anything from a child-snatching boogeyman to a monk who mutated due to studying too much or too little to a benevolent Kami. The name refers to the colors blue or green and has symbolic meaning of inexperience. In old Shinto myths, one-eyed beings are usually connected to ancient and cruel deities who were defeated by more benevolent ones and can be warded away by anything with a lot of holes, like a woven basket, since it reminds them of many eyes and either confuses, scares, or angers them. 

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Image:Ao Bozu.png
Image:Ao Bozu Myth.png|The original Aobozu depiction. 
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* Gaikotsu

A level 3 Yokai. Gaikotsu are giant skeletons animated by the souls of those who starved to death. They haunt the Kuni in search of men to eat. It usually attacks those who are alone or in small groups. Before it attacks, its prey hear a buzzing or ringing in their ears. 

Its name simply means "Skeleton" and it isn't based on any particular myth. Gaikotsu borrows most from the Japanese myth of Gashadokuro/Odokuro, as above in in the Undead army but applied to groups of large skeletons rather than an individual giant. 

The Kensei Gaikotsu wears armor and carries a No-Dachi. 

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Image:Gaikotsu.jpeg
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* Oni
Death also gets an Oni. 

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Image:Undead Oni.jpg
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* Onmoraki

A level 3 Yokai. A dark buzzard-like Yokai born from the suffering of battlefield dead. A being causing immense fear to those who see it, the Onmoraki travels from battlefield to battlefield consuming pain and souls to grow stronger. 

In the origin myth, they are giant birds with black feathers and human faces. They are born when a soul doesn't receive enough funerary prayers, and primarily harass priests who neglect their duties by imitating their own voice and acting as a guilty conscience or otherwise terrifying them. 

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Image:Onmoraki Model.png
Image:Onmoraki.jpeg
Image:Onmoraki Myth.jpg|The mythological origin. 
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* Gaki
Same as in the Kuroi-te entry. 

* Mekurabe
Same as in the Kuroi-te entry.

* Ukuri Inu
Same as in the Kuroi-te entry.

* Jikininki
Same as in the Kuroi-te entry.

* Kubikajiri
Same as in the Kuroi-te entry. 

* Onryo

Same as in the Kuroi-te entry.