Japan is where we journey to for the next installment of our series on mythical beings, and we are confronted by a Jubokko.

A Jubokko is a class of spirit known in Japan as a Yokai. Yokai can be malevolent or benevolent, and they can have human, animal or inanimate characteristics. In the case of the Jubokko, the Yokai takes the form of a tree, a tree that has grown upon a blood-soaked battlefield. A Jubokko will often look like a regular tree, but it has become dependent on human blood to survive, and will snare humans who stray too close, before transforming some of ita branches into tubes, sucking the blood of the unwary traveller.

Whilst is this clearly quite a morbid legend, it is also said that a Jubokko branch can heal an injured person. As with so many things, there are nuances to this myth.