Jikininki

Jikininki (食人鬼, "human-eating ghosts") appear in Lafcadio Hearn's Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things (1904) as corpse-eating spirits.

A similar story can be found as Aozukin in Ueda Akinari's Ugetsu Monogatari from 1776.

Story

It is said that Muso was traveling alone through the mountains in the Mino prefecture of Japan when he lost his way. It was almost dark when he saw on a hill an old anjitsu, the home of solitary priests, He walked to the top of the hill and asked the inhabitant if he could stay the night. The inhabitant was an old priest who harshly refused him lodging, however he told him he could find food and a place to sleep in a hamlet nearby.

Muso found the hamlet where the headman welcomed him and promptly supplied him food and a place to sleep. A little before midnight Muso was awakened by a young man, who informed him that earlier that day, before he had arrived, his father had died. He had not told Muso earlier as so he would not feel embarrassed or obliged to participate in ceremonies. However the entire village was now leaving their homes for a nearby village, as it was custom to leave the corpse alone for the night or bad things would befall the village inhabitants. As a priest, Muso told the young man he would do his duty and perform the burial service and stay the night with the corpse. He was not afraid of the demons or evil spirits the young man spoke of.