Kamikiri 髪切り

Kamikiri (髪切り), the “Hair Cutter,” is a stealthy and unsettling yokai that sneaks into bedrooms and dark alleys to snip off the hair of unsuspecting victims.

Meaning and Origin

The name literally means “hair cutter” (kami - hair, kiri - cutter).

Incidents of Kamikiri attacks were widely reported in the urban centers of Edo (Tokyo) and Osaka during the 17th and 18th centuries. While often dismissed as the work of human pranking or “hair-fetishists,” the folklore insisted it was the work of a supernatural entity. It was particularly feared because, in old Japan, a woman’s long, black hair was her most prized possession and a symbol of her social status.

Characteristics

In traditional art, the Kamikiri is depicted as a strange, bird-like or arthropod-like creature with long, scissor-like hands and a sharp beak. It is exceptionally small and stealthy, able to pass through the smallest cracks in a wall or ceiling.

The Kamikiri always attacks in silence. The victim usually feels nothing at the time of the “attack.” They only discover the loss when they realize their ponytail has vanished or they find a clump of hair lying on the floor, still tied in its original ribbon.

Legends

One common legend claims that the Kamikiri is actually a “spirit of prevention.” It is said that the creature only cuts the hair of people who are about to engage in a disastrous marriage or a forbidden love affair—often with a shapeshifting Fox (Kitsune) in disguise. By cutting the person’s hair, the Kamikiri breaks the “glamour” and reveals the truth.

A famous historical account from a Tokyo newspaper in 1874 described a servant girl named Gin who went into an outhouse at night. She suddenly felt a strange chill and fled back to the house, only to discover that her long hair had been sliced off cleanly at the base of her neck. No one was found in the yard, and the incident was recorded as a classic Kamikiri encounter, a reminder that even in “modern” Japan, the scissors of the supernatural were still at work.