Ubume 産女

Ubume (産女), the “Mother of the Twilight,” is a sorrowful and poignant spirit—the ghost of a woman who has died in childbirth and lingers near lonely roads to ensure her child’s survival.

Meaning and Origin

The name means “Birth Woman” or “Late-Pregnancy Woman” (ubu - birth, me - woman).

The origin of the Ubume is rooted in the high maternal mortality rates of pre-modern Japan. It was a cultural manifestation of a mother’s “unfinished business”—the biological and spiritual drive to care for an infant she was forced to leave behind. In ancient times, people so feared the creation of an Ubume that they practiced the Ubusume ritual, where a fetus would be surgically removed from a deceased mother before burial to ensure their spirits would be separate and at peace.

Characteristics

An Ubume usually appears as a pale, distraught woman wearing a white burial kimono that is blood-stained from the waist down. She is often seen wandering on rainy nights, holding a swaddled infant close to her chest.

She is not typically malevolent, but rather desperation incarnate. She seeks help from the living but cannot communicate through normal speech. Sometimes, she appears in shops to buy sweets or milk for her baby, paying with coins that turn into dried leaves once she vanishes. Her energy is one of extreme weight and sorrow, a spiritual “gravity” that reflects her tether to the physical world.

Legends

The most famous legend is the “Bundle of Stone.” A traveler on a dark mountain pass is approached by a crying woman who begs him to “Hold my baby for just a moment.” The traveler agrees and takes the bundle. As the woman disappears into the mist, the “baby” begins to grow unnaturally heavy.

By the time the traveler reaches the bottom of the hill, the bundle feels as heavy as a massive boulder, threatening to crush his arms. If the traveler manages to hold on through prayer and sheer will, the bundle eventually transforms into a heavy statue of the Bodhisattva Jizō (the protector of children) or a bag of gold. This legend portrays the Ubume as a test of character—a bridge between the tragedy of death and the reward of compassionate strength.