Wauwau (or Ouni) 苧うに

Ouni (苧うに), the “Ramie Hag,” is a wild-looking but surprisingly helpful mountain spirit—a creature of the deep forest who appears to exhausted weavers to finish their work in a single night.

Meaning and Origin

The name Ouni is derived from O (苧), the ramie plant used to make traditional linen thread.

She belongs to the family of Yamauba (Mountain Hags), but she is a distinct, non-violent variation. Historically, she first appeared in the Hyakkai Zukan under the name “Wauwau,” which might refers to her strange, barking cries. Later, the great Toriyama Sekien gave her the name “Ouni,” linking her specifically to the labor of spinning and weaving that dominated the lives of medieval Japanese women.

Characteristics

An Ouni is a terrifying sight to behold. She appears as an elderly woman with an angry, distorted face and a mouth that is split from ear to ear. Her most striking feature is her hair: she is covered from head to toe in long, matted, black hair that looks like unspun ramie fibers.

Despite her “angry” face, her nature is actually benevolent toward the hard-working. She represents the “Spirit of Labor”—the overwhelming, almost monstrous pressure of domestic work, but also the supernatural relief that comes from a sudden burst of productivity.

Legends

The most common legend of the Ouni involves her “Unseen Aid.” Stories tell of tired women who are falling asleep over their spinning wheels late at night in remote mountain villages. Suddenly, a wild-haired hag (the Ouni) bursts through the door.

Instead of attacking, the Ouni sits down at the wheel and begins to spin. Her hundreds of hairy limbs move with impossible speed, turning piles of raw ramie into miles of perfect thread within minutes. Before the sun rises, she vanishes back into the mountains, leaving the housework finished as a “reward” for the family’s hospitality. She is a reminder that in the harsh mountain life of old Japan, the “monsters” are not always there to eat you—sometimes, they are there to help you survive.