Rokurokubi

Origin and tradition

Japanese folklore tells of people, often women, whose necks stretch at night or whose heads detach from sleeping bodies.

Illustration in this atlas

By day an ordinary person; by night a head gliding on an impossible neck through rafters and screens.

References and further reading

1. en.wikipedia.org — Rokurokubi

These references offer further reading. Accounts and depictions vary; the atlas illustration is interpretive artwork, rather than historical or scientific evidence.