Jubokko

Jubokko
Name
Japanese	樹木子
Meaning	Tree Child
Profile
Species	Yōkai
Abilities	Bloodsucking
First Appearance
Anime	Series 5 Episode 67 (2007)
Portrayals
2007 anime	Katsuhisa Hōki

Jubboko (樹木子 Jubboko, lit. Tree Child) is a vampiric-tree yōkai that sucks the blood from humans.

Appearance

The Jubboko appears to be a tall leafless tree, that is blood red and the trunk appears to be very veiny and becomes thinner by the top. It has a mouth with light brown lips, while the branches jut out by the sides.

History

2007 Anime

Jubokko's Introductory Art

The Jubokko appeared in episode #67 of the fifth anime adaptation, Bloodsucking Tree! Jubokko. In that episode, it was sealed away with the help of Aobōzu. Numerous other Jubokko appeared elsewhere in Japan were later sealed away by Tengu Police.

Powers and Abilities

Branches: The Jubokko can extend its branches to capture targets and suck their bloods.

Thorns: The Jubokko can fire its thorns as projectiles. Each thorn is capable of clotting the target's blood.

Mobility: Despite its tree physiology, the Jubokko can freely move around from place to place.

Core: The Jubokko possesses a core, making it immune to many physical attacks to the rest of its body. However, the core is also its weak spot.

Legend

Jubokko appear as normal trees, almost indistinguishable from the surrounding trees. They are often found on fields of war or sites of massacres, where the blood of those who died there saturate the soil. They were normal trees before absorbing the blood from the soil, where they now only thirst for human blood. They wait for humans to pass under their branches, attacking their targets. They then snatch them with their long, finger-like branches and bring them into their boughs, where they then pierce into their skin to drain their blood with special tube-like twigs. The flesh and organs of the body are consumed by birds, insects, and other animals, with the dry bones falling to the ground. The bone pile at the base of the trees is an indicator of its previous victims.

It is suspected by a group of yokai researchers, consisting of Natsuhiko Kyougoku, Katsumi Tada, and Kenji Murakami, that the Jubokko is an invention of Shigeru Mizuki since they could not find traces of the vampiric plant in folklore records, legends, and old literature. However, they could not find the actual source because of Mizuki's secretiveness with his own sources. Supposedly, Morihiro Saitō claims that he created the Jubokko in his 1972 book Ichiban kuwashī Nihon yōkai zukan (いちばんくわしい日本妖怪図鑑). Jubokko's earliest recorded appearance in modern media was in the November 1966 issue of the Bessatsu Shoujo Friend (別冊少女フレンド) magazine published by Saitō.