Konaki-Jijii

Template:Infobox Konaki-Jijii (子泣き爺 or 子泣きじじい, Little Crying Old Man) is an old man yōkai and a member of the Kitarō Family. He is one of Kitarō's strongest allies and is often seen with Sunakake-Babaa.

Cast

• Anime
  • Ichirō Nagai (1st & 3rd)
    • Yonehiko Kitagawa (1st, Ep. 7)
    • Kōsei Tomita (1st, Ep. 29)
  • Kōji Yada/Sanji Hase (2nd)
    • Ichirō Nagai (2nd, Ep. 19)
    • Shingo Kanemoto (2nd, Ep. 21)
  • Kōzō Shioya (4th, Yo-Kai Watch film)
  • Naoki Tatsuta (5th)
  • Bin Shimada (6th)
• TV Drama
  • Shōichirō Akaboshi (Monday Dramaland)
  • Mansaku Fuwa (Demon Flute)
• Video Games
  • Takanobu Hozumi (GeGeGe no Kitarō: Ibun Yōkai Kitan)
• Movies
  • Kanpei Hazama

Legend

The original Konaki-Jijii is a ghost which is said to appear in the woods of the Tokushima Prefecture in the form of a crying infant. When it is picked up by some hapless traveler, it increases its weight until it crushes him.

Appearance

Konaki-Jijii has a head shaped like a baby's with the face of an old man with a mustache and drooping eyebrows. He typically wears a Kintarō apron and a mino. In some adaptations his front tooth is blackened.

History

Konaki-Jijii first appeared in a cameo in the rental manga story A Walk to Hell and made his official debut in the Shonen Magazine story The Great Yōkai War. His first appearance in the 1st anime was in Ep. 7. In both the manga and anime version of The Great Yōkai War, he dies during the battle with the Western yōkai. In the manga version his cause of death is unknown, but his corpse is seen after he was lead to the enemy lair by the Witch. In the anime version he is killed by Dracula. In both versions, however, he defeats one of the enemies by weighing them down on the raft and drowning him (Frankenstein in the manga, Wolfman in the anime). He later reappears without any explanation as to how he was revived (Ep. 25) and became a recurring character.

About

Konaki-Jijii is a comic, absent-minded old man yōkai who attacks enemies by clinging to them and turning himself to stone, increasing his weight and mass immensely and pinning them down. He works a lot with Sunakake-Babaa and they are often seen together, leading fans to speculate they may be a couple or even married. Whether or not they are has never been clarified in either the manga or anime, but they are some instances implying they maintain some form of a relationship, such as Sunakake-Babaa getting jealous when Konaki-Jijii fights against other women. In the 2nd anime, Konaki-Jijii implies he actually has a wife, but she is never shown. However, in Yōkai Sen Monogatari he is in love with Sunakake-Babaa.

On occasion he has been shown to have a lot of money saved up, such as the stories Sumo and Witch Lon Lon. In the 4th anime, he even owns fancy clothes and a personal computer he uses to look up information. In Kitarō Kunitori Monogatari, he is distantly related to the human politician Deputy Prime Minister Kinkaku. Kinkaku himself is aware of their relation and even writes him a letter.

He has lived a long time, and as a result his endurance is weak and he sleeps a lot, particularly in the 5th anime. He is also quite a drinker, and Sunakake-Babaa frequently scolds him for getting drunk. In The Great Yōkai Trial, Nezumi-Otoko gives him sake laced with sleeping potion to prevent him from testifying on Kitarō's behalf. There are many other instances of his drinking getting him in trouble, such as when Neko-Shō was able to steal his youth while he was drunk (4th anime, Ep. 108).

Techniques

Combat Skills

• Headbutt
• Staff

Other Techniques

• Hiccup Technique
• Revival Ability
• Yōkai Energy
• Earthquake
• Transformation

Anime portrayals

1st & 2nd

Unlike later adaptations, he and Sunakake-Babaa are not shown together as often. In the 2nd anime he is a recurring character and appears often with Sunakake-Babaa at the Yōkai Apartment. They began to fight alongside one another and are often arguing over trivial matters. Also in the 2nd anime he is shown to have a short temper.

3rd

His personality is mostly the same and he is shown to display some leadership skills behind Medama-Oyaji and Sunakake-Babaa. He has been friends with Sunakake-Babaa for a long time and they are very close. Konaki-Jijii even confesses his love for her in Ep. 107.

4th

He is portrayed as far more easygoing, with several scenes of him playing dumb or goofing off. On the other hand, he is shown to be proficient with human devices like computers, whereas he wasn't in previous adaptations. As has become the norm, he and Sunakake-Babaa are close and often work as a team during battle.

5th

He is a resident of Sunakake-Babaa's Yōkai Tenement House, where he is several hundred years behind on rent. In the 1st episode he says to Sunakake-Babaa that it is 300 years late, but she corrects him that it is actually 400 years. The two frequently squabble as always and Sunakake-Babaa scolds him more than previous adaptations. Konaki-Jijii usually responds to the scolding by throwing a child-like tantrum. He is still pretty goofy and also has a fetish for black hair. However, when they fought against the Western Yōkai he took things very seriously, and regularly showed great feats of strength. He is strong enough to win against both Frankenstein and Gorgon. Because of this, he became known as the "Western Yōkai Killer". He was later chosen as the Tokushima representative of the 47 Yōkai Warriors.

Image Songs

• Oji-san wa Naiteiru by Ichirō Nagai (1985 anime)
• Konaki no Lullaby by Naoki Tatsuta (2007 anime)

Gallery

Konaki-Jijii/Gallery

Trivia

• In the 2002 Kodansha International Bilingual Comics edition, he is referred to as Old Man Crybaby.
• In the 2007 anime version, he's the 3rd of the chosen 47 Yōkai Warriors of Japan. He's the representative of Tokushima Prefecture. And his mark is located behind his the upper left side of his head.
• In the 1980s Shonen Magazine manga, he suffers from rheumatism.