There are two ways of writing this yokai’s name, one meaning “hairy sighting” and the other meaning “rare and suspicious”. Both of these aptly describe the yokai - as it is shy and resembles a mess of hair. It appears in dank, musty old homes and lives under the floorboards where it unwittingly brings about sickness to anyone who comes near it. The yokai itself, however, avoids human contact wherever possible.
This filth-lapping yokai appears in dirty bathrooms. With its red, oily skin and hunched posture it resembles a goblin. Using its long tongue, it licks up grease and filth from old bathtubs. While unlikely to approach humans, this is another disease-spreading yokai.
These household spirits crawl out from the dirt beneath floorboards and roam the house making banging and knocking sounds. They create a sense of uneasiness and tension in the houses where they reside, but shooing them away will result in the house coming to complete ruin, thus making it a better choice to just put up with the discomfort.
Nuppeppo is a greasy blob of flesh that reeks of rotting meat and squelches its way around old temples, abandoned streets, and graveyards. While not particularly malicious, its odor and appearance are enough to cause even the toughest palace guard to faint. Anyone who can stand to eat its flesh - though even catching it would be quite the achievement - is said to be granted eternal life.
There are multiple hypotheses as to its origin including; a transformation attempt that went horribly wrong, a mass of rotting corpses becoming blended together, or even the coming together of the fat and hair from public baths.
There is a very similar yokai by the name of Hyakume, which is almost indistinguishable from the Nuppeppo apart from the fact that it is covered in hundreds of eyes. It will attach an eye to a lingering human and watch for any undesirable behavior. Should its target slip up, the Hyakume will attack.
