Mokumokuren, from Japan: what it is and what people believe

A yōkai of Japanese mythology that appears as a crowd of eyes in the torn paper of a sliding screen, and is also said to show up in tatami mats and walls. Japanese tradition treats it as one of the usual occupants of a haunted house.

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Its name is glossed as "many eyes" or "continuous eyes"
It is said to appear in torn shoji screens, tatami mats and walls
Patching the holes in the screen or wall is given as the way to be rid of it
Toriyama Sekien is credited with inventing the yōkai
In one tale a merchant sold eyes taken from a screen to an eye surgeon

What it is

Mokumokuren is a yōkai, one of the supernatural beings of Japanese mythology. It shows itself as a cluster of eyes packed into the torn paper of a shoji, the sliding screen found in Japanese houses, and it is also said to appear in tatami floor mats and in walls. Japanese tradition counts it among the regular occupants of a haunted house. The name, written 目目連 or 目々連, points to that crowding of eyes.

Where it comes from

Both spellings of the name, 目目連 and 目々連, are glossed in the same way: "many eyes" or "continuous eyes". The name therefore describes what a witness is supposed to see, not a place or a person. Japanese tradition counts the being among the customary residents of a haunted house, so a haunting may include it among its occupants. Toriyama Sekien is credited with inventing it. That attribution is how the being's beginning is usually explained.

How it is done

The being is met through damage in a house: a torn paper screen, a split tatami mat, a hole in a wall. In one account a traveler saw eyes over almost the whole of a shoji screen. Tradition gives a plain remedy, which is to mend the damage. With the holes patched, the creature is said to go. The two stories told about it both concern people who chose to pass a night in a house where it appeared.

Tools and materials

The materials tied to the being are the fittings of a Japanese interior. Shoji is a sliding screen or door made of a wooden frame with paper stretched across it, and the paper tears easily. Tatami is the woven mat used as flooring. Both give the creature somewhere to show itself, and both are mended when it does. Eyes are the other material of the tales: one man pulls them off a screen, another wakes to find his own gone.

Mokumokuren, drawn and placed

Emblem With the feather shape. Drawn from this page, not a photograph.

Living
Revived
Fading
Historical
Legendary
Performed

Standing: Legendary Known from myth, story and legend rather than from recorded practice. This says whether people still do it, not whether it works.

A feather: used in cleansing and blessing in some traditions, worn as a sign of office, and carried as a charm.

Lineage: Japanese mythology, yōkai

Where it sits The tradition it belongs to, and when it is done.

Peoples and places

The being belongs to Japan, and the accounts of it are Japanese. The stories are set in ordinary places: an inn the merchant would not pay for, an abandoned house, a room where someone slept under a blanket. The people who meet it are travelers and a tight-fisted merchant, not priests or specialists. Japanese tradition, as the tales present it, treats the creature as one of the things a haunted house is expected to contain.

At a glance: who, where and when

Peoples

Japanese

What people believe

The creature sits inside Japanese mythology, the body of story about yōkai, the supernatural beings of Japanese telling. In that frame a house can be haunted as a matter of course, and the haunting has recognised occupants rather than a single ghost. Mokumokuren is one of them. The eyes it presents are treated as solid things within the tales: they can be pulled out, carried away, sold and lost.

Compare and confuse

The name is written two ways, 目目連 and 目々連, and glossed two ways in English, "many eyes" and "continuous eyes". Both point to the same crowding of eyes in torn paper. In reference lists of Japanese supernatural beings the creature is placed beside Gazu Hyakki Yagyō. It is counted among the ordinary occupants of a haunted house rather than as a god or a single famous ghost.

Questions people ask about Mokumokuren

What is a mokumokuren?

A yōkai from Japanese mythology. It appears as a crowd of eyes in the torn paper of a sliding screen, and is also said to show up in tatami mats and walls. Japanese tradition counts it as a regular occupant of a haunted house.

Where does it come from?

Japan. The name is written 目目連 or 目々連, meaning "many eyes" or "continuous eyes". Toriyama Sekien is credited with inventing the being, and tradition treats it as one of the usual tenants of a haunted house.

How is it dealt with?

Tradition gives one answer, which is to repair the damage. With the holes in the screen or the wall patched over, the being is said to leave. The torn paper is where it lives, so mending the paper is held to take away its place.

What happens in the stories told about it?

Two travelers spend a night in a house where it appears. One, a stingy merchant, is not frightened: he pulls the eyes off the screen and sells them to an eye surgeon. The other wraps his head in a blanket and wakes to find his own eyes gone.

Good reading and sources

Where this page comes from

The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Mokumokuren", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). EveryJaadu rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.

It may contain mistakes. Names and customs differ from one community to the next, and some knowledge is closed to outsiders and left out here. This page describes belief and practice. It does not say that any of it works, it is not a how-to, and it is not medical advice. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-17.

Mokumokuren