Japanese · No. 067

Hone-onna, the Bone Woman

Real myth

Hone-onna, the Bone Woman
She came back to her lover. She forgot to bring her skin.
Rarity
Uncommon
Category
Monster
ATK
1800
DEF
1500
Level
5
Type
Undead
Element
Darkness
Constellations
Moon · Scarab

The myth

Hone-onna, the "bone woman", is a yōkai drawn by Toriyama Sekien in 1781: the skeleton of a woman who keeps visiting her beloved after death. Sekien based her on the famous Chinese and Japanese tale of the Peony Lantern, Botan Dōrō. In it, the beautiful Otsuyu, dead of love, visits young Shinzaburō every night, carrying a peony lantern. A neighbor peeks and sees him embracing a skeleton. Monks give the youth charms to seal the house, but love, or a servant's betrayal, opens the door. Hearn retold the story in In Ghostly Japan.

Why it has this power

An Uncommon level-5 Darkness Undead with 1800 ATK and 1500 DEF: one of the strongest undead without a ritual, because love does not give up. Darkness and Moon are the night visits; Scarab, the dead. A material of the Rite of the Forgotten Battlefield, alongside the Gaki and the Yūrei.

Did you know

In the story, the footsteps of Otsuyu and her maid sound like wooden clogs, "karan, koron", one of the most famous sounds in Japanese horror.

Connections

  • In Kaguya, Guardian of the Torii's deck

Where to get it

  • Campaign drop: Renji, Ronin of the Snowy Roads (Archipelago of the Kami) — grade S: 25% · grade A: 25% · grade B: 25% · grade C: 25% · grade D: 13%
  • Daily Offering: 0.45% per pack (Uncommon 33% per card)
  • Welcome Pack: 1.1% per pack (Uncommon 30% per card)
  • Traveler's Pack: 0.96% per pack · 5.6% in the themed pack (Uncommon 29% per card)
  • Bronze Reliquary: 0.94% per pack · 5.5% in the themed pack (Uncommon 29% per card)
  • Silver Reliquary: 0.96% per pack · 5.6% in the themed pack (Uncommon 33% per card)
  • Golden Reliquary: 0.94% per pack · 5.5% in the themed pack (Uncommon 35% per card)
  • Daily Showcase: Shows up on about 0.98% of days · 400 gold
  • Craft with card dust: 100 dust
  • Crossing of Myths: Can be offered as a reward during a crossing (the card stays in the crossing deck).

Sources

  1. In Ghostly Japan (Project Gutenberg) — Lafcadio Hearn
  2. The Database of Paintings of Mysterious Phenomena and Yōkai — International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken)
  3. Myths & Legends of Japan (Project Gutenberg) — F. Hadland Davis