“Uwan!”

An uwan (うわん^?) in Japanese folklore is a disembodied voice that inhabits old, abandoned temples and homes.

According to ancient legends from Aomori Prefecture Japan, when a person enters one of these buildings, the formless yōkai shouts out an ear-piercing “Uwan!” The voice is only audible to people inside the building — those outside hear nothing. Since an uwan does not physically exist and only consists of sound, it poses no physical danger.

Ancient Japanese legends provide several examples of formless yōkai like the uwan, which consist of nothing but sound, light or other natural phenomena. In the Edo period, however, these demon spirits assumed physical bodies as artists such as Sawaki Suushi incorporated them into their work.

Aomori Prefecture (青森県 Aomori-ken^?) is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku Region.^[2] The capital is the city of Aomori.^[3]

The Edo period (江戸時代 Edo jidai^?), or Tokugawa period (徳川時代 Tokugawa jidai^?), is the period between 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when Japanese society was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300