World mythology post 513: the Ninmenju [Japanese folklore; yokai]!

(image source: unknown, sorry. I couldn’t find the artist)

According to Toriyama Sekien (18th century), there are strange trees with blossoms that closely resemble human heads. This unusual plant is called the Ninmenju (which translates to ‘human-face tree’) and although the blossoms have faces, they are incapable of speech. They do, however, laugh ceaselessly. At one point, when a face has laughed enough, it falls to the ground like a common fruit.

Before Sekien, this strange tree was also described in the Wakan Sansai Zue (1712). Apparently, the Ninmenju can be found in the Arab region, and specifically it grows in canyons. It is theorized that this yokai might have been inspired by (or might be a direct reference to) the similar ‘Waqwaq tree’ from the Thousand and One Nights, which is a magical tree that grows human children as if they were fruit. Another such plant appears in the ancient Chinese story ‘Journey to the West’: in this tale, a tree grew strange fruit that resembled human infants. Eating this fruit would greatly extend one’s lifespan, but the fruit is extremely rare since it only grows once every 9000 years.

I wonder if the Pokémon Exeggutor was inspired by the Ninmenju tree.

Source:
Yoda, H. and Alt, M., 2016, Japandemonium Illustrated: the Yokai Encyclopedias of Toriyama sekien. This work is a translation of the Gazu Hyakki Yagyo by Toriyama Sekien in the 18th century.