The “Child-Raising Ghost Candy;” it’s a strange name isn’t it? There is actually a reason behind the madness.

A long time ago, every night in the wee hours of the morning, there was a woman who came to buy candy. Finding this unusual, the candy shop owner followed the woman, and arrived at a graveyard where the woman suddenly disappeared. Then from inside the grave, he heard the cries of what seemed to be a baby. Immediately, the man set out to dig up the grave and to his surprise found a living baby sucking on the candy. After asking around, he learned that the grave belonged to a woman who had died while still pregnant, meaning that the ghost of the woman was coming to buy candies to raise her baby. Since then, these candies have been called the “Child-Raising Ghost Candy” (Yurei Kosodateame).

During this time, it wasn’t uncommon for women to die during childbirth. While this area is now known as Rokuro-chō it used to be referred to as Dokuro-chō. “Dokuro” in Japanese means skull and the area earned its name because it was said that skulls could be seen rolling around.

Jump forward a few years in the story and the boy that was saved from the grave actually went on to become a priest at Kōdai-ji temple. Well, not really, but there is a famous “Rakugo” story which portrayed such an ending to this tale.