What is a kodama?
A kodama is a spirit said to dwell in trees that have lived for many years. Since ancient times, the Japanese have believed that gods and spirits live in large and old trees, and such trees have been treasured, for example as sacred trees at shrines bound with shimenawa ropes.
The true identity of the echo
When you shout in the mountains or valleys and the same voice returns a moment later, the echo is called kodama or yamabiko. In the past, it was thought to be the tree spirits answering, and the verb kodama suru (“to echo”) comes from this. In some regions, the echo is said to be the work of the voice-mimicking amanojaku.
Kodama legends
Cutting down a tree with a kodama is said to bring a curse, and stories from many regions tell of trees that bled when someone tried to fell them, or woodcutters who fell ill afterward. In the Edo period, Toriyama Sekien drew the kodama as an old man standing beside an ancient tree. Japanese mythology also has a god of trees, Kukunochi. As a forest spirit, the kodama closely resembles the Western dryad.
