Case file · Folklore / legend
Yao Bikuni, the 800-year nun
In 1449 Kyoto diarists recorded the visit of a nun from Wakasa said to be 800 years old, who had eaten mermaid flesh and could not die.
1449 CE · 35.49, 135.75 · status: legend
The account
The legend, centred on Obama in Fukui, says she outlived husbands and friends, became a wandering nun and finally sealed herself in a cave at Kūin-ji temple. Shrines connected with her are found across Japan.
The sceptical view
Folklorists link the story to wandering female preachers who carried tales of longevity; there is no evidence of an unusually long-lived woman.