According to the medical herb book , they are bigger than monkeys, and according to the , a ) that lives for 800 years becomes a , and if they live for 500 more years, then they become a
jué, A "jué" is a monkey that has grown old, and has a dark blue color. It walks like a human, and they often kidnap humans or objects. There are only males and no females, and therefore they would abduct human females who then give birth to children. According to
In Search of the Supernatural ( and a book titled , under the names , , and , there is as follows. They live in the mountains in southwest
Shu, and resemble monkeys, and with a height of about 7 shaku (about 1.6 meters), they walk like humans. They live in villages in the middle of mountains, and when humans pass by, they distinguish between males and females by their scent and abduct women, and as their own wives, make them bring birth to children. The women who are unable to bring birth to children are not allowed to go down from the mountain, and after 10 years, their appearance and mind becomes the same as those kakuen, and lose their will to return to the human village. The women who give birth to children are allowed to return to the human villages along with their children, but since those who don't raise their children all died after coming back down to the village, the women would be fearful of that and thus raise the child. Like this, the child that was born from a kakuen and a human woman would have an appearance similar to that of a human, and when raised, they are no different from an ordinary person at all. Originally, the child's family name should be from the father, but since the family name of the kakuen, who is the father, is unknown, they take on as a provisional family name. In southwest Shu where there are many people with the family name Yang, it is said that they are all descendants of kakuen. It has been pointed out that kakuen like these with these characteristics match with the
cryptid called
yeren. From the book
Yijianzhi from the
Southern Song era, there is as follows. On the bank of a certain of a mountain stream, when it became night a man appeared, and when people wanted to cross the river, he would carry them on his back and take them across. Even when the person asked him for the reason, he gave an admirable reply that it was for no reason except for his desire to help. The bold and brave man named thought him suspicious, three days after being ferried across the river the same way, said that he would ferry that man across the river as gratitude. The man, who refused, was thus forcibly taken by the arms and taken across the river and a large rock was thrown at him. The man who let out a cry was illuminated by a torchlight, and his appearance turned into that of a kakuen. When the kakuen was killed and burned, it is said that the bad smell reached several
li away. ==Similar tales==