Kejoro.

Kejōrō (毛倡妓, けじょうろう) begins as a courtesan image, refined hair arrangement, cosmetics, robe, and the controlled elegance expected of the licensed quarters. The disturbance comes when hair escapes that control and overwhelms the body, face, or surrounding space. In some renderings the figure is almost entirely furred or hair-covered, while in others the courtesan's beauty remains visible beneath the eruption of texture.

That visual joke is also the figure's unease. Kejoro turns one of Edo culture's most carefully managed surfaces into a sign of animal excess. Groomed beauty becomes uncontrolled growth. The courtesan remains recognizable, yet the cultivated human exterior can no longer contain what it is supposed to hide.

Kejoro is not remembered mainly for violent attacks. The figure works through revelation, embarrassment, satire, and the uncanny collapse of urban polish. A viewer expects controlled beauty and instead encounters something overgrown, bodily, and impossible to classify cleanly as woman, beast, or caricature. That makes the yokai especially suited to the pleasure-quarter setting, where display and illusion are already central.

Because of that, kejoro sits near the boundary between ghost, grotesque, and social commentary. The encounter exposes how fragile refinement can be. What appears perfectly arranged may conceal unruly nature, and what looks desirable from a distance can become destabilizing once the surface breaks.