Narrator
The narrator is an active character in the stories, as he tells the reader about where and who he heard the story from and discloses that he is only retelling it. He is also the main character in the story Hi-Mawari where he remembers an event from his childhood when a Harper's song made him cry.
Mimi-Nashi-Hoichi
This is the character from the first story. The story is called Mimi-Nashi-Hoichi which means Hoichi the Earless. Hoichi loses his ears by meddling with ancient spirits and becomes known by the name Mimi-Nashi-Hoichi.
O-Tei
O-Tei is a woman from the story The story of O-Tei. She is engaged to Nagao Chosei but before they get married she gets ill ad dies. On her death-bed she tells him that they will meet again in this life. Many years later O-Tei is resurrected in another girl and the couple reunites and lives happily ever after.
Priest Muso
He is a character from the story Jikininki. Muso is a traveling priest and on one of his travels stumbles upon an entity called Jikininki or eater of human flesh. He witnesses the entity in this horrifying act and later discovers that Jikininki was a priest in previous life that used his calling for his selfish means so he got punished to live as Jikininki in this one.
O-Yuki
She is a character from the story Yuki-Onna. She is a pale demon woman who fell in love with one of her victims and decided to spare his life in exchange for him never telling anyone what happened. Later she comes in the form of a normal girl and marries that man. Unfortunately, not knowing that she is that demon woman, he tells her of the encounter. She can't kill him because of her love and their children so she disappears and is never seen again.
Aoyagi
She is a poor girl from The story of Aoyagi that makes a samurai fall in love with her. They get married and live happily but one day she gets a pain in her midsection and knows that she is about to die. Then she tells her samurai the truth about herself: She is a soul of a willow tree and that tree just got cut by someone and that is the reason she is dying.
