This paper focuses on two old women appearing in Chinese and Japanese texts associated with belief in the Ten Kings of Hell. In the Scripture on the Ten Kings of Hell, which describes experiences of the deceased in the interim between death and rebirth, including various kinds of torture, the punishers are dominated by male deities and there is no prominent female figure. However, by the twelfth century two old women had come to join the Ten Kings group. One is Datsueba who is represented as an ugly old hag in popular conceptions of Buddhist hell in Japan.

She is said to take the clothes of newly deceased people by the Sanzu River which they are supposed to cross after death. Since the virtuous cross the bridge and evildoers are forced to cross a difficult to navigate part of the river, she estimates their deeds by weighing how much moisture has been absorbed. The other female figure is Meng po, a pious Chinese Daoist woman devoted to cultivation of the religious path. At the end of each person’s journey to the otherworld after death, she erases their memories by giving them the Broth of Oblivion. Although representations of them are distinctly different, the roles of both female deities can both be interpreted as preparing the dead for the next life.

Drawing upon textual descriptions as well as pictorial images, this paper explores the relationship between these two old female figures by examining the symbolism and meanings associated with their actions.