makuragaeshi; pillow-flipping monster
A yōkai from Japanese folklore said to visit sleeping people and flip their pillows over. Often mentioned in ghost-story contexts.
The makuragaeshi that appears in old tales is a monster that flips pillows over in the middle of the night.
changing a pillow's position; repositioning a pillow for a corpse
Refers to the act of moving a pillow, especially in funeral rites where the deceased's head is repositioned (often to face north, as in 北枕).
See also: 北枕
acrobatic pillow routine; multiple wooden pillow act
A traditional acrobatic performance using several wooden pillows (often seen in rakugo or variety shows). Rare, specialized term.
During the funeral preparations, we repositioned the deceased's pillow.
The makuragaeshi acrobatic act I saw at the vaudeville show was a rare performance using several wooden pillows.
Compound of 枕 (makura, 'pillow') and 返し (kaeshi, 'turning over, flipping'). The derivation of the yōkai name is straightforward; the acrobatic sense likely extends the 'flipping' image.