Is there a story behind drawing a face with の as eyes, も as a nose and へ as a mouth?


In the first episode of the Zatoichi series there is a scarecrow whose face is
drawn using various hiragana.

When I seen it it occurred to me that I've seen that done somewhere else
before.

Is there a story behind this hiragana face ?




It sounds like you are referring to Henohenomoheji (へのへのもへじ). It is sometimes
used on Japanese scarecrows (かかし) and teru teru bōzu (てるてる坊主) dolls. The name
refers to the Hiragana characters used to create the face.

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/WeICh.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/WeICh.png)

According to the [Japanese
Wikipedia](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%81%B8%E3%81%AE%E3%81%B8%E3%81%AE%E3%82%82%E3%81%B8%E3%81%98)
article, the exact origins are unknown, although it has apparently not been
seen earlier than the Edo period.




It sounds like you are referring to Henohenomoheji (へのへのもへじ). It is sometimes
used on Japanese scarecrows (かかし) and teru teru bōzu (てるてる坊主) dolls. The name
refers to the Hiragana characters used to create the face.

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/WeICh.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/WeICh.png)

According to the [Japanese
Wikipedia](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%81%B8%E3%81%AE%E3%81%B8%E3%81%AE%E3%82%82%E3%81%B8%E3%81%98)
article, the exact origins are unknown, although it has apparently not been
seen earlier than the Edo period.

