Kage Onna appears as the shadow of a woman cast on Japanese traditional paper walls, and she is often sighted along secluded rooms and hallways. Although she typically takes the form of a young woman, she can sometimes scare people by appearing as the shadow of a sinister old hag. This yokai does not harm the residents of the house; and all she does is frighten them with her eerie presence.
However, the haunting by Kage Onna typically foreshadows a more dangerous situation. Houses where Kage Onna appears will soon be infested with more powerful yokai, ghosts, and monsters.