2010-10-14

I'm Licked!

Wednesday's are a killer for me. I finish late and I have to be up really early tomorrow. So this'll be a quick post about one of the more bizarre Youkai, あかなめ (Akaname.) This one hangs out in the 風呂場 (bathroom) and likes to lick the surfaces therein. Ewww!

 
It looks like a frog-like human with wild hair, a long tongue and feet that end in a single clawed toe. It can be found in bathrooms by toilets and bathtubs. It usually enters at night when no one is around to bother it and uses its tongue to lick the bathroom surfaces clean. Despite its grotesque appearance, an akaname does not pose any threat. If you scroll down at Akaname, it is #16.

From the Obakemono Project, here is a description:
"This long-tongued creature, 垢舐, whose name means "filth licker", appeared in the first volume of Toriyama Sekien's famous Gazu Hyakki Yakō. While Sekien left no explanation, it is likely he based his creation on the aka-neburi (垢ねぶり) (also meaning "filth-licker"), a creature from the Edo Period story collection called Kokon Hyaku Monogatari Hyō‎ban (古今百物語評判), which lives in public baths and dilapidated houses.
Today the akaname is often explained as a creature which appears in bathrooms where cleaning has been neglected and filth has accumulated for it to lick, but this explanation seems to have originated in the Yōkai Gadan Zenshū, a monster anthology published in the 1920's by Fujisawa Morihiko. (Forgive me if I don't give you any links, Google it yourself if you're interested.)
Good night, I need to go wash my hands.

1 comment:

Chris 'Frog Queen' Davis said...

..I was intertested at "frog like" ...then I kept reading....ewww!!!!

:D

Cheers!

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