Page 18 - IAV Digital Magazine #498

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
By Brie Stimson | Fox News
A mythical mer- maid monster from Japanese fol klore has made a resurgence in the country’s popular culture recently as people hope for the end of
the coronavirus.
Amabie is a 19th- century Japanese spirit (known as yokai) who is said to ward of plagues.
According to leg- end, Amabie was said to have appeared to a Samauri and told him to draw a pic- ture of her and show it to people to keep them safe from a com- ing pandemic, according to BBC News.
The fishy, long- haired, birdlike yokai has inspired every- thing in Japan in recent weeks -- from cakes and noodles to face masks and hand
sanitizers. She even sparked the “AmabieChalleng e” on Twitter that urges people to draw her.
A sea lion named Leo at an aquari- um in Yokohama recently drew a respectable like- ness.
"He started draw- ing Amabie in late March, practicing for about a month," the sea lion’s keeper Sae Ishino said, according to Channel News
Asia in Singapore.
"We perform the drawing of Amabie hoping the pandemic of the new coron- avirus will come to an end soon."
Amabie’s come- back came in March when the Kyoto University Library tweeted an Amabie draw- ing from 1846, according
to CNA.
A man who drew Amabie on the side of his truck
said, “I travel all over the country with my [goods] and Amabie to pray for the dis- ease to go away,” according to BBC News.
While some yokai are evil spirits, others like Amabie are said to have benevo- lent powers and are well-loved in Japan.
Another kind-spir- ited yokai known as Tofu kozo morphs into the form of a child,
follows people home and offers them tofu.
Yokai first appeared in Japan’s Edo peri- od (1603-1868) and newspapers frequently report- ed yokai sightings until the early 20th century, according to BBC.
“Yokai often play the role of help- ing people process unpleas- ant feelings or sit- uations. They can sometimes be a kind of pressure
valve for when things get tense,” Hiroko Yoda, co- author of the book "Yōkai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide," told BBC.
“There is a lot of dark news at the moment,” manga artist Mari Okazaki said. “I think people who see all of that want to enjoy themselves.”
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Mythical Mermaid Monster, Revived To Ward Off Coronavirus