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Akaname "Filth Licker"- is a demon or yokai from small oni, and is thought to be able to provoke a per-
C Japanese folklore that is often described as being red son's darkest desires and thus instigate him into per-
h in color. The akaname is the "personification of the petrating wicked deeds. One of the Amanojaku's best
a
p fear of using a dark bathroom late at night." It is said known appearances is a girl miraculously born from a
t
e to come out at night to literally lick up the grime and melon.
r
dirt that accumulates in unclean bathrooms.
Amazake-babaa "Amazake hag"- is an old woman
Akashita "Red Tongue"- is a yokai that appears as a yokai from the folklore of Miyagi and Aomori pre-
beast with clawed hands and a hairy face, with most fectures. She comes to the doors of houses at late
of its body hidden in a black cloud over a floodgate. night asking for Amazake in a child-like voice, but if
In its open mouth is a large tongue. This creature rep- anyone answers they fall ill. It was said that to keep
resents a day of bad luck in Onmyodo. her away, a cedar leaf is placed in the doorway.

Akkorokamui- is a gigantic octopus-like monster Amefurikozo- is a type of Japanese yokai that wears
from inu that has permeated into Shintoism folklore a Japanese umbrella with its central pole missing, and
as a minor kami. This creature supposedly lurks in it is depicted possessing a paper lantern. They are the
Funka Bay in Hokkaido. It is said that its enormous jido (children employed by the nobility) of the Chi-
body can reach sizes of up to 120 meters in length. nese god of rain "Ushi." There are the theories that if
The coloration of the Akkorokamui is said to be a you steal the umbrella from him and wear it, one
striking red, often described as glowing and some- would not be able to take it off.
times likened to the color of the reflection of the set- Amemasu or O-amemasu- is a giant whale- or fish-
ting sun upon the water. Due to its coloration and like creature from Ainu folklore. It lives in Lake
immense size, it is visible from great distances. Ak- Mashu in Hokkaido and capsizes boats, creates earth-
korokamui is characteristically described with the quakes and causes other disasters. In one tale, the
ability to self-amputate, and regenerate limbs. This Amemasu swallows a deer that has come down to the
characteristic manifests in the belief in Shinto that lake to drink, but the deer's antler tears open the great
Akkorokamui has healing powers. Consequently, it is fish's belly and kills it. The Amemasu's enormous
believed among followers that giving offerings to corpse then blocks up the lake and puts it in danger
Akkorokamui will heal ailments of the body, in par- of flooding. A god in the form of a bird warns the
ticular, disfigurements and broken limbs.
people in villages nearby. The villagers upstream es-
Akurojin-no-hi "Fire of the God of the Bad Road"- cape to higher ground, but the people downstream,
is a ghostly flame from the folklore of Mie prefec- not believing the bird, find the Amemasu's body and
ture. It often appears on rainy nights. People who en- drag it out of the lake, after which the water comes
counter it and do not run away become gravely ill. rushing out with such force that everything downriv-
er is washed away. That area is now the flat Kon-
Amabie- is a legendary Japanese mermaid who, it is
said, appeared in the Kumamoto Prefecture sea and sengen'ya plain.
prophesied either an abundant harvest or an epidem- Ameonna "rain woman"- is a female spirit that ap-
ic. Legend says that at midday a shining object ap- pears as a woman standing in the rain and licking her
peared just beneath the surface of the sea until the hand. She is described as a goddess from China's
administrator of the town went to the coast to see for Mount Wushan, who is a cloud in the morning and
himself, making the Amabie rise from where until rain in the evening. She may be considered a rain-
then only light had been seen. From her waist down bringer for crops.
her body was that of a fish but scales covered all her Amoronagu "girl who fell from heaven"- is a tennyo
skin, they were not limited by her waist, her lips pro- (celestial maiden) from the folklore of the island of
truded like a dome-crowned cylinder.
Amami Oshima, in Kagoshima prefecture. She bathes
Amanojaku, or Amanjaku "heavenly evil spirit"- is in pools and waterfalls in ravines.
a demon-like creature usually depicted as a kind of

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