If you’d like to join me and many others in painting a yokai a day this month, all you have to do is paint, draw, or create any yokai you like, and share it using the hashtag #ayokaiaday. There’s no set list of yokai you have to paint, but you’re free to browse yokai.com or any other yokai resource and choose your favorites.

Hirune no mushi
昼寝の虫

Translation: nap worm

Hirune no mushi lives between the stomach and the esophagus. It looks like a cross between a creeper vine and a centipede. Both its front and its rear look identical, so it’s very hard to tell which end is which.

People infected with a hirune no mushi lose the ability to swallow, and spend most of their day napping. Without immediate treatment, death is unavoidable.

Treatment is accomplished using mokkō (Saussurea costus) and kakkō (Pogostemon cablin; i.e. patchouli).

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