Kuromushi
黒虫

Translation: black worm

The front half of a kuromushi’s body is black, while the rear half is white. They infect the kidneys.

The only symptom of a kuromushi infection listed in Harikikigaki is deafness.

They are treated with the fruit of the star anise (Illicium verum).

I have to say this yokai is the weirdest one so far this month. Not for any one feature, but for the odd combination of them that amounts to something so mundane. Overall it just seems a little random. Like they had chart with colors, symptoms, and treatments and just threw darts at it to make up a new bug.

First of all, why they are called black worms and not black-and-white worms or something along those lines is beyond me. Most of these worms have some sort of physical feature related to their symptoms, but how does a half black half white body relate to deafness?

Second, they live in the kidneys? Why there? What does that have to do with deafness? Why not the ear canal? I imagine that whoever wrote this book was working off of some real sickness, just as yesterday’s worm seemed to relate with an actual parasitic worm. What could possibly be the real-world inspiration for this mushi?

Lastly, it’s treatment is seems unrelated to the symptoms. Chinese star anise has a long history in Chinese folk remedies, and even today it is cultivated for shikimic acid–a compound used in some pharmaceuticals. However, Japanese star anise is highly toxic, and ingestion causes seizures, hallucinations, and severe inflammation of the digestive tract, urinary tract, and kidneys. Presumably your folk doctor would know the difference between Chinese and Japanese star anise, but if they didn’t, it sounds like the treatment would be worse than the disease!

Greetings yokai lovers! Before today’s post I just wanted to give a quick update on the post – the mail, that is.

Postcards for October went out successfully with the same two exceptions: Australia and Saudi Arabia. Those two countries are still not receiving mail from Japan.

Prints can’t be mailed yet, however small parcels are finally moving. Which means that it probably won’t be too much longer before larger parcels, i.e. prints can be sent again. So my fingers are crossed that will be soon! Thanks again for your patience with Japan Post!

Kutsuchi no mushi クツチの虫

Translation: epilepsy worm

This creepy looking fellow is called kutsuchi no mushi, and it lives in your lungs. It has a bird-like beak on its head and sinister white eyes. Its belly is white and segmented like a snakes, and it has a blueish band running down its back. Its tail is bifurcated.

This mushi causes its host to suddenly lose consciousness, dropping to the floor as if dead. They vomit white foam from their mouths and they cannot be roused. These fits last for two to four hours, after which they regain consciousness. Long ago, this sickness was called kutsuchi.* Today we know it as epilepsy (tenkan in today’s Japanese).

Interestingly, Harikikigaki lists no treatment for this infectious yokai. Presumably no known herbal remedies had any effect on epilepsy.

*Originally kutsuchi meant snoring, but at some point it came to be used as a slang for madness or insanity. The fits these patients suffered were thought to be some form of madness, so the disease came to be called kutsuchi.

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.

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Haraita no mushi
腹痛の虫

Translation: stomach pain worm

Although you might think it lives in the stomach due to its name, haraita no mushi lives actually lives in the kidneys. It has a black back and a blue belly, sharp eyes, and a large mouth which splits open in a cross pattern.

Haraita no mushi bites on to its hosts with its four-way split Predator-like mouth, causing sudden and intense abdominal pain.

This kind of infection is treated with kaininsō (Digenea simplex), a red seaweed which is commonly dried and used as an insect repellant. Harikikigaki says that ingesting a large amount of this will cause the haraita no mushi to be expelled through diarrhea.

This one in particular interested me, because it sounded so specific and it was the first time in reading Harikikigaki that I came across this particular herbal cure. I looked up the herb it referred to and read that in addition to insect repellant, in old herbal medicine it was frequently used as a cure for roundworm infections. So it it seems that this yokai may actually be inspired by the ascaris roundworm. The symptoms match, as well as the cure. And to be honest, parasitic worms scare me more than any ghost or monster, so this particular yokai is pure nightmare material to me.

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Jinzō no higemushi
腎臓のヒゲ虫

Translation: kidney moustache worm

Jinzō no higemushi are worm-like yokai which inhabit the kidneys. They get their name from the long, white mustache-looking growth which hangs off of their face. They have long, black bodies, and a round, lump-like shape just behind their neck.

People infected with jinzō no higemushi suffer from various kidney ailments. They also develop a sweet tooth, and their skin may become tinted yellow as a result from eating too many sweets.

These infections can be treated successfully with byakujutsu (Atractylodes japonica) and mokkō (Saussurea costus).

Shakuchū
積虫

Translation: shaku worm

This Lowly Worm looking fellow is called shakuchū, an infectious yokai which causes various muscle issues. They are believed to make their nest somewhere in the abdomen. The have a red umbrella-like growth on their head, and two white stripes on their necks. Their bodies are half red and half yellow.

Shakuchū bother their hosts by sinking their teeth into muscles and tendons. This causes tremors and paralysis–especially hemiplegia (paralysis on one side of the body).

Shakuchū infections are treated by ingesting herbal medicines. Harikikigaki lists chinpi (the dried peels of citrus fruits such as ponkan), rhubarb, and ginseng as being effective.

Hizō no kesshaku
脾臓の血積

Translation: spleen blood shaku

Hizō no kesshaku are caterpillar-like bugs with have white, segmented bodies, round red tails, and a round head with a blueish exterior and a red interior. As their name implies, they live in the spleen, causing various blood-related illnesses.

Harikikigaki doesn’t go into specific detail about the symptoms of this type of yokai infection, however as the spleen plays an important part in fighting infections, they could potentially cause a great number of problems.

Treatment of this infection is simple. Ingestion of ripe ōbako (Plantago asiatica; asian plantain) seeds will kill this mushi and the patient will recover.

 

Kagemushi
陰虫

Translation: shadow bug

Kagemushi are disease yokai which possess the genitals of men and women.

When an infected couple has sexual intercourse, the kagemushi become excited. This excitement culminates during climax, at which point both the male and female kagemushi erupt forth, gushing liquids all over the place. A white liquid is discharged from male hosts, and a red liquid from female hosts*. Although these liquids flow forth from both humans, they are in fact vomited up from mouths of the kagemushi. Afterwards, male and female kagemushi entangle each other in their wire-like limbs, becoming inseparable.

Those possessed by kagemushi display a severely increase libido, perpetual horniness, and constantly behave in a lewd manner. Treatments for kagemushi infections exist, but are only passed down orally. Harikikigaki does not list any.

* This description relates to the ancient Buddhist “red and white drops” theory of sexual reproduction, in which the white drops expelled by the male combine with the red drops expelled by the female, become implanted in the female, and then become a seed. This seed then undergoes a series of metamorphoses before it transforms into a fetus. Harikikigaki attributes the expulsion of these drops to the kagemushi. In other words, it’s not the birds and the bees–it’s the bugs!