Greetings yokai lovers!

Our final yokai for the month is of course kanibito, one which I had several requests for after posting hitokai.

It’s truly a bizarre looking creature, based on a very odd looking sketch, but I had fun making it look a bit like a Japanese mitten lobster, with its buggy eyes and fuzzy shell.

Enjoy!

蟹人
かにびと

Translation: crab person
Habitat: oceans

Appearance: Kanibito are crab-like yōkai who have the ability to speak. Overall they resemble Japanese mitten lobsters (Parribacus japonicus), although they have the head of a human woman. Their bodies glow brightly at night, and the light they give off can be seen from some distance.

Behavior: Kanibito live in the ocean, far away from people, and thus little is known about them. They are only seen when they come to shore to deliver an important message to humanity.

Interactions: When kanibito deliver a prophecy, they come to the shore and call out to humans passing by. They will wait for many days if necessary until someone brave enough approaches them. Then they delivery their message and return to the sea.

Origin: Kanibito is one of several yogenjū, or prophetic beasts, who appeared in Fukushimagata lagoon in Niigata Prefecture during the 19th century. Its story was printed in a newspaper shortly after the event supposedly occurred.

Legends: In September of 1848, a glowing figure was spotted every night in Fukushimagata, Echigo Province. It called out to people in a woman’s voice. A brave samurai named Shibata Chūta who lived nearby ventured out to meet the figure. It spoke to him:

“I live in the sea and am called kanibito. From now and for the next five years there will be a bumper crop. However, in the twelfth month of the fifth year a terrible sickness with spread, killing sixty percent of the population. However, if you look upon my image you will be spared from this fate. Now, hurry, and tell everyone across the world of my message.”

After delivering its message, the kanibito vanished into the sea.

Greetings, yokai lovers!

I’m happy to share this week’s yokai with you today: hitokai, the human shellfish!

You’ll note from her description, she is nearly identical to umidebito. They appeared in the same month of the same year in the same location, and have virtually the same story. Even the samurai who supposedly talked to each of them have oddly similar names, too.

Funnily enough, these are not the only two yokai from Fukushimagata who are so similar. There’s a whole bunch of them! And we’ll look at a few more of them, but maybe not all of them just not… since I don’t want to bore everyone with too many variant takes on the same incident.

人貝
ひとかい

Translation: human shellfish
Habitat: oceans

Appearance: Hitokai are prophetic sea  creatures that have a scaly, snake-like body, the head of a human woman,  long, black hair and a third eye in their forehead. They ride in a  conch shell and at night they glow in five different colors.

Behavior: Hitokai appear offshore when they have an important message or prophecy to deliver to humanity.

Origin: The only known hitokai  sighting is recorded as taking place in 1849, in a lagoon called  Fukushimagata in Niigata Prefecture. Several other prophetic aquatic  yōkai have been documented as appearing in Fukushimagata to deliver  prophetic messages to the people living there. The reports of these  yōkai are very similar, and some of them are considered to be different  accounts of the same incident. The description of hitokai is  particularly similar to that of another shellfish yōkai called umidebito  who is said to have appeared around the same time.

Legends: In April of 1849, a strange  five-colored light was seen night after night on the shores of  Fukushimagata in Echigo Province. It didn’t harm anyone, and so a brave  samurai named Shibata Chūta approached the light to investigate. He  discovered the creature, who told him that there would be a coming  bumper crop lasting for five years, followed by a terrible sickness  which would wipe out sixty percent of the population. The creature  instructed everybody to copy its likeness and hang it in their houses in  order to protect themselves from the sickness. Then, the creature  vanished.