Amabie

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title: "Amabie" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["yōkai", "merfolk", "japanese-folklore", "prophecy", "covid-19-pandemic-in-japan", "water-spirits", "witchcraft-in-folklore-and-mythology"] description: "Legendary Japanese creature" topic_path: "geography/japan" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amabie" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Legendary Japanese creature ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Higo_Amabie.jpg" caption="Woodblock print]], late Edo period, dated [[Kōka]] 3 ([[1846]])."] ::

Amabie is a legendary Japanese mermaid or merman with a bird beak-like mouth and three legs or tail-fins, who allegedly emerges from the sea, prophesies either an abundant harvest or an epidemic, and instructed people to make copies of its likeness to defend against illness.

The amabie appears to be a variant or misspelling of the amabiko or amahiko (, 海彦, 尼彦, 天日子, 天彦, あま彦), otherwise known as the amahiko-nyūdo, also a prophetic beast depicted variously in different examples, being mostly as 3-legged or 4-legged, and said to bear ape-like (sometimes torso-less), daruma doll-like, or bird-like, or fish-like resemblance according to commentators.

This information was typically disseminated in the form of illustrated woodblock print bulletins (kawaraban) or pamphlets (surimono) or hand-drawn copies. The amabie was depicted on a woodblock print marked with an 1846 date, which is located at Kyoto University Library and the only known documentation. Attestation to the amabiko predating amabie had not been known until the discovery of a hand-painted leaflet dated 1844.

There are also other similar yogenjū that are not classed within the amabie/amabiko group, e.g., the arie.

Legend

According to legend, an amabie appeared in Higo Province (Kumamoto Prefecture), around the middle of the fourth month, in the year Kōka-3 (mid-May 1846) in the Edo period. A glowing object had been spotted in the sea, almost on a nightly basis. The town's official went to the coast to investigate and witnessed the amabie. According to the sketch made by this official, it had long hair, a mouth like bird's bill, was covered in scales from the neck down and three-legged. Addressing the official, it identified itself as an amabie and told him that it lived in the open sea. It went on to deliver a prophecy: "Good harvest will continue for six years from the current year; if disease spreads, draw a picture of me and show the picture of me to those who fall ill." Afterward, it returned to the sea. The story was printed in the ** (woodblock-printed bulletins), where its portrait was printed, and this is how the story disseminated in Japan.

Amabiko group

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Amabiko.jpg" caption="湯本豪一}}"] ::

There is only one unique record of an amabie, whose meaning is uncertain. It has been conjectured that this amabie was simply a miscopying of "amabiko", a yōkai creature that can be considered identical. Like the amabie, the amabiko is a three-legged or multi-legged prophesizing creature which prescribes the display of its artistic likeness to defend against sickness or death. However, the appearance of the amabie is said to be rather mermaid-like (the three-leggedness allegedly stemming from a mermaid type called ), and for this reason one researcher concludes there is not enough of a close resemblance in physical appearance between the two.

Name variations

There are a dozen or more attestations of amabiko or amahiko (海彦; var. あま彦, 尼彦, 天彦) extant (counting the amabie), with the copies dated 1843 (Tenpō 14) perhaps being the oldest.

Locality of appearances

Four describe appearances in Higo Province, one report the Amabiko Nyūdo in neighboring Hyuga Province (Miyazaki prefecture), another vaguely points to the western sea.

Beyond those clustered in the south, two describe appearances in Echigo Province in the north.

The two oldest accounts (1844, 1846) do not closely specify the locations, but several accounts name specific village or counties (gun) that turn out to be nonexistent fictitious place names.

Physical characteristics

The accompanying caption texts describes some as glowing (at night) or having ape-like voices, but description of physical appearance is rather scanty. The newspapers and commentators however provide iconographic analysis of the pictorials (hand-painted and prints).

The majority of pictorial represent the amabiko/amabie as 3-legged (or odd-number legged), with a couple cases rather like an ordinary quadruped.{{Refn|Nagano (2005) states that out of the 9 examples of amabiko/amabie, the pictorial representation is available for 5, but since actually includes amabie as evident from his subsequent commentary re leg-number classification, the total number of pictures is 6. Two are depicted as quadrupeds (Amahiko-no-Mikoto and hand-painted Amahiko 'nun prince'), three are 3-legged or 3-finned ('sea prince', amabie, and Amahiko (Nagano Shinbun)), and one instance of 9-legged (amahiko-nyūdō, print).

On these paintings and prints, body hair and facial/head hair growth pattern also exhibit discrepancies.。}}

;Torso-less ape-like version An amahiko/amabiko,{{Refn|English rendition "sea prince" adapted from Umisachihiko translated as "Prince Luck of the Sea".

The hand-copied pamphlet illustration depicts a creature rather like an ape with three legs, the legs seemingly projecting directly from the head (without any neck or torso in-between). The body and face are covered profusely with short hair, except for it being bald-headed. The eyes and ears are human-like, with a pouty or protruding mouth. The creature appeared in the year 1844 and predicted doom to 70% of the Japanese population that year, which could be averted with its picture-amulet.

;Amahiko-no-mikoto The Amahiko-no-mikoto was spotted in a rice paddy in Yuzawa, Niigata, as reported by the from 1875. The crude newspaper illustration depicts a daruma doll-like or ape-like, hairless-looking four-legged creature. This example stands out since it was emerged not in the ocean but in a wet rice field. Also, the addition of the imperial/divine title of "-mikoto" has been noted by one researcher as resembling the name of one of the Amatsukami or "Heavenly Deities" of ancient Japan.

This creature in the crude drawing is said to resemble a daruma doll or an ape.

;Ape-voiced ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Amabiko.png" caption=""Amabiko", illustrated in the ''Kōbunko'' encyclopedia."] ::

There are at least three examples of the amabiko[?] crying like apes.

The texts of all three identify the place of appearance as Shinji-kōri[?], a non-existent county in Higo Province, and names the discoverer who heard the ape voices heard by night and tracked down the amabiko as one Shibata Hikozaemon (or Goroemon/Gorozaemon).

One ape-voiced amabiko[?] is represented by a hand-painted copy owned by , an authority in the study of this yōkai. This document has a terminus post quem of 1871 (Meiji 4) or later, The painting is said to depict a quadruped, with extremely close similarity in form to the mikoto (ape- or daruma doll-like) by commentators. However, the amahiko[?] that cried like an ape (newspaper piece) is reported to have been drawn as a "three-legged monster". And the encyclopedia example described the amabiko as a kechō in its sub-heading.

A tangential point of interest is that this text transcribed in the newspaper refers to "we amahiko who dwell in the sea", suggesting there are multiple numbers of the creature.

;Glowing The foregoing amahiko[?] was also described as a hikari-mono. The glowing is an attribute common to other examples, such as the amabie and amahiko reported in the Nagano Shinbun.

Amabiko was also purportedly seen glowing at night in the offing of the Western Sea, during the Tenpō era (1830–1844), and illustrations were brought for sale at 5 sen apiece to -kanamachi village, Tokyo, as reported in another newspaper, dated 20 October 1881. This creature allegedly predicted global-scale doom thirty-odd years ahead, conveniently coinciding with the time the peddlers were selling them, prompting researcher Eishun Nagano to comment that while the text may or may not have been genuinely composed in the Edo Period, the illustrations were probably contemporary, though he guesses that the merchandise was surimono woodblock print. The creature also professed to serve the heavenly Tenbu or Deva divinities (of Buddhism), even though he is presumably sea-dwelling.

;Old man or monk The amahiko[?] nyūdō on a surimono print, which purportedly appeared in Hyūga Province, The illustration here resembles an old man with bird-like body and nine legs.

Similar ''yōkai''

In Japanese folklore or popular imagination, there are also other similar yōkai that follow the pattern of predicting doom and instructing humans to copy or view its image, but lie outside the classification of amabie/amabiko according to a noted researcher. These are referred to generically as "other" yogenjū.

Among the other prophetic beasts was the arie, which appeared in "Aotori-kōri" county, Higo Province, according to the Kōfu Nichinichi Shimbun newspaper dated 17 June 1876, although this report has been debunked by another paper.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Yamawarawa.jpg" caption="}}"] ::

The yamawarawa in the folklore of Amakusa is believed to haunt the mountains. Although neither of these last two emerge from sea, other similarities such as prophesying and three-leggedness indicate some sort of interrelationship.

There are various other yōkai creatures that are vastly different in appearance, but have the ability to predict, such as the kudan, the or "shrine princess", the hōnen game or "bumper crop year turtle", and the "turtle woman".

A tradition in the West ascribes every creature of the sea with the ability to foretell the future, and there is no scarcity of European legends about merfolk bringing prophecy. For this reason, the amabie is considered to be a type of mermaid, in some quarters. But since the amabie is credited with the ability to repel pestilence as well, it should be considered as more of a deity according to some.

COVID-19

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Stop_Kansen_Kakudai_Covid19_2020.jpg" caption="厚生労働省]]『STOP! 感染拡大――COVID-19』2020年。"] ::

During the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, amabie became a popular topic on Twitter in Japan under the hashtag #amabiechallenge. Manga artists (e.g. Chica Umino, Mari Okazaki and Toshinao Aoki) published their cartoon versions of amabie on social networks. The Twitter account of Orochi Do, an art shop specializing in hanging scrolls of yōkai, is said to have been the first, tweeting "a new coronavirus countermeasure" in late February 2020. A twitter bot account (amabie14) has been collecting images of amabie since March 2020. This trend was noticed by scholars. There were even masks and antiseptics with Amambie's figure on.

Footnotes

Explanatory notes

Citations

Bibliography

• 『日本の幻獣-未確認生物出現録- 企画展解説図録』 川崎市民ミュージアム 2004年 --

References

1. Martin, Alex K.T.. (2020-04-11). "Looking for solace in Japanese mythology during a pandemic". [[Japan Times]].
2. {{harvp. Nagano. 2005
3. {{harvp. Nagano. 2005
4. But ''hiko'' could be regarded as "man" or a common name like "Jack". whose appearance in Echigo Province is documented on a leaflet dated 1844 ([[Tenpō]] 15).Leaflet, as in written (and painted) on approximately a halved {{interlanguage link. hanshi (paper). ja. 半紙. 24. x. 33. cm. Nagano. 2005
5. {{harvp. Nagano. 2005. ja. 眞字郡 for both examples; {{harvp. Nagano. 2009. ja. 眞寺郡.
6. {{nihongo. ''amahiko''[?] ''nyūdō''. 尼彦入道 (''surimono'', also owned by Yumoto). Text reprinted as source #8 {{harvp. Nagano. 2005
7. {{harvp. Nagano. 2005
8. [[Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. 厚生労働省]]『STOP! 感染拡大――COVID-19』2020年。
9. (25 March 2020). "Plague-predicting Japanese folklore creature resurfaces amid coronavirus chaos". Mainichi Daily News.
10. Alt, Matt. (9 April 2020). "From Japan, a Mascot for the Pandemic".
11. "Twitter".
12. (22 April 2020). "In Japan, Mythical 'Amabie' Emerges from 19th Century Folklore to Fight COVID-19".
13. (2020). "Amabié—A Japanese Symbol of the COVID-19 Pandemic". JAMA.
14. George, Sam. (2020). "Amabie goes viral: the monstrous mercreature returns to battle the Gothic Covid-19". Critical Quarterly.
15. Merli, Claudia. (2020). "A chimeric being from Kyushu, Japan: Amabie's revival during Covid-19". Anthropology Today.
16. "Japanese Artists' Responses to COVID-19: A Mass Revival of the yōkai Amabie".
17. (17 May 2021). "Η Ιαπωνική Μυθολογία και τα Yokai στο 'Σήμερα'".
18. (2001). "Chihō hatsu Meiji yōkai nyūsu". Kashiwa Shobo.
19. . (3 June 2020). ["Kocchi ga ganso? Yamai-yoke yōkai amabie: Fukui de Edo-ki no shiryō hakken"](https://mainichi.jp/articles/20200602/k00/00m/040/292000c). *Mainichi Shimbun*.
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22. Iwama, Riki. (6 June 2020). "Amabie no shōtai wo otte (2): ke no haeta yogenjū arawaru kaii samazama na amabiko / Fukui". 毎日新聞.
23. . (7 June 2020). ["Amabie ni tsuzuke. Ekibyō fūjiru 'yogenjū' SNS de wadai. tori ya oni.. sugata ya katachi samazama"](https://mainichi.jp/articles/20200606/k00/00m/040/118000c). *Mainichi Shimbun*.
24. Mozume Takami. "(Kechō) Amabiko". Kōbunko kankōkai .
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27. {{interlanguage link. Nagano Shinbun{{!''Nagano Shinbun''. ja. 長野新聞　(21 June 1876 [Meiji 9]), text sans title reprinted at {{harvp. Nagano. 2005. Nagano. 2005
28. Mizuki, Shigeru. (1994). "Zusetsu yōkai taizen". Kodansha.
29. {{nihongo. ''Tokyo Akebono Shinbun''. 東京曙新聞. (20 October 1881 [Meiji 14]), text sans title reprinted at {{harvp. Nagano. 2005. Nagano. 2005
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31. {{interlanguage link. Yūbin Hōchi Shinbun{{!''Yūbin Hōchi Shinbun''. ja. 郵便報知新聞　(10 July 1882 [Meiji 15]), text sans title reprinted at {{harvp. Nagano. 2005. Nagano. 2005
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