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{{Short description|Japanese supernatural entity}}
{{italic title}}
{{italic title}}
[[File:Yoshikazu Akaname.jpg|thumb|200px|right|"Sokokuradani no Akaname" (Akaname of the Deep Dark Valley) from the Hyakushu Kaibutsu Yōkai Sugoroku by [[Utagawa Yoshikazu]]]]
[[File:Yoshikazu_Akaname.jpg|thumb|alt="Akaname of the Deep Dark Valley" from the pictured paper used as dice game board, Utagawa Yoshikazu|''Sokokuradani no Akaname'' ("Akaname of the Deep Dark Valley"), a frame on a picture print used as dice game board. ''Hyakushu kaibutsu yōkai sugoroku'' (1858) by {{illm|Utagawa Yoshikazu|ja|歌川芳員}}.<!-- [[歌川芳員]]『百種怪談妖物雙六』より「底闇谷の垢嘗」-->]]
[[File:SekienAkaname.jpg|right|thumb|200px|"Akaname" from the [[Gazu Hyakki Yagyō]] by [[Toriyama Sekien]]<ref name="kadokawa">{{cite book | last = Toriyama | first = Sekien | author-link = Toriyama Sekien | title = Toriyama Sekien Gazu Hyakki Yagyō Zen Gashū |date=July 2005 | publisher = Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co., Ltd. | location = Tokyo | language = ja | isbn = 978-4-04-405101-3
[[File:SekienAkaname.jpg|thumb|upright|"Akaname", ''[[Gazu Hyakki Yagyō|Gazu hyakkiyagyō]]'' by [[Toriyama Sekien]]<ref name="toriyama2005"/>]]
| pages = 10–65 }}</ref><ref name="utah">{{cite journal | last = Reider | first = Noriko | title = Japanese Demon Lore | journal = All Usu Press Publications | year = 2010 | publisher = Utah State University | location = U.S.A | url=http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/59/}}</ref>]]
The {{nihongo|'''''akaname'''''|{{ruby|垢|あか}}{{ruby|嘗|なめ}}}} is a Japanese ''[[yōkai]]'' depicted in [[Toriyama Sekien]]'s 1776 book ''[[Gazu Hyakki Yagyō]]''.<ref name="murakami">{{Harvnb|村上|2000|p=7}}</ref> Meaning "filth licker", they are stated to lick the filth that collects in bathtubs and bathrooms.<ref name="kodansha">{{cite book | last = Yoka | first = Hiroko | title = Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide | year = 2008 | publisher = Kodansha International Ltd. | location = Tokyo | isbn = 978-4-77-003070-2 | pages = 82–85 }}</ref>


The {{nihongo|'''''akaname'''''|{{ruby|垢|あか}}{{ruby|嘗|なめ}}|'scum-licker'; 'filth-licker'}} is a Japanese ''[[yōkai]]'' depicted in [[Toriyama Sekien]]'s 1776 book ''[[Gazu Hyakki Yagyō]]'',<ref name="foster2015"/><ref name="murakami"/> with its precursor or equivalent {{nihongo|'''''akaneburi'''''|/垢ねぶり/垢{{ruby|舐|ねぶり}}|}} documented earlier in 1686.
==Classics==
In classical ''yōkai'' depictions, children with clawed feet and cropped heads are depicted by the bath place sticking out a long tongue.<ref>{{Cite book|author=草野巧|title=幻想動物事典|year=1997|publisher=[[新紀元社]]|isbn=978-4-88317-283-2|page=7}}</ref> These depictions do not feature any kind of explanation, so anything related to them can only be inferred, but in the Edo period [[Kaidan (parapsychology)|kaidan]] book ''[[Kokon Hyakumonogatari Hyōban]]'', there are writings about a ''yōkai'' called ''akaneburi'' (''neburi'' meaning "to lick") and it is inferred that the ''akaname'' is a depiction of this ''akaneburi''.<ref name="utah" /><ref name="murakami" />


These beings presumably lick the filth and scum that collect in bathtubs and bathrooms.<ref name="yoda&alt2013"/><ref name="foster2015"/>
According to ''Kokon Hyakumonogatari Hyōban'', the ''akaneburi'' is a monster that lives in old bathhouses and are said to lurk in dilapidated estates. In those times, it was believed that fish were [[Spontaneous generation|born from water]] and lice were born from dirt, and seeing how fish intake water and lice eat dirt, all things were thus believed to eat the material that spawns them, the ''akaneburi'' being the ones that transform from the air of the places that gather dust and filth and therefore live by eating filth.<ref>{{Cite book|author=[[山岡元隣]]|editor=[[高田衛]]編・校中|title=江戸怪談集|orig-year=1686|year=1989|publisher=[[岩波書店]]|series=[[岩波文庫]]|isbn=978-4-00-302573-4|volume=下|pages=344–345|chapter=[[古今百物語評判]]}}</ref>


== Terminology ==
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==Shōwa, Heisei, and beyond==
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In literature about ''yōkai'' from the periods of Shōwa, Heisei, and beyond, ''akaname'' and ''akaneburi'' were interpreted the same way as above. These interpretations state that the ''akaname'' is a ''yōkai'' that lives in old bathhouses and dilapidated buildings<ref name="shonensha">{{Harvnb|中村他|1999|p=114}}</ref> that would sneak into places at night when people are asleep<ref name="shonensha" /> using its long tongue to lick the filth and grime sticking to bath places and bathtubs.<ref name="kodansha" /><ref name="iwai">{{Harvnb|岩井|1986|p=139}}</ref><ref name="tada">{{Harvnb|多田|1990|p=270}}</ref> It does not do anything other than lick filth, but since ''yōkai'' were considered unsettling to encounter, it is said that people worked hard to ensure that the bath places and bathtubs are washed clean so that the ''akaname'' wouldn't come.<ref name="kodansha" /><ref name="iwai" /><ref>{{Cite book|author=[[水木しげる]]|title=妖鬼化|volume=2|year=2004|publisher=[[Softgarage]]|isbn=978-4-86133-005-6|page=6|title-link=妖鬼化}}</ref> There were none who saw what the ''akaname'' truly were, but since ''aka'' can remind people of the color red (''aka'' in Japanese), they are said to have red faces<ref name="iwai" /> or be entirely red.<ref name="tada" /> Also, ''aka'' (meaning "filth") also has connotations to the idea of "impurities" such as "depravities", "sins", or "worldly desires" and other things that are not necessary, which leads to the theory that it wasn't simply a lesson to keep bath places clean, but also to keep such impurities from lurking in one's own self.<ref>{{Cite book|author=宮本幸江・熊谷あづさ|title=日本の妖怪の謎と不思議|year=2007|publisher=[[学研ホールディングス|学習研究社]]|isbn=978-4-056-04760-8|page=25}}</ref>


The word ''aka'' refers to [[Exfoliation (cosmetology)|dead skin]] on a person's body,<ref name="foster2015"/> alongside the dirt, grime, or sweat<ref name="foster2015"/> that may be scrubbed or washed off; the ''aka'' can also refer to scum that accumulates at the bathhouse as a result, including perhaps mildew.<ref name="yoda&alt2013"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Cf. Miyamoto lists the components of the ''akaname''{{'}}s diet as consisting of the oily [[sebum]] and the keratinous [[stratum corneum]] off of humans, and [[Fungus|fungi]]<ref name="miyamoto_yukie"/> ([[mold]]s and mildews). She also lists {{nihongo|''mizuaka''|[[:ja:水垢|水垢]]}},<ref name="miyamoto_yukie"/> which can denote [[soap scum]] as well as [[limescale]].}}
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==In popular culture==
The [[Pokémon]] Lickitung is partially based on the Akaname.


Hence the name ''akaname'' means 'scum-licker'<ref name="foster2015"/> or 'filth-licker".<ref name="yoda&alt2013"/>
The ''akaname'' has been depicted in various media, including in the [[anime]] and video game franchise ''[[Yo-kai Watch]]''.<ref name=paste>{{cite web|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/04/8-videogame-characters-based-on-japanese-folklore.html|title=8 Videogame Characters Based On Japanese Folklore|last=Yarwood|first=Jack|date=27 April 2016|work=[[Paste (magazine)|Paste]]|access-date=7 August 2019}}</ref>


There is speculation whether ''aka'' alludes to impurities or defilements of the soul, or negative thoughts known in [[Buddhism]] as ''bonnō'' (Sankskrit: ''[[kleshas (Buddhism)|kleshas]]''), and the ''yōkai'' may serve as warning not to be so preoccupied with such thoughts as to be derelict in the chores of cleansing the bath of such filth.<ref name="miyamoto_yukie"/> Another speculation is a possible connection to the sacred water used as offering in Buddhism, known as {{nihongo|''aka''|閼伽}} water, or in Sanskrit, {{illm|arghya|ja|閼伽|preserve=1|lt=''arghya''}}.<ref name="foster2015"/>
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In 2020, [[Lush (company)|Lush]] released a bubble bar named for and modeled after the creatures.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lushusa.com/bath/bubble-bars/akaname/9999901898.html |title=Akaname {{!}} Bubble Bar {{!}} Lush Cosmetics |website=www.lushusa.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805135350/https://www.lushusa.com/bath/bubble-bars/akaname/9999901898.html |archive-date=2020-08-05}} </ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ohmylush.com/review-lush-akaname-bubble-bar/|title = Review: Lush Akaname Bubble Bar|date = 12 April 2020}}</ref>

==Edo period==
[[File:Nittohonzozusan-bk12-img25-akaneburi.jpg|thumb|Akaneburi ('Scum-licker') and bathing woman.{{right|{{small|—''Nittō honzō zusan'' (1780). Painted by Ueda Hiromitsu.}}<ref name="nittohonzozusan"/>}}]]
The name ''akaname'' ("filth-licker", "scum-licker") first appeared in ''[[Gazu Hyakki Yagyō|Gazu Hyakki Yagyō]]'' (1776), one of several illustrated yōkai collections by [[Toriyama Sekien]] according to some commentators,<ref name="foster2015"/> however, the variant name {{nihongo|''akaneburi''|垢ねぶり}} with the same meaning was described earlier in the [[Kaidan (parapsychology)|kaidan]] book {{nihongo|''Kokon hyakumonogatari hyōban''|古今百物語評判}} (1686) by {{illm|Yamaoka Genrin|ja|山岡元隣}}.<ref name="miyamoto_yukie"/>{{sfnp|Kiba|2018|p=32}}{{Refn|name="yamaoka-kokonhyakumonogatarihyoban"|Yamaoka Genrin; Yamaoka Genjo edd., (1686) ''Kokon hyakumonogatari hyōban'' 古今百物語評判, Book 2, Part 6 "Akaneburi no koto 垢ねぶりの事".<ref name="yamaoka_genrin1755"/><ref name="mozume-akaneburi"/><ref name="yamaoka_genrin-ed-takada1989"/>}} The form {{nihongo|''akaneburi''|垢舐}} is also attested in a work called {{nihongo|''Nittō honzō zusan''|日東本草図纂}} compiled by Genki (presumably Kanda Genki).<ref name="nittohonzozusan"/>{{sfnp|Kiba|2018|p=32}}

Sekien did not provide any verbal details regarding his ''akaname'', as was the case in all the yōkai depicted in this particular early work of his.
<ref name="foster2015"/> However, the ''Nittō honzō zusan'' provided ample details, describing it as child-like, with a pebbly? ({{lang|ja|磊直}}) head, round eyes, long tongue, and several example anecdotes are also provided.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|One anecdote dated to the [[Genroku era]] concerns a servant[?] woman who went to the bath chamber in the morning to tidy up the equipment and her hand touched something that was squirming. She screamed for help and for illumination, but the other women were too afraid to approach. The woman bravely tackled it but was repelled backwards. The other women finally drummed up courage and lit their torches, rolling the wooden board over it and trample on it, and it was squashed like a chicken egg's yolk.<!--Attempted translation mine, from primary source--><ref name="nittohonzozusan"/>}}<ref name="nittohonzozusan"/>{{sfnp|Kiba|2018|p=32}} In classical Edo Period depictions the ''akaname'' resembles a human child with clawed feet and cropped heads, sticking out its long tongue at a bathing area.<ref name="kusano"/> In Sekien's (monochrome) drawing the ''akaname'' stands around the corner of a "bathhouse",<ref name="foster2015"/> though the setting appears to be a bath housed in an [[outhouse]] separated from the [[omoya|main house]] (living quarters),<ref name="yoda&alt2013"/><ref name="yoda&alt2017"/> rather than a [[public bathhouse]]. In the ''Hyakushu kaibutsu yōkai sugoroku'' (1858), it is depicted as an eerie, blue-black skinned figure.<ref name="miyamoto_yukie"/>

The ''Kokon hyakumonogatari hyōban'' gives lecture on how the ''akaneburi'' originates, supposedly it [[Spontaneous generation|spawns]] in an area where dust and grime/filth/scum (''aka'') at an old bathhouse or at a derelict tattered home. That is to say, the ''akaname'' was said to emanate (''keshō'' {{lang|ja|化生}}) from the ''ki'' ({{lang|ja|気}}; ''[[qi]]'') energy or ''inki'' ({{lang|ja|陰気}}) negative energy of the accumulated detritus, and the ''akaneburi'' also subsists on eating the filth of its environs.{{Refn|name="yamaoka-kokonhyakumonogatarihyoban"}}<ref name="foster2015"/>{{sfnp|Kiba|2018|p=32}}<ref name="miyamoto_yukie"/>{{efn|The ''Kokon hyakumonogatari hyōban'' makes further comparison with the examples of the "fish born of water which partakes of water, and lice born of filth that feeds on filth".<ref name="yamaoka_genrin1755"/><ref name="mozume-akaneburi"/><!--Though "水より生じて born of water" is ambiguous and could mean "emanates from water" (spontaneously), the probably correct reading is simply "born [from eggs] in water". This is in light of Kiba's explanation that spontaneous generation or emanation (''keshō'') is just one of 4 ways in which lifeforms were believed to come into being in Neoconfucian thinking, and the ''kesho'' applies in only rare casese, such as the yōkai.-->}}

A more sinister type of ''akaneburi'' which assumes the guise of a beautiful woman is also described in the entry in ''Nittō honzō zusan'', and it is claimed she will lick away the blood and flesh until only the skeletal carcass remains. The work gives as example the anecdote concerning a man who was in the [[hot spring]]s at Banshū ([[Harima Province]]), and when he allowed a woman to scrub his back, he was licked down to his bones and died.<ref name="nittohonzozusan"/>{{sfnp|Kiba|2018|p=36}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|A cognate tale to this is found in {{illm|Shokoku hyakumonogatari|ja|諸国百物語|lt=''Shokoku hyakumonogatari''}}, featuring a man named Denzaemon from Amagasaki in [[Settsu Province]] who went to [[Arima Onsen|Arima hot springs]] and met the same fate from a female ''bakemono'' monster. Arima belonged to Settsu Province, which is discrepant from the episode at the hot spring in Harima Province,{{sfnp|Kiba|2018|p=36}} but Arima and Amagasaki are in current day [[Hyōgo Prefecture]] which overlaps with most of Harima and parts of Settsu Provinces.}}

⚫
==Shōwa, Heisei, and beyond==
⚫
In literature about ''yōkai'' from the periods of Shōwa, Heisei, and beyond, ''akaname'' and ''akaneburi'' were interpreted the same way as above. These interpretations state that the ''akaname'' is a ''yōkai'' that lives in old bathhouses and dilapidated buildings<ref name="shonensha" /> that would sneak into places at night when people are asleep<ref name="shonensha" /> using its long tongue to lick the filth and grime sticking to bath places and bathtubs.<ref name="yoda&alt2013"/><ref name="iwai" /><ref name="tada"/> It does not do anything other than lick filth, but since ''yōkai'' were considered unsettling to encounter, it is said that people worked hard to ensure that the bath places and bathtubs are washed clean so that the ''akaname'' wouldn't come.<ref name="yoda&alt2013"/><ref name="iwai" /><ref name="mizuki-mujara"/>

There were none who saw what the ''akaname'' truly were, but since ''aka'' can remind people of the color red (''aka'' in Japanese), they are said to have red faces<ref name="iwai" /> or be entirely red.<ref name="tada" /> And due to the [[double entendre]] [[pun]] on ''aka'' which can refer to both the filth which is the yōkai's essence and to the color red, a (modern) artist tends to conventionally illustrate the ''akaname'' as being of red color.<ref name="yoda&alt2013"/>

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==In popular culture==
⚫
In 2020, [[Lush (company)|Lush]] released a bubble bar named for and modeled after the creatures.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lushusa.com/bath/bubble-bars/akaname/9999901898.html |title=Akaname {{!}} Bubble Bar {{!}} Lush Cosmetics |website=www.lushusa.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805135350/https://www.lushusa.com/bath/bubble-bars/akaname/9999901898.html |archive-date=2020-08-05}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ohmylush.com/review-lush-akaname-bubble-bar/|title = Review: Lush Akaname Bubble Bar|date = 12 April 2020}}</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
Line 24: Line 39:
* ''[[Bannik]]'', a spirit which appears in bathhouses in Slavic mythology
* ''[[Bannik]]'', a spirit which appears in bathhouses in Slavic mythology
* [[Hanako-san]], a Japanese urban legend about the spirit of a young girl who haunts school bathrooms
* [[Hanako-san]], a Japanese urban legend about the spirit of a young girl who haunts school bathrooms
* ''[[Madam Koi Koi]]'', an African urban legend about the ghost of a woman who haunts school
* ''[[Madam Koi Koi]]'', an African urban legend about the ghost of a woman who haunts a school
* ''[[Teke Teke]]'', a Japanese urban legend about the spirit of a girl with no legs
* ''[[Teke Teke]]'', a Japanese urban legend about the spirit of a girl with no lower body


== Explanatory notes ==
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
{{notelist}}


==References==
== References ==
;Citations
⚫
* {{Cite book|author=[[岩井宏實]]|title=暮しの中の妖怪たち|orig-year=1986|year=2000|publisher=[[河出書房新社]]|series=[[河出文庫]]|isbn=978-4-309-47396-3|ref={{SfnRef|岩井|1986}}}}
{{reflist|30em|refs=
* {{Cite book|author=少年社・中村友紀夫・武田えり子編|title=妖怪の本 異界の闇に蠢く百鬼夜行の伝説|year=1999|publisher=[[学研ホールディングス|学習研究社]]|series=New sight mook|isbn=978-4-05-602048-9|ref={{SfnRef|中村他|1999}}}}
<ref name="foster2015">{{cite book|last=Foster |first=Michael Dylan |author-link=Michael Foster (folklorist) |title=The Book of Yokai: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore |publisher=University of California Press |date=2015 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BMRwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA232 |page=232 and Fig. 28 |isbn=978-0-520-95912-5}}</ref>
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* {{Cite book|author=[[多田克己]]|title=幻想世界の住人たち|volume=IV|year=1990|publisher=[[新紀元社]]|series=[[Truth In Fantasy]]|isbn=978-4-915146-44-2|ref={{SfnRef|多田|1990}}}}

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* {{Cite book|author=[[村上健司]]編著|title=妖怪事典|year=2000|publisher=[[毎日新聞社]]|isbn=978-4-620-31428-0|ref={{SfnRef|村上|2000}}}}
<ref name="iwai">{{harvp|Iwai|1986|p=139}} and {{harvp|Iwai|2000|p=42}}</ref>

<ref name="kusano">{{Cite book|last=Kusano |first=Takumi |author=<!--草野巧--> |title=Gensō dōbutsu jiten |script-title=ja:幻想動物事典 |publisher=Shinkigensha |year=1997 |page=7 |isbn=978-4-88317-283-2}}</ref>

<ref name="miyamoto_yukie">{{cite book |last=Miyamoto |first=Yukie |author-link=<!--宮本幸枝--> |chapter=Chapter 1. Kokuminteki yūmei yōkai. §Akaname|script-chapter=ja:第1章 国民的有名妖怪 §垢嘗 |title=Nihon no yōkai FILE |script-title=ja:日本の妖怪FILE |trans-title= |location= |publisher=Gakken Publishing<!--学研--> |date=2013 |url=<!--non previewable--> |pages=16–17 |isbn=<!--???-->978-4-054056-63-3|language=ja}}</ref>

<ref name="mizuki-mujara">{{Cite book|last=Mizuki |first=Shigeru |author-link=Shigeru Mizuki |title=Mujara |script-title=ja:妖鬼化 |volume=2 |year=2004 |publisher=[[Softgarage]] |isbn=978-4-86133-005-6 |page=6 |title-link=:ja:妖鬼化}}</ref>

<ref name="mozume-akaneburi">{{cite book|last=Mozume |first=Takami |author-link=:ja:物集高見 |chapter=Akaneburi |script-chapter=ja:垢ねぶり |title=Kōbunko |script-title=ja:廣文庫 |volume=15 |publisher=Kōbunko kankōkai<!--廣文庫刋行會--> |date=1922 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5-8ZAQAAMAAJ&pg=PP966 |pages=932–933}}</ref>

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<ref name="murakami">{{Cite book|last=Murakami |first=Kenji |author-link=:ja:村上健司 |title=Yōkai jiten |script-title=ja:妖怪事典|year=2000|publisher=Mainichi Shimbun-sha<!--毎日新聞社--> |page=7 |isbn=978-4-620-31428-0}}</ref>

<ref name="nittohonzozusan">{{cite book|last=Kanda |first=Genki |author-link=<!--神田玄紀--> |editor-last=Tsutsumi |editor-first=Rin |editor-link=<!--堤倫--> |others=Ueda Hiromitsu 上田寛満 (illust.) |chapter=Dai-6 Akaneburi |script-chapter=ja:第六 垢ねぶり |title=Nittō honzō zusan |script-title=ja:日東本草図纂 |volume=12<!--=巻之十二--> |publisher= |date=1780 |url=https://www.digital.archives.go.jp/img/4358329/25 |pages=}}</ref>

<ref name="shonensha">{{Cite book|editor1=Shōnensha |editor1-link=<!--少年社--> |editor2-last=Nakamura |editor2-first=Yukio |editor2-link=<!--中村友紀夫--> |editor3-last=Takeda |editor3-first=Eriko |editor3-link=<!--武田えり子--> |title=Yōkai no hon: Ikai no yami ni ugomeku hyakkiyagyō no densetsu |script-title=ja:妖怪の本 異界の闇に蠢く百鬼夜行の伝説 |publisher=Gakken |year=1999 |page=114|series=New sight mook|isbn=978-4-05-602048-9}}</ref>

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<ref name="tada">{{Cite book|last=Tada |first=Katsumi |author-link=:ja:多田克己 |title=Yōkai sekai no jūnin tachi |script-title=ja:幻想世界の住人たち |volume=IV |year=1990|publisher=Shin-kigensha <!--新紀元社--> |page=270 |series=Truth In Fantasy |isbn=978-4-915146-44-2}}</ref>

<ref name="toriyama2005">{{cite book|last=Toriyama |first=Sekien |author-link=Toriyama Sekien |chapter=Gazu Hyakki Yagyō: In |script-chapter=ja:画図百鬼夜行:陰 |title=Toriyama Sekien Gazu hyakki yagyō zen gashū |script-title=ja:鳥山石燕 画図百鬼夜行全画集 |publisher=Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co., Ltd. |date=July 2005　|page=20 |isbn = 978-4-04-405101-3}}</ref>

<ref name="yamaoka_genrin1755">{{Cite book|last=Yamaoka |first=Genrin |author-link=:ja:山岡元隣 |chapter=Dai-6 Akaneburi no koto |script-chapter=ja:第六 垢ねぶりの事 |title=Kokon hyakumonogatari hyōban |script-title=ja:古今百物語評判 |volume=2 |location=Teramachimatsubarasagarumachi, Kyōto<!--寺町松原下ル町(京)--> |publisher=Umemura Saburobee <!--梅村三郎兵衛--> |origyear=1686 |year=1755<!--宝暦5--> |chapter-url=https://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/he13/he13_03116/he13_03116_0002/he13_03116_0002_p0019.jpg |pages=16v–17r |quote=一人いわく、「垢ねぶりというものは、ふるき風呂屋にすむばけもののよし申せり。もっとも、あれたる屋敷などにはあるべく聞こえ候えども、その名の心得がたくはべる」といえば、先生いえらく、「この名、もつともなる儀なるべし。}}</ref>
<ref name="yamaoka_genrin-ed-takada1989">{{Cite book|last=Yamaoka |first=Genrin |author-link=:ja:山岡元隣 |title=Kokon hyakumonogatari hyōban |script-title=ja:古今百物語評判 |editor-last=Takada |editor-first=Mamoru |editor-link=:ja:高田衛 |work=Edo kaidanshū |script-work=ja:江戸怪談集 |volume=3<!--下-->|publisher=Iwanami |orig-year=1686 |year=1989 |pages=344–345 |isbn=978-4-00-302573-4 |series=<!--Iwanami Bunko -->}}</ref>

<ref name="yoda&alt2013">{{cite book|last1=Yoda |first1=Hiroko |author1-link=Hiroko Yoda |last2=Alt |first2=Matt |author2-link=<!--Matt Alt--> |others=Tatsuya Morino (illustr.)<!--森野達弥--> |title=Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide |publisher=Tuttle Publishing |orig-date=2008 |date=2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ArQAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT86 |pages=86–89|isbn=<!--1462908837,-->9781462908837}}</ref>
<ref name="yoda&alt2017">Yoda & Alt in boxed commentary, {{harvp|Toriyama|2017|p=18}}</ref>
}}

;Bibliography cited
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* {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Iwai|1986}}|last=Iwai |first=Hiromi |author-link=:ja:岩井宏實 |title=Kurashi no naka no yōkai tachi |script-title=ja:暮しの中の妖怪たち |orig-year=1986|year=2000 |publisher=Kawade shobō |page=139 |series=Kawade bunko |isbn=978-4-309-47396-3}}
* {{cite book|last=Iwai |first=Hiromi |author-link=:ja:岩井宏實 |author-mask=2 |title=Yashiki no yōkai |script-title=ja:屋敷の妖怪 |publisher=Kawade shobō |date=2000 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iVMnAQAAIAAJ&q=垢 |series=Nihon no yōkai hyakka<!--日本の妖怪百科--> 4 |isbn=<!--4309613810,-->978-4-309-61381-9}}
* {{cite journal|last=Kiba |first=Takatoshi |author-link=<!--木場貴俊--> |title='Shoke' to 'rigainori': ''Nittō honzō zusan'' kan-no-12 wo megutte<!--「所化」と「理外之理」 : 『日東本草図纂』巻之十二をめぐって「 ショケ 」 ト 「 リガイユキリ 」 : 『 ニットウ ホンゾウズサン 』 カンユキジュウニ オ メグッテ--> |journal=Gazoku<!--雅俗--> |volume=17 |date=2018-07-17 |url=https://catalog.lib.kyushu-u.ac.jp/opac_download_md/4742068/017_p027.pdf |pages=27–40}}
* {{citation|last=Toriyama |first=Sekien |author-link=Toriyama Sekien |translator1-last=Yoda |translator1-first=Hiroko |translator1-link=Hiroko Yoda |translator2-last=Alt |translator2-first=Matt |translator2-link=<!--Matt Alt--> |title=Japandemonium Illustrated: The Yokai Encyclopedias of Toriyama Sekien |publisher=Courier Dover Publications |year=2017 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oeTtDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA18 |page=18 |isbn=9780486818757 }}
<!--
* Gould, Robert Jay (2003). ''Japan Culture Research Project''.
* Gould, Robert Jay (2003). ''Japan Culture Research Project''.
* Stevens, Ben (2009). ''A Gaijin's Guide to Japan: an Alternative Look at Japanese Life, History and Culture''. HarperCollins UK.
* Stevens, Ben (2009). ''A Gaijin's Guide to Japan: an Alternative Look at Japanese Life, History and Culture''. HarperCollins UK.
-->

{{refend}}
{{Japanese folklore long}}
{{Japanese folklore long}}


Revision as of 00:23, 28 April 2024

"Akaname of the Deep Dark Valley" from the pictured paper used as dice game board, Utagawa Yoshikazu
Sokokuradani no Akaname ("Akaname of the Deep Dark Valley"), a frame on a picture print used as dice game board. Hyakushu kaibutsu yōkai sugoroku (1858) by Utagawa Yoshikazu [ja].
"Akaname", Gazu hyakkiyagyō by Toriyama Sekien[1]

The akaname (垢(あか)嘗(なめ), 'scum-licker'; 'filth-licker') is a Japanese yōkai depicted in Toriyama Sekien's 1776 book Gazu Hyakki Yagyō,[2][3] with its precursor or equivalent akaneburi (/垢ねぶり/垢舐(ねぶり)) documented earlier in 1686.

These beings presumably lick the filth and scum that collect in bathtubs and bathrooms.[4][2]

Terminology

The word aka refers to dead skin on a person's body,[2] alongside the dirt, grime, or sweat[2] that may be scrubbed or washed off; the aka can also refer to scum that accumulates at the bathhouse as a result, including perhaps mildew.[4][a]

Hence the name akaname means 'scum-licker'[2] or 'filth-licker".[4]

There is speculation whether aka alludes to impurities or defilements of the soul, or negative thoughts known in Buddhism as bonnō (Sankskrit: kleshas), and the yōkai may serve as warning not to be so preoccupied with such thoughts as to be derelict in the chores of cleansing the bath of such filth.[5] Another speculation is a possible connection to the sacred water used as offering in Buddhism, known as aka (閼伽) water, or in Sanskrit, arghya [ja].[2]

Edo period

Akaneburi ('Scum-licker') and bathing woman.
—Nittō honzō zusan (1780). Painted by Ueda Hiromitsu.[6]

The name akaname ("filth-licker", "scum-licker") first appeared in Gazu Hyakki Yagyō (1776), one of several illustrated yōkai collections by Toriyama Sekien according to some commentators,[2] however, the variant name akaneburi (垢ねぶり) with the same meaning was described earlier in the kaidan book Kokon hyakumonogatari hyōban (古今百物語評判) (1686) by Yamaoka Genrin [ja].[5][7][11] The form akaneburi (垢舐) is also attested in a work called Nittō honzō zusan (日東本草図纂) compiled by Genki (presumably Kanda Genki).[6][7]

Sekien did not provide any verbal details regarding his akaname, as was the case in all the yōkai depicted in this particular early work of his. [2] However, the Nittō honzō zusan provided ample details, describing it as child-like, with a pebbly? (磊直) head, round eyes, long tongue, and several example anecdotes are also provided.[b][6][7] In classical Edo Period depictions the akaname resembles a human child with clawed feet and cropped heads, sticking out its long tongue at a bathing area.[12] In Sekien's (monochrome) drawing the akaname stands around the corner of a "bathhouse",[2] though the setting appears to be a bath housed in an outhouse separated from the main house (living quarters),[4][13] rather than a public bathhouse. In the Hyakushu kaibutsu yōkai sugoroku (1858), it is depicted as an eerie, blue-black skinned figure.[5]

The Kokon hyakumonogatari hyōban gives lecture on how the akaneburi originates, supposedly it spawns in an area where dust and grime/filth/scum (aka) at an old bathhouse or at a derelict tattered home. That is to say, the akaname was said to emanate (keshō 化生) from the ki (気; qi) energy or inki (陰気) negative energy of the accumulated detritus, and the akaneburi also subsists on eating the filth of its environs.[11][2][7][5][c]

A more sinister type of akaneburi which assumes the guise of a beautiful woman is also described in the entry in Nittō honzō zusan, and it is claimed she will lick away the blood and flesh until only the skeletal carcass remains. The work gives as example the anecdote concerning a man who was in the hot springs at Banshū (Harima Province), and when he allowed a woman to scrub his back, he was licked down to his bones and died.[6][14][d]

Shōwa, Heisei, and beyond

In literature about yōkai from the periods of Shōwa, Heisei, and beyond, akaname and akaneburi were interpreted the same way as above. These interpretations state that the akaname is a yōkai that lives in old bathhouses and dilapidated buildings[15] that would sneak into places at night when people are asleep[15] using its long tongue to lick the filth and grime sticking to bath places and bathtubs.[4][16][17] It does not do anything other than lick filth, but since yōkai were considered unsettling to encounter, it is said that people worked hard to ensure that the bath places and bathtubs are washed clean so that the akaname wouldn't come.[4][16][18]

There were none who saw what the akaname truly were, but since aka can remind people of the color red (aka in Japanese), they are said to have red faces[16] or be entirely red.[17] And due to the double entendre pun on aka which can refer to both the filth which is the yōkai's essence and to the color red, a (modern) artist tends to conventionally illustrate the akaname as being of red color.[4]

In popular culture

In 2020, Lush released a bubble bar named for and modeled after the creatures.[19][20]

See also

  • Aka Manto ("Red Cape"), a Japanese urban legend about a spirit which appears in bathrooms
  • Bannik, a spirit which appears in bathhouses in Slavic mythology
  • Hanako-san, a Japanese urban legend about the spirit of a young girl who haunts school bathrooms
  • Madam Koi Koi, an African urban legend about the ghost of a woman who haunts a school
  • Teke Teke, a Japanese urban legend about the spirit of a girl with no lower body

Explanatory notes

  1. ^ Cf. Miyamoto lists the components of the akaname's diet as consisting of the oily sebum and the keratinous stratum corneum off of humans, and fungi[5] (molds and mildews). She also lists mizuaka (水垢),[5] which can denote soap scum as well as limescale.
  2. ^ One anecdote dated to the Genroku era concerns a servant[?] woman who went to the bath chamber in the morning to tidy up the equipment and her hand touched something that was squirming. She screamed for help and for illumination, but the other women were too afraid to approach. The woman bravely tackled it but was repelled backwards. The other women finally drummed up courage and lit their torches, rolling the wooden board over it and trample on it, and it was squashed like a chicken egg's yolk.[6]
  3. ^ The Kokon hyakumonogatari hyōban makes further comparison with the examples of the "fish born of water which partakes of water, and lice born of filth that feeds on filth".[8][9]
  4. ^ A cognate tale to this is found in Shokoku hyakumonogatari [ja], featuring a man named Denzaemon from Amagasaki in Settsu Province who went to Arima hot springs and met the same fate from a female bakemono monster. Arima belonged to Settsu Province, which is discrepant from the episode at the hot spring in Harima Province,[14] but Arima and Amagasaki are in current day Hyōgo Prefecture which overlaps with most of Harima and parts of Settsu Provinces.

References

Citations
  1. ^ Toriyama, Sekien (July 2005). "Gazu Hyakki Yagyō: In" 画図百鬼夜行:陰. Toriyama Sekien Gazu hyakki yagyō zen gashū 鳥山石燕 画図百鬼夜行全画集. Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co., Ltd. p. 20. ISBN 978-4-04-405101-3.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Foster, Michael Dylan (2015). The Book of Yokai: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore. University of California Press. p. 232 and Fig. 28. ISBN 978-0-520-95912-5.
  3. ^ Murakami, Kenji [in Japanese] (2000). Yōkai jiten 妖怪事典. Mainichi Shimbun-sha. p. 7. ISBN 978-4-620-31428-0.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Yoda, Hiroko; Alt, Matt (2013) [2008]. Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide. Tatsuya Morino (illustr.). Tuttle Publishing. pp. 86–89. ISBN 9781462908837.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Miyamoto, Yukie (2013). "Chapter 1. Kokuminteki yūmei yōkai. §Akaname" 第1章 国民的有名妖怪 §垢嘗. Nihon no yōkai FILE 日本の妖怪FILE (in Japanese). Gakken Publishing. pp. 16–17. ISBN 978-4-054056-63-3.
  6. ^ a b c d e Kanda, Genki (1780). "Dai-6 Akaneburi" 第六 垢ねぶり. In Tsutsumi, Rin (ed.). Nittō honzō zusan 日東本草図纂. Vol. 12. Ueda Hiromitsu 上田寛満 (illust.).
  7. ^ a b c d Kiba (2018), p. 32.
  8. ^ a b Yamaoka, Genrin [in Japanese] (1755) [1686]. "Dai-6 Akaneburi no koto" 第六 垢ねぶりの事. Kokon hyakumonogatari hyōban 古今百物語評判. Vol. 2. Teramachimatsubarasagarumachi, Kyōto: Umemura Saburobee. pp. 16v–17r. 一人いわく、「垢ねぶりというものは、ふるき風呂屋にすむばけもののよし申せり。もっとも、あれたる屋敷などにはあるべく聞こえ候えども、その名の心得がたくはべる」といえば、先生いえらく、「この名、もつともなる儀なるべし。
  9. ^ a b Mozume, Takami [in Japanese] (1922). "Akaneburi" 垢ねぶり. Kōbunko 廣文庫. Vol. 15. Kōbunko kankōkai. pp. 932–933.
  10. ^ Yamaoka, Genrin [in Japanese] (1989) [1686]. Takada, Mamoru [in Japanese] (ed.). Kokon hyakumonogatari hyōban 古今百物語評判. 江戸怪談集. Vol. 3. Iwanami. pp. 344–345. ISBN 978-4-00-302573-4. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  11. ^ a b Yamaoka Genrin; Yamaoka Genjo edd., (1686) Kokon hyakumonogatari hyōban 古今百物語評判, Book 2, Part 6 "Akaneburi no koto 垢ねぶりの事".[8][9][10]
  12. ^ Kusano, Takumi (1997). Gensō dōbutsu jiten 幻想動物事典. Shinkigensha. p. 7. ISBN 978-4-88317-283-2.
  13. ^ Yoda & Alt in boxed commentary, Toriyama (2017), p. 18
  14. ^ a b Kiba (2018), p. 36.
  15. ^ a b Shōnensha; Nakamura, Yukio; Takeda, Eriko, eds. (1999). Yōkai no hon: Ikai no yami ni ugomeku hyakkiyagyō no densetsu 妖怪の本 異界の闇に蠢く百鬼夜行の伝説. New sight mook. Gakken. p. 114. ISBN 978-4-05-602048-9.
  16. ^ a b c Iwai (1986), p. 139 and Iwai (2000), p. 42
  17. ^ a b Tada, Katsumi [in Japanese] (1990). Yōkai sekai no jūnin tachi 幻想世界の住人たち. Truth In Fantasy. Vol. IV. Shin-kigensha. p. 270. ISBN 978-4-915146-44-2.
  18. ^ Mizuki, Shigeru (2004). Mujara 妖鬼化. Vol. 2. Softgarage. p. 6. ISBN 978-4-86133-005-6.
  19. ^ "Akaname | Bubble Bar | Lush Cosmetics". www.lushusa.com. Archived from the original on 2020-08-05.
  20. ^ "Review: Lush Akaname Bubble Bar". 12 April 2020.
Bibliography cited
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