Amikiri

Concept

The illustration of the ja in Toriyama Sekien (1712‐1788)'s Gazu Hyakki Yagyō (published 1776) depicts a scorpion-like creature (or a cross between a serpent, bird or a lobster with pincer claws similar to that of a crab or a scorpion), but since Sekien supplies no explanatory text, it is not certain what kind of yōkai it is. It may be an off-shoot based on another similar yōkai named ja ("hair-cutter"), which Sekien does not include in his series, but occurs in predecessor (1707‐1772)'s emaki painting scroll Hyakkai zukan (1737), from which Sekien is known to have borrowed heavily.

In various writings from the Shōwa period and beyond, or describes the ja to be a yōkai that cuts mosquito nets, sudare blinds, or nets/meshes hung out to dry.

There may be no authentic folkloric tradition about ja, and this yōkai may merely be Sekien's invention, perhaps based on play on words or some allegory more easily recognizable to people at the time. The yōkai researcher hypothesized that Sekien perhaps seized on the pun (double entendre) between "ami" (meaning nets) and "ami" (meaning mysid shrimp) when he invented the creature.

Legend

In 's ("Ghost story journey to the Tōhoku region", 1974), there is a story taking place in the Shōnai region, Yamagata Prefecture about a fishing village whose fishing nets were repeatedly cut into pieces, which got blamed on the amikiri. One person preemptively brought back his nets early and hid at home to avoid the trouble, but his mosquito nets all got cut to tatters (no doubt by the amikiri) and the residents got bitten all over the body by mosquitos. The yōkai researcher was unable to corroborate such a story from any other source in Yamagata Prefecture, and concluded it must have been Yamada's invention.

Explanatory notes

References

References

1. Chiba, Mikio. (September 1995). "Yōkai orinpikku". Taiyō.
2. Foster, Michael Dylan. (2024). "The Book of Yokai, Expanded Second Edition: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore". University of California Press.
3. Fujisawa, Morihiko. (August 1926). "Yōkai henge no ningen-ka to sono kōin no keishiki". Nihon densetsu gakkai.
4. Fujisawa, Morihiko. (1929). "Yōkai gadan zenshū: Nihon-hen". Chuo Bijutsusha.
5. Kasu, Sanpei. (1973). "Obake zue". Haga Shoten.
6. Kusano, Takumi. (1997). "Gensō dōbutsu jiten". [[:ja:新紀元社.
7. (2000-06-01). "Yōkai zukan". [[:ja:国書刊行会.
8. Mizuki, Shigeru. (2014). "Nihon yōkai taizen". [[Kodansha]].
9. Murakami, Kenji. (2000). "Yōkai jiten". [[Mainichi Shimbun]]sha.
10. Toriyama, Sekien. (1805). "Hyakki yakō 3-kan". Naganoya Kankichi.
11. (1992). "Toriyama Sekien Gazu hyakki yagyō". [[:ja:国書刊行会.
12. Toriyama, Sekien. (2021). "Edo yōkaiga taizen". Edo rekishi Library.
13. Yamada, Norio. (1974). "Tōhoku kaidan no tabi". [[:ja:自由国民社.
14. Yōkai dotto com. (2008). "Zusetsu yōkai jiten". [[:ja:幻冬舎コミックス.