Collection: The Harikikigaki, Shaku & Kibyo 🦠

Before modern medicine there were many ideas about where disease came from, Yokai where frequently blamed for spreading disease and illnesses of which there was no rational explanation for. (Europe also had similar beliefs in witches, etc.)

The majority of the yokai in this section are from The "Harikikigaki" 針聞書 or "the book of needles" ‑ a 1568 tome about acupuncture & medical knowledge written by a resident of Ibaraki City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. ‑ It's an incredibly valuable source of information about the way people used to think about illness in those days: the book is currently housed at Kyushu National Museum as a centre piece. (twitter: @kyuhaku_koho ) ‑ the book is mainly about acupuncture however, Its most popular for including 63 unique diagrams of "Shaku" Microbial/parasitic/germs/bug sized creatures thought to cause disease & Illness! ‑ it also lists treatments/cures for each!!

These germ‑sized yokai are often collectively known as ‘Hara‑no‑mushi’ [腹の虫] sometimes also 'Kan No Mushi' [疳の虫] (aka "belly bugs") - today the term is more commonly used as an expression for when babies & children have unexplained tantrums - (The parents cant tell what’s quite wrong.) ‑ they're quite possibly the cutest parasites  you'll ever see, but make no mistake, despite how cute they may appear, these creatures were once taken most seriously!!

"Kibyo 奇病" (meaning 'strange illness.') is another good catchall term for yokai that effect humans, or might otherwise fall into adjacent categories.