Azuki Hakari - 小豆はかり - [yokai]

Azuki-Hakari - 小豆はかり - [yokai] - 'bean counter'

•About this yokai: Yet another audio-phenomena based yokai, known only by the sound it makes, often heard in older buildings, it makes the sound of beans being dropped, scattered & slowly intensifying, leading up to what sounds like a cascade of beans spilling all at once!! Often said to be a relative of Azuki Arai.

•History: This yokai seems to originate from a collection of stories from the edo period: "Kwaidanro no soden" [怪談老の杖] no description of what the yokai looks like was actually given: – The story goes something close to as follows:

"Once upon a time, a man heard a story from his friend about a yokai haunting the family home: Every night since he was a child, ayokai made noises in his attic, but his family generally paid it no mind. – The man said, "I would love to see that!" and so he was allowed to stay at his friend's house.
There he stayed for several days, nothing suspicious happened at first, the friend told him to stay quiet because it only happened when it was silent. Then, when the room was silent and dark around midnight,  he heard something like geta (wooden clogs) scrambling quickly across the ceiling. it was followed by what sounded like beans being scattered, slowly, one by one. The sound gradually became faster, louder and more intense until it sounded as if a full ton (about 18 liters.) of beans were being poured out, all at once in a mad flurry!!! The splashing of water was also heard.  
Soon: the sound of wooden footsteps where scrambling all around the ceiling and soon in the garden outside...The man quickly opened the door and ran to the garden to check, but, the noise stopped immediately, and there was nobody to be seen..."

This yokai does not do anything particularly evil, although its occasionally said to drop dirt and other scraps from the ceiling, its mostly an annoyance (honestly it sounds like it could have simply been an animal so, it makes sense that the family would pay it no mind.) Since Azuki-Arai typically appear near rivers & streams (in the wilderness) Azuki-Hakari is often blamed for similar audio phenomena taking place away from rivers, in older homes and other urban settings, another notable difference is that hakari does not "sing." A lot of folklorists seem to compare it to a "poltergeist." (But I'd personally sooner compare it to another urban-noise making yokai: Yanari.) however, since its only described by the mysterious noise it makes, its hard to say what it looks like with any certainty. - Because there was no edo period illustration: Shigeru Mizuki popularized it in his yokai encyclopedias appearance as a purple-red or brown (Azuki-bean-colored) hairy dwarf, with buldging eyes and a huge head!!

See also: Azuki Arai, Azuki-baba, Mame-danuki. Audio phenomena.

Art Sticker by @SamKalensky (yo, that's me!) part of my yokai, night parade of 100 demons sticker collection, check my shop for many more!