Amabiko - 尼彦(肉筆) - [Yokai]

•About this yokai•

Amabiko (JP: アマビコ, 尼彦) "Nunihiko" 尼彦(肉筆) 1871.

A glowing, 3 legged, ape-like monster who lives in the ocean, comes out to give a prophecy of a bumper crop, then epidemic, tells the receiver to spread its image for good health, then it disappears...

Amabiko is often said to be the same or a similar creature as Amabie (its name is just one character off* its prophecy is pretty much identical and it has a very similar in design.) - However, Unlike Amabie who was only told of once (in 1846) there actually 9 different accounts of the Amabiko (earliest being in 1844) – Each iteration of Amabiko has a slightly different story:

This version: which appeared later, around 1852*  was spotted by a person named "Hikozaemon Shibata" who had heard an odd sounding cry every night, he eventually tracked it down to the source, Where He encountered a monkey like creature with a bulbous head, and 3 legs, it delivered a dire prophecy: "70% of Japan will perish this year if not shown his image." - an image of the creature was then reproduced in woodblock printed newsletters and then distributed to the masses so that the creatures supposed effect could reach as many people as possible.

For a while, carrying a picture of them with you in your wallet as a sort of charm was considered a way to ward off diseases!!! – (hopefully my stickers have a similar effect!) 

Because most things where hand written back then, its possible that "Amabie" is actually the result of a game of broken telephone or misreading someones chicken scratch handwriting! (even so: Its likely these legends where copy-cat stories stemming from the much earlier Jinja-hime (1819) & other similar myths!)