Nurikabe - ぬりかべ - [1802 Wall yokai]

Regular price: $8.00
Sale price: $8.00

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•About this Yokai•

Nurikabe - ぬりかべ - Nurikabe blocks your way!!! - A Mysterious, invisible Yokai that blocks your path like an ever extending barrier at night: Most accounts of Nurikabe come from Kyūshū as a way of explaining why travellers might have gotten lost at night.

•Early appearances & History•

The popular rectangle "Mr Wall" Nurikabe design [Similar to the last slide] was originally drawn by Mizuki Shigeru (Youkai Scholar & Author of Gegege Kitaro.) – it was said that he encountered a Nurikabe in New Guinea (in the 1940s.) After nearly walking off a cliff! He says the yokai stopped him and saved his life.) – So, in a nutshell, that's why hes one of Kitaro's closer friends. - Mizukis version would also inspire the "Whomps" of mario fame.

More recently: (2007) a 3-eyed-dog-like Nurikabe was discovered: in an old bakemo no e picture scroll from 1802! – (Though some scholars contest that the nurikabe illustrated in Bakemono no e and the nurikabe of kyushu folklore are not the same as it appears to be a bit more lion-dog esc.

Sam's take: My design takes inspiration from both of them fused together :)

Sticker Art by @Samkalensky (yo thats me!) - Part of my Night parade of 100 Demons - Yokai & Japanese folklore sticker collection, weather resistant 4" Glossy sticker. Check my shop & follow @samkalensky for many more!