Umakan – [Yokai|KanNoMushi]

Description

Umakan – [Yokai|KanNoMushi] – 馬癇, うまかん “horse infection”

• About this Mushi: An infectious parasite in the shape of a majestic, fast running horse, it’s head, neck and back are a vibrant red, its ears, legs and underside are creamy-white. it runs wildly inside of the infected hosts heart and reacts rather violently whenever they’re exposed to sunlight or the heat and flames of a large-fire. – It causes the host to suddenly faint; they fall unconscious without warning! Then, as if nothing happened; they suddenly return to normal with no other issues… (As though they had an sudden epileptic fit.)

• Cure: Its said that generally you should take precautions to strengthen your heart! There are a few different (very secret) acupuncture techniques to get rid of this mushi entirely as well; but they where only passed down orally from teachers to students…

• History: Yet Another One out of 63 ‘HaraNoMushi’ 疳の虫 (germ/parasitic Yokai) from the “Harikikigaki” 針聞書 or “the book of needles” – a mysterious book about acupuncture & medical knowledge written in 1568 by a resident of Ibaraki City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan.

The original from 1568 via Kyoto museum. image source: https://collection.kyuhaku.jp/application/?at=advanced/detail&dpage=4&id=2229

• My Observations: Curiously; There’s a bunch of other mushi that are shaped like barnyard animals (theres a Horse (this one) Pig (Jinshaku), Cow (Gyukan) (and two others) the kyushu museums guide book catagorize these as “beast types”. – They all share the same general shape and they surely feel like they belong in a set.. – I cant help but wonder if the shape of the animal they are corresponds to the animal (or its meat?) that you might catch them from? (But, nothing written implies that, at least as far as i’m aware…) Eating meat from these 3 animals would have also still been a big taboo at the time!!! In Japan, eating meat only really became normalized past the end of the Meiji period (1868-1912) So it might make sense? Just a theory on my part… 💁‍♀️)