Yamabiko – 山彦 -[yokai]

Description

Yamabiko. – [yokai] – 山彦 aka: 幽谷響 (mountain echo)

•About this Yokai: A small elusive creature that is shaped something like a monkey crossed with a dog; they are often said to be responsible for carrying mountain echos: if you yodel out, this creature is supposedly what mimics you back. – Yamabiko translates directly to “echo” -[it’s often debated if the Japanese word for ‘echo’ came first or if this yokai did!]-  sometimes said to be pranksters: occasionally delaying echos for extended periods of time, or responding with a different noises entirely, they like to startle or confuse hikers with train noises or city ambience, causing them to get lost in the wilderness – they’ve also been known to mimic folk songs.

This yokai is a personified audio phenomena, and thus it is heard far more often than seen, but when they are spotted, they are depicted as shrugging with a big silly grin as if to say “huh… who do you suppose made that noise?”

• History: Yamabiko appears in some of the earliest Hyakki Yagyo picture scrolls including Bakemonoe[1663?], Hyakki zukan[1737] (among several others) & perhaps most famously in Toriyama Sekien’s Gazu Hyakki Yagyo [1776] –

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!