Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: The Curse of the Cockroaches
Category: Insect
The Myth
Aburamushi-tata is associated with a tale of supernatural retribution involving cockroaches. The story appears in Kidan Zashishi (Miscellaneous Stories of Strange Tales) and concerns a woman from Osaka who had hated cockroaches since childhood. Whenever she encountered one, she would kill it by pouring boiling water over it.
Years later, the woman became seriously ill. As she lay close to death, a multitude of cockroaches suddenly appeared beside her. Terrified, she cried out that the cockroaches were going to seize her and kill her. She eventually died in a fit of madness.
People feared that the woman’s terrible death was punishment for her lifelong habit of killing cockroaches. The tale presents the insects as agents of supernatural vengeance, returning at the moment of death to torment someone who had repeatedly destroyed them.
Sources
“Aburamushi-tata.” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1075816535.html