Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: 魑魅, Sudama, Yama no Kami, Mountain Spirit
Category: Pig
The Myth
Chimi is a supernatural being associated with mountains and forests, known from the expression chimi mōryō, a collective term for monsters and supernatural entities originating in the ancient Chinese classic Zuo Zhuan. In traditional explanations, chimi are spirits arising from the atmosphere of mountains and forests, while mōryō are spirits associated with mountains, rivers, trees, and stones. Some interpretations identify chimi as mountain deities, with chi representing a god of the mountains and mi a deity of marshes. In Japan, chimi was also read as sudama or yama no kami, and the Heian-period dictionary Wamyō Ruijushō records the name Sudama and classifies the beings among the varieties of demons.
Descriptions of chimi vary across Chinese classical texts. Some portray chi as a tiger-like mountain spirit and mi as a humanoid creature with an animal’s body and four legs. A commentary on the Records of the Grand Historian describes chi as a tiger-shaped mountain deity and mi as a marsh spirit with a boar’s head and a human-shaped body. These differing descriptions have influenced later explanations and depictions of the creature, but chimi never acquired one universally established appearance in Japanese supernatural art.
One illustrated appearance of chimi occurs in the Edo-period kibyōshi Hyakki Yagyō Bakemono-gatari, where it is portrayed alongside mōryō as a monstrous mother with a child. The hairy, long-haired chimi has a human face and demonic body, while the childlike mōryō playfully threatens to bite its mother’s breast. In the twentieth century, illustrated children’s books popularized another design combining the boar’s head associated with mi and the tiger-like body associated with chi. One such depiction describes chimi as a creature dwelling deep in the mountains, capable of raising wind and rain and exercising power over nature. Despite these illustrations, chimi remains a supernatural being whose appearance varies considerably between sources.
Sources
“Chimi.” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1073628962.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com