Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: 赤い兎, Red Rabbit, Red Hare
Category: Rabbit
The Myth
Aka Usagi, meaning “red rabbit,” appears in traditional tales from Narageshita, Kaminoyama, in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. In one story recorded in Satō-ke no Mukashibanashi (1982), a man hunting rabbits near a mountain stream encounters a red rabbit that darts away at remarkable speed. He pursues it until it disappears into a small thicket in an open field. Using a long wooden tool called a koshikibera, normally used to clear away snow, he digs into the spot where the rabbit vanished. Beneath the snow, he discovers a human corpse.
The dead person is identified as someone from Aioi who had previously gone missing. However, when local people hear about the discovery, they urge the finder to keep silent and avoid becoming involved. They insist that the truth will become apparent when the snow melts in spring. The account was reportedly related as a true incident by the original storyteller, presenting the red rabbit as an uncanny apparition that leads a person to a hidden death.
Another local tale portrays the red rabbit as a messenger of the gods. A white rabbit fleeing from a bear jumps into a field of wild strawberries, staining its fur red. Other animals mistake the transformed rabbit for a divine messenger and begin to revere it. During summer, however, the rabbit bathes in water and its fur returns to its original white colour. Once its disguise disappears, the animals no longer regard it with the same reverence, and its apparent divine authority is lost.
Sources
“Aka-usagi.” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1084458407.html