Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: Amabiko, Amahiko
Category: Mermaid, Yokai
The Myth
In the third year of Kōka, in the middle of the fourth month (1846), strange lights were seen shining upon the sea in Higo Province. Night after night the glowing shape appeared offshore, casting an eerie radiance over the waves.
At last, a local official went to investigate. Approaching the coast, he beheld a mysterious being rise from the water. It had long hair and a mouth shaped like a bird’s beak. Its body was covered in scales from the neck downward, and from beneath it extended three legs—or three fin-like limbs—supporting it at the shore.
The creature spoke.
“I dwell in the sea,” it said. “For six years from this year, the harvest will be abundant. But after that, an epidemic will spread across the land.”
The official listened in fear as the being continued:
“If disease spreads, draw a picture of me and show it to the sick. Those who see my likeness will be protected.”
Having delivered its prophecy, the creature returned to the sea and vanished beneath the waves.
News of the encounter spread quickly through printed bulletins. Woodblock sheets bearing the creature’s image were copied and distributed so that people might keep them as charms against illness. The strange being was called Amabie.
In other tellings, similar creatures appeared under the name Amabiko or Amahiko—three-legged prophetic beasts who likewise warned of plague and commanded that their portraits be displayed to avert disaster. Some were described as ape-like, some as bird-like, some glowing in the night. But the Amabie of Higo remained the most vividly remembered: the long-haired, scaled messenger of the sea who promised both abundance and pestilence.
And so her image endured—drawn and redrawn—whenever fear of sickness rose, her strange form offered as protection against unseen calamity.
Gallery
Sources
Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Amabie. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 14, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amabie
Interpretive Lenses
Religious Readings
- Christian Ascetic Deep Dive
Philosophical Readings
- Nietzschean Deep Dive
Psychological Readings
- Jungian Deep Dive
Esoteric Deep Dive
- Hermetic Deep Dive
Political / Social Readings
- Marxist Deep Dive
Other
- How to Invite The Amabie