Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: 安隆寺坊主, Anryūji Monk
Category: Whale
The Myth
The Anryūji Bōzu is a black whale said to have appeared on the coast near Sakata, at the mouth of the Mogami River in Ushu, Japan. It measured approximately 12–13 ken in length and had the large characters “Anryūji” written across its back. Inside its belly were human feet wearing straw sandals and various Buddhist ritual implements.
The discovery puzzled the local people until they learned that Anryūji was the name of a temple in Sakata. Three years earlier, its priest, a greedy and immoral man who had lived without restraint, had drowned when a ship travelling towards Tsuruga in Echizen was wrecked. He had been over fifty years old.
Believing that the whale was the transformed priest, the villagers refused to eat its flesh or extract its oil. The carcass was left abandoned on the shore.
Sources
“Anryuji.” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1010655087.html