Mythology

Kiriko Lantern Monster

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Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: Kiriko Lantern Yokai, 切子灯籠の怪
Category: Object

The Myth

The Kiriko Lantern Monster is a supernatural figure associated with the kiriko lantern, a type of lantern hung beneath the eaves of temples and houses during the Japanese Obon festival. Also known as a bon lantern, it typically has a flame chamber with cut or angled corners and four bundles of long, thin white paper hanging from it. The creature appears in Jūbunsha Iku’s Monster One-Year Grass (1808), an illustrated work depicting annual events in the world of yokai.

During Obon, the spirits of deceased ancestors return to visit the living. In the world depicted by Iku, this tradition also affects supernatural creatures: ancestral ghosts arrive to eat, drink, and spend time with their relatives before departing again. The Kiriko Lantern Monster serves as a waiter during these gatherings, busily carrying food and drink for the returning spirits. The illustration shows it alongside other household monsters, including snakes and frogs, as they welcome their ancestors.

Although the gathering is generally a joyful occasion, the returning dead can bring family tensions with them. Ghosts of former wives and mothers-in-law sometimes appear, leading to quarrels with the living relatives, including current wives. The Kiriko Lantern Monster therefore belongs to a humorous depiction of yokai domestic life, in which the customs and complications of human families continue even among supernatural beings. Its identity is closely tied to the Obon festival and the lanterns used to welcome the dead.

Sources

“Kiriko doro-bakemono.” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1075303197.html

Boroboro-dan

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Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: Boroboro-ton, 暮露団
Category: Object

The Myth

Boroboro-dan is a yokai depicted in Toriyama Sekien’s Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro. It appears as a worn-out, tattered futon, with ragged fabric forming its eyes and loose cotton or cloth resembling hands and feet. Its image evokes the appearance of a dilapidated bedding object that has taken on a supernatural form.

Sekien’s accompanying text refers to the boro, a type of wandering or mendicant monk associated with the late Kamakura period. During the early modern period, these figures became associated with the Fuke school of Zen Buddhism and the komusō, itinerant monks who travelled wearing distinctive baskets over their heads and playing the shakuhachi. Sekien describes a worn-out mat associated with such a solitary religious wanderer, connecting the yokai’s shabby appearance with the life of a recluse.

The entry may also draw inspiration from section 115 of Yoshida Kenkō’s Tsurezuregusa. This passage describes ragged religious wanderers who gathered at Shukugawara to chant the nembutsu, including two men who fought and fatally wounded each other. Although they professed to have abandoned worldly concerns, their stubbornness and self-centred behaviour contradicted their religious aspirations. Sekien’s reference to medieval poetry contests and wandering figures further connects Boroboro-dan with the imagery of itinerant monks and the humble objects associated with their lives.

Modern interpretations sometimes describe Boroboro-dan as an old kimono or futon that has absorbed the spirit of its former owner. However, this interpretation goes beyond the limited description in Sekien’s original entry, which primarily connects the tattered bedding with the image of a wandering, ascetic monk.

Sources

“Boroboroton.” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1073015831.html

Lantern Oiwa

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Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: Oiwa-san, Lantern Ghost
Category: Object

The Myth

Lantern Oiwa is a supernatural figure inspired by the ghost of Oiwa, a tragic character from the kabuki play Tōkaidō Yotsuya Kaidan. Oiwa suffers a terrible death as a result of her husband Iemon’s schemes and returns as a vengeful spirit. In the play’s final scenes at the Jōyama Hermitage, her ghost appears in various forms, tormenting Iemon and his companions and eventually driving them towards their deaths.

One of the best-known scenes is the lantern run. As Iemon lights a fire, the mourning lantern hanging nearby suddenly flares up, and Oiwa’s ghost emerges from within it. This striking scene became one of the play’s defining images and inspired numerous theatrical illustrations. Similar imagery also appeared in yokai-themed playing cards and sugoroku board games, where related figures were sometimes identified as Lantern Oiwa or Lantern Rock.

In Katsushika Hokusai’s One Hundred Tales, the print titled Oiwa-san depicts more than the ghost simply emerging from a lantern: the torn lantern itself transforms into Oiwa’s terrifying face. Later yokai encyclopedias began treating Lantern Oiwa as a distinct supernatural creature based on this image. In Shigeru Mizuki’s Complete Guide to Japanese Yokai, the explanation rejects the idea that Oiwa’s spirit literally rides a lantern to seek revenge. Instead, it describes a frightening phenomenon in which a lantern hanging beneath the eaves during a summer festival gradually seems to lose its shape and take on Oiwa’s dreadful face, particularly when someone is already expecting to see something frightening.

Descriptions of Lantern Oiwa are not uniform. Some accounts draw directly on Hokusai’s illustration, while others classify similar images as lantern ghosts or related supernatural lights. The figure therefore stands at the intersection of theatrical ghost stories, ukiyo-e imagery, and later yokai classification, illustrating how a famous scene from a play could develop into a separate creature in Japanese supernatural literature.

Sources

“Chouchin-iwa.” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1067054718.html

Futon Kabuse

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Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: 布団被せ, ふとんかぶせ, Futon Covering
Category: Object

The Myth

Futon Kabuse is a little-known yokai from Sakushima, an island in Mikawa Bay, Japan. Its name refers to the act of covering someone with a futon or bedding. According to the brief account recorded in Kunio Yanagita’s edited collection Studies of Coastal Village Life (1949), the creature suddenly approaches its victim, covers them, and causes them to suffocate.

Very little else is known about Futon Kabuse. The surviving description was collected by folklorist Kiyoko Segawa, and no further detailed accounts of the creature have been identified in the cited material. Its appearance, origins, and the circumstances in which it attacks remain unknown.

In Japanese Ghost Stories: Yokai (1981), Enosuke Konno quoted the account under a section about supernatural beings that attack the head. He associated Futon Kabuse with Nobusuma, a creature known for covering people’s faces and suffocating them. This suggests that Futon Kabuse may belong to the same general category of suffocating yokai, although the available evidence is too limited to establish a more precise relationship.

Sources

“Futonkabu.” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1072816670.html

Magic Hornet

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Tradition: Swedish Mythology
Alternative Names: The Devil’s Hornets, The Enchanted Hornets
Category: Insect

The Myth

The Magic Hornets are a swarm of enchanted insects kept inside a large hornets’ nest. Unlike ordinary hornets, they obey human commands and can be directed to attack a specific person. When released, they fly out in a swarm and sting their chosen target until someone orders them to stop. Their appearance is not described in detail, but their ability to act together under supernatural control makes them a powerful magical weapon.

Their abilities appear in a Swedish folktale titled The Rooster, the Hand-Mill and the Swarm of Hornets. In the story, a poor peasant sells a pig to a mysterious gentleman at the devil’s dwelling. In exchange, he receives a magical rooster that lays silver coins whenever commanded. However, an old woman who keeps a tavern steals the rooster while the peasant sleeps and replaces it with an ordinary bird.

The peasant returns to the gentleman and receives a second magical gift: a hand-mill that produces whatever kind of meal he requests and stops only when ordered. Unfortunately, the old woman steals this gift as well. When the peasant returns to complain for a second time, the gentleman gives him a large hornets’ nest filled with the enchanted insects.

The peasant takes the swarm to the tavern and boasts of his new possession. When the old woman asks to see it, he commands the hornets to emerge and sting her. The insects immediately attack, causing her to scream and beg for mercy. She promises to return both the stolen rooster and the magical mill if he calls them off.

The peasant agrees and orders the hornets to leave the woman alone and fly back into their nest. Having recovered his stolen gifts, he returns home with all three magical possessions, becomes wealthy, and lives happily until his death.

The story presents the Magic Hornets as instruments of supernatural punishment and a means of recovering what has been stolen. Their power depends on obedience to spoken commands: they can be unleashed against a victim but must also be ordered to stop. Although the tale gives them little individual characterization, their role is decisive. The threat of their stings finally forces the dishonest tavern keeper to surrender the peasant’s possessions.

Sources

Stroebe, Clara, ed. The Swedish Fairy Book. Translated by Frederick H. Martens. Illustrated by George W. Hood. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1921.


Akuta-mushi

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Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: Akuta no Mushi; Akutamushi; Iron-Eating Insect
Category: Insect

The Myth

Akuta-mushi is a monstrous insect described in the Japanese text Shintō Yurai no Koto. It descended from the heavens during the reign of Emperor Yōmei (585–587), after the emperor expressed a desire to see a strange creature said to live in the sky and feed on iron. When the insect appeared, the emperor recognized it as the creature he had wished to see and ordered that it be kept and raised.

The insect fed on iron and grew to an enormous size, eventually becoming as large as a mountain. When iron was unavailable, it began devouring human beings instead. It also refused to obey the emperor’s commands, transforming from a remarkable creature into a threat to the imperial realm. The emperor ordered its destruction, but the insect’s body had become as hard as a mass of iron, rendering even swords useless against it.

As the people exhausted every possible means of defeating the monster, the sun goddess Amaterasu intervened. She submerged Akuta-mushi in a great river and finally destroyed it. According to the legend, the remains of its bones became gishaku, a magnetic stone obtained from the sea or other places and associated with the ability to attract iron.

The text survives in manuscripts dating to around the Muromachi period and presents Japanese myths within a worldview combining Shinto and Buddhist traditions. The story of Akuta-mushi appears in an explanation of the origins of Sakuku-no-Miya.

Although akuta-mushi resembles an old Japanese name for the cockroach, it is uncertain whether the creature in this story was intended to represent a real insect. Its tale follows a familiar pattern in which a ruler attempts to tame an extraordinary creature, only for it to grow uncontrollably powerful and turn against humanity. Similar stories describe the monstrous being known as Wazawai, whose iron-eating nature and magnetic remains also appear in the medieval Heike Monogatari tradition.

Sources

“Akuta-mushi.” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1075890032.html


Kranokolaptes

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Tradition: Greek Mythology, Egyptian Mythology
Alternative Names: Head Striker
Category: Insect

The Myth

The Kranokolaptes is a deadly insect from ancient accounts of Egypt, described as resembling a moth with four soft, downy wings covered in a felt-like texture. Its wings leave behind a trail of ashy dust, while its body is thick and heavy, with a fat abdomen and a hard head that constantly nods. Beneath its head lies a deadly stinger, which the creature uses to attack humans.

The Kranokolaptes strikes at the head and neck, and its sting is said to cause instant death. Victims can survive only if treated with the creature’s own antidote: a Kranokolaptes drowned in oil. The insect is associated with the persea tree, where it develops, possibly a species of Mimusops.

Although the ancient writer Nicander classified the Kranokolaptes among spiders, its description bears little resemblance to an arachnid. Another ancient account describes it as green, though this may have resulted from a misreading of Nicander’s original description. Its deadly bite may explain why it was grouped alongside dangerous spiders despite its moth-like appearance.

Modern interpretations have suggested that the Kranokolaptes legend may have been inspired by large hawkmoths, whose thick bodies and prominent mouthparts resemble aspects of the creature. The vampire moth Calyptra thalictri offers another possible comparison because it can pierce skin to drink blood and rocks its head as it does so. However, its bite causes swelling and irritation rather than the instantaneous death attributed to the mythical Kranokolaptes.

Sources

“Kranokolaptes.” A Book of Creatures, December 12, 2016. https://abookofcreatures.com/2016/12/12/kranokolaptes/

Haftvad’s Worm

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Tradition: Persian Mythologym, Iranian Mythology
Alternative Names: The Worm of Haftvad; Haftvād’s Dragon
Category: Insect

The Myth

Haftvad’s Worm is a monstrous creature from the Shahnameh, the Persian Book of Kings. It begins as a tiny worm discovered inside an apple by Haftvad’s daughter while she is spinning cotton. Rather than discarding it, she considers its appearance a lucky omen and places it in her spindlecase. From that moment, her productivity increases dramatically: by the end of the day, she has spun twice as much cotton as usual.

The girl continues to feed the worm a piece of apple every day, and her cotton practically spins itself into fine thread. When her parents learn of her extraordinary success, she reveals the secret. Haftvad abandons his ordinary work to care for the creature, feeding it nourishing food until it grows too large for its spindlecase. Its skin is black like musk, marked with saffron-coloured patterns, and Haftvad places it inside a black chest.

The worm brings extraordinary fortune to Haftvad and his family, eventually transforming the fortunes of their entire town. As his wealth and influence grow, Haftvad gathers followers into an army, seizes control of the town, and kills a nobleman who resents his success. The creature grows alongside its master’s power, eventually becoming too large even for its chest. Haftvad moves it to his mountain fortress, where a specially constructed stone cistern serves as its new home.

There, Haftvad’s daughter feeds the creature rice, milk, and honey until it reaches the size of an elephant. With the worm’s supernatural luck behind him, Haftvad becomes so powerful that even the armies of Shah Ardashir struggle to defeat him. Ardashir sends two forces against Haftvad, but the first is defeated, while the second loses its resolve.

Ardashir eventually learns the truth: the worm is no ordinary animal, but a devil in disguise, perhaps even an incarnation of Ahriman, the destructive spirit of Persian mythology. Its death is the key to ending Haftvad’s power. Ardashir therefore enters the fortress disguised as a merchant, accompanied by trusted men carrying precious gifts, wine, lead, and a bronze cauldron. Claiming that he too has prospered through the worm’s favour, he offers wine to its guardians until they become drunk.

Ardashir then melts the lead in the cauldron and carries the molten metal to the worm’s cistern. The enormous creature raises its head, opens its mouth, and extends its red tongue, expecting food. Instead, Ardashir pours the boiling lead down its throat. The worm dies in terrible agony, its death throes shaking the foundations of the fortress.

With the worm dead, Haftvad’s supernatural fortune disappears. Ardashir’s forces quickly capture the fortress, and Haftvad and his eldest son are executed by being gibbeted and shot with arrows. The creature’s rise and destruction mark the end of Haftvad’s extraordinary power, revealing the danger hidden behind the worm’s seemingly miraculous gift of prosperity.

Sources

“Worm of Haftvad.” A Book of Creatures, December 18, 2020. https://abookofcreatures.com/2020/12/18/worm-of-haftvad/


Jiāochóng

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Tradition: Chinese Mythology
Alternative Names: Jiaochong; Youjiao Clan Deity
Category: Insect

The Myth

Jiāochóng is a supernatural being recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas (Shanhaijing). It has a human-like body with two heads and is described as the leader of stinging insects. The deity is associated with bees and other insects capable of stinging, and its presence is connected to the relationship between people and these creatures.

Jiāochóng is said to dwell on Mount Pingfeng, a barren mountain described as having no grass, trees, or water, but abundant sand and stone. From the mountain, one can look south toward the Yi and Luo rivers and east toward Mount Gucheng. Despite the desolate surroundings, the mountain is home to this unusual two-headed deity, which is associated with the nests or dwelling places of bees and other stinging insects.

The people worshipping Jiāochóng performed a ritual using a male chicken as an offering. However, the chicken was not to be killed: it was used to ward off misfortune during the ceremony and then released afterward. This ritual reflects the deity’s connection to stinging insects and the belief that it could be approached through a specific form of propitiation.

Jiāochóng was also associated with the totemic beliefs of the clan living around Mount Pingfeng, known as the Youjiao clan. The creature is mentioned in other traditional Chinese works, including the Shenyi Dian. The Shuowen Jiezi also records the character jiāo as meaning an insect, further connecting the name with the insect world.

Sources

“骄虫.” 维基百科，自由的百科全书. Wikimedia Foundation. Accessed October 18, 2026. https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%AA%84%E8%99%AB


Saimōshō

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Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: Pus-and-Blood Hell Worms
Category: Insect

The Myth

The Saimōshō are monstrous worms that inhabit the Pus and Blood Hell, one of the sixteen minor hells associated with the eight great hells in Buddhist cosmology. They are depicted as bee-like creatures that gather in swarms to attack the damned, pecking at their faces and devouring their flesh and bones.

According to the second volume of the Qishijing, translated into Chinese by Janagupta during the Sui dynasty, the Pus and Blood Hell punishes those who harboured wicked and foolish intentions during their lives and gave others filthy things to eat. The hell is filled with vast quantities of pus, and sinners are submerged in it up to their mouths and noses, leaving them trapped in a foul and agonizing environment.

The Saimōshō torment these sinners by consuming their flesh and bones, inflicting continual suffering. The Jigoku Zōshi (Scroll of Hell), preserved at the Nara National Museum, depicts this punishment with swarms of bee-like Saimōshō attacking the faces of sinners submerged in the sea of pus.

Sources

“Saimōshō.” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1010655138.html