Mythology

Gejigeji no Bakemono

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Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: Gejigeji no Bakemono, Geji Monster
Category: Insect

The Myth

Gejigeji no Bakemono is a strange monster associated with the geji, a many-legged creature known for its unsettling appearance. Like centipedes and spiders, these creatures were sometimes hated as pests or regarded as ominous beings. Its unusual form made it a natural subject for supernatural imagery in Japanese folklore.

During the Edo period, a set of playing cards featuring yōkai included a card called Gejigeji no Bakemono, meaning the Gejigeji Monster. The creature depicted on this card later became the model for the centipede illustration used by the renowned manga artist Shigeru Mizuki, helping spread this particular monster’s appearance to a wider audience.

A widespread folk belief held that anyone licked by a gejigeji would lose their hair. This strange superstition was recorded in different parts of Japan, but its origins were disputed. The scholar Yamazaki Yoshinari, writing in Seji Hyakudan, argued that the belief originally concerned not an insect but a demonic spirit known as Gejiki (下食).

According to this explanation, Gejiki was a demon or divine spirit associated with a day when the essence of the Tengu star was believed to descend to the human world in search of food. Drawing on the Gōke Shidai, Yamazaki described a belief that bathing on this day could cause a demon to lick a person’s head, resulting in hair loss. He connected this tradition with the Chinese disease known as Kiteitō (鬼舐頭), also associated with hair loss caused by a demon licking the head.

Yamazaki therefore proposed that the name geji originated as an abbreviation of Gejiki, and that the supposed insect responsible for hair loss had become confused with an older supernatural belief. The Gejigeji Monster thus occupies an unusual place in Japanese folklore, where fear of a real many-legged creature became intertwined with traditions about demons, misfortune, and mysterious hair loss.

Sources

“Gejigeji.” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1010654300.html

Tçulo

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Tradition: Romani Mythology, Czech Mythology
Alternative Names: Tçulo (“Thick” or “Potbellied”)
Category: Insect

The Myth

Tçulo is a small, spiked demon of disease from Roma folklore. His body resembles little more than a ball covered in sharp spikes, but despite his tiny size, he brings severe suffering to those he inhabits. He enters the human body and rolls around inside the intestines, causing intense abdominal pain and colic. He particularly targets pregnant women, tormenting them with his painful attacks. Even his older sister, Lilyi, was not spared from his cruelty.

Tçulo is the third child of Ana, Queen of the Keshalyi, and was brought into existence through the schemes of the evil King of the Loçolico. The king sought to impregnate Ana, while the demon Melalo helped him by producing soporific vapors that allowed him to approach his sleeping wife. Meanwhile, Melalo was fathering his own brood of disease demons with Lilyi. Jealous of his son’s offspring, the king followed Melalo’s advice and ate a stag beetle and a crayfish before visiting Ana. Tçulo was conceived as a result.

Like his siblings, Tçulo is described as a wholly vile demon without redeeming qualities. His attacks generally cause pain rather than death, but his suffering helped give rise to further diseases. His torment of Lilyi was connected to the conception of Tçaridyi, his own sister-wife. Together, Tçulo and Tçaridyi caused painful illnesses, and their offspring were associated with diseases affecting women.

Sources

“Tculo.” A Book of Creatures, October 6, 2016. https://abookofcreatures.com/2016/10/06/tculo/

Tilberi

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Tradition: Icelandic Mythology
Alternative Names: Snakkur, Tilberi (Carrier)
Category: Insect

The Myth

The Tilberi is a strange creature created by witches to steal milk from other people’s livestock. It is known by different names across Iceland: Tilberi is used in the north, while Snakkur is common in the south and west, and both names occur in eastern Iceland. Only women are said to be able to create and own one. The creature is exceptionally fast and can take on unusual forms, including a living bundle of wool that rolls across the ground.

Creating a Tilberi requires a series of sinister rituals. A woman must steal a rib from a recently buried corpse early on Whitsunday and wrap it in stolen grey wool. In some accounts, the wool must be taken from between the shoulders of a widow’s sheep shortly after shearing. She keeps the bundle between her breasts and, over the following three Sundays, spits consecrated communion wine onto it. Each time, the creature becomes more alive. Finally, she allows it to suckle on the inside of her thigh, leaving behind a distinctive wart-like growth.

Once created, the Tilberi can be sent to steal milk from other people’s cows and ewes. To reach an animal’s udder, it leaps onto the animal’s back and stretches its body downwards. Some versions claim it can reach down on both sides to suck milk from two teats simultaneously. After filling itself, it returns to its owner’s dairy window and calls out, “Full belly, Mummy!” or “Churn lid off, Mummy!” It then vomits the stolen milk into her butter churn.

The stolen milk and butter carry signs of the creature’s interference. Butter made from the milk may clump together as though curdled, or dissolve into foam if someone makes the sign of the cross over it or draws the magical butter-knot symbol, known as the smjörhnútur, into it. The Tilberi was also blamed for inflammatory hardening of livestock udders. Traditional protective measures included making the sign of the cross beneath the udder and over the animal’s rump, as well as placing a Psalter along its spine.

Milk is not the creature’s only target. A Tilberi sometimes steals wool left outside to dry after shearing and washing, rolling it around its body until it becomes a gigantic moving ball. It can also threaten its creator. If a woman has a child and the creature manages to reach her milk-filled breast, it may suckle so greedily that it drains her life away.

There are several traditional methods of destroying a Tilberi. One is to send it into the mountain pastures and command it to collect every lamb dropping, either from three separate pastures or into three piles. The creature must continue its impossible task until it dies of exhaustion, or it perishes because, as an evil being, it cannot endure the number three. When it dies, only the human rib used to create it remains in the pasture.

Another method exploits its attachment to its creator. When pursued, the Tilberi is believed to flee home and hide beneath its mother’s skirts. If her petticoat is tied or sewn shut around it, both the woman and the creature can be burned or drowned together.

The Tilberi reflects Icelandic fears surrounding theft, witchcraft, livestock, and the dangers of forbidden supernatural practices. Although it brings its owner stolen milk and wool, its existence is dangerous to animals and humans alike. Its creation requires the misuse of sacred substances and a human bone, while its eventual destruction depends on ritual commands and the supernatural power attributed to the number three.

Sources

“Tilberi.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Accessed October 18, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilberi

Gokiburi no Rei

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Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: Gokiburi no Rei, Gokiburi-ten (護鬼佛理天)
Category: Insect

The Myth

Gokiburi no Rei represents the spirits of cockroaches killed by humans. Although these insects are commonly feared and exterminated as pests, Japanese memorial traditions treat them as living creatures whose deaths deserve recognition. Their spirits are honoured through prayers and monuments, transforming an insect usually associated with disgust into a subject of supernatural reverence.

The most striking representation of these spirits is Gokiburi-ten, a powerful figure created to appease the souls of slain cockroaches. Its statue stands at Rinsenji Temple in Nara Prefecture and was erected in 2001 by a building-cleaning company. Sculpted with four arms and two legs stretched dramatically outward, the figure possesses an imposing, almost divine appearance. Rather than depicting a tiny insect, the monument gives the cockroach spirits a commanding form worthy of worship and remembrance.

Gokiburi-ten’s body merges with the image of a city, representing a world in which humans and cockroaches have lived and prospered alongside one another. The design presents an unusual vision of coexistence: the same creatures that people seek to destroy have shared their living spaces and environments for generations. Their deaths are therefore remembered as part of the uneasy relationship between humanity and the natural world.

The spirits of cockroaches are also honoured through insect memorial ceremonies. During these services, images of cockroaches, mosquitoes, and other insects are gathered while Buddhist sutras are chanted. Such rituals express gratitude toward the creatures sacrificed in the course of human activity, even when their extermination is considered necessary.

Gokiburi no Rei offers a different way of looking at creatures that people usually despise. Behind every exterminated insect lies a life ended for human convenience, and its memorial invites people to consider the consequences of their actions. Through Gokiburi-ten, the cockroach becomes more than a pest: it becomes a spirit worthy of remembrance, embodying the strange boundary between the creatures humans fear and the lives they share the world with.

Sources

“The Spirit of the Cockroach.” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1075899380.html

Bès Kěmwar

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Tradition: Jah Hut Mythology, Malaysian Mythology
Alternative Names: Maggot Spirit; Bès Kěmwar Jě’la; Bès Kěmwar Sòk; Bès Kěmwar Těrbang
Category: Insect

The Myth

The Bès Kěmwar, or maggot spirit, is one of the many disease spirits known to the Jah Hut people of Malaysia. It can appear as a maggot or caterpillar, with different forms distinguished by features such as hair, thorns, and wings. These spirits inhabit vegetation and trees, feed on crops, and inflict painful illnesses on humans. Some cause aches in the bones, joints, and muscles, while others bring swelling, itching, throat irritation, and hair loss.

One kind of maggot spirit lives in rotten tree trunks, where it feeds on the decaying wood. Anyone approaching its fallen tree risks being bitten on the leg. The bite causes redness, swelling, and itching, and eventually all the victim’s toenails fall off. According to the account, the swelling disappears after two or three months. Another variety lives beside rivers and appears only during the jungle-fruit season in February. It flies onto the heads of elderly people, causing their hair to fall out.

The tip-of-leaf maggot spirit feeds on coconut and rice leaves, threatening cultivated crops. To protect the plants, a pawang, or ritual specialist, blesses them with a pounded mixture of daun setawa and kunyit mulai. The mixture is burned to ashes, which are then scattered over the plantation.

Bès Kěmwar Jě’la, the thorny-maggot spirit, lives on leaves and causes restlessness and rheumatism. Bès Kěmwar Sòk, the hairy caterpillar spirit, lives at the tips of tree branches. Its hairs may fall into drinking water, causing irritation and swelling in the throat. A poyang can cure the affliction in its early stages, but untreated victims eventually die because they can no longer eat or drink.

Bès Kěmwar Těrbang, the flying-maggot spirit, lives in bushes and feeds on the leaves of the daun mengkirai tree. Its urine and faeces fall onto people passing beneath the tree, causing baldness and swelling. At night, it flies onto house roofs and opens them up. Children who see its eyes reflecting like mirrors become terrified and cry. Burning daun-kesim is said to keep this nocturnal spirit away.

Sources

“Bes Kemwar.” A Book of Creatures, April 17, 2020. https://abookofcreatures.com/2020/04/17/bes-kemwar/

Kijikui

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Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: Pheasant Eater
Category: Insect

The Myth

Kijikui is a strange monster recorded in the Edo-period work Himeguni Sankai Roku. It resembles a giant snail, with a spotted shell and a blue neck protruding from its opening. Despite its unusual body and apparent lack of legs, the creature is described as remarkably agile and capable of moving at extraordinary speed.

According to the account, the monster was witnessed in 1726 by a man named Heitayu from Fukasawa Village in Chikugo Province. He encountered it in a valley, where it chased down and captured a wild pheasant. When the creature noticed the presence of a human, it fled towards a cave with the speed of the wind. It disappeared inside, and its whereabouts remained unknown.

The name Kijikui, meaning “Pheasant Eater,” was not given to the creature in the original account. It was assigned later by Susumu Zenyoji in his 2015 book Edo no Yōkai Zukan (Illustrated Scroll of Edo’s Monsters).

There is some uncertainty surrounding the creature’s depiction. A neighbouring entry in Himeguni Sankai Roku describes a monster from Chikugo Province during the Kan’en era, with a tortoiseshell-like covering, possibly the remains of a snail, and a large pattern on its shell. However, the illustration associated with Kijikui makes it difficult to identify such a pattern. This raises the possibility that the illustrations and descriptions were accidentally placed in the wrong order during the compilation or copying of the work.

Despite these uncertainties, Kijikui remains a curious creature in Japanese monster lore: a snail-like predator capable of catching pheasants and vanishing into a cave with astonishing speed, even though its illustrated body appears poorly suited to running.

Sources

“Kijiku.” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1077606809.html

Mukade Nyōbō

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Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: Centipede Wife
Category: Insect

The Myth

Mukade Nyōbō is a centipede bride from a short folktale recorded in Kōka District, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. She is described through the unusual appearance of the centipede she represents: a creature with a black body and red legs. Someone found this combination of colours so charming that he declared he wanted to marry a centipede.

His wish was granted, and he took the centipede as his wife. However, married life soon became troublesome. The centipede required an enormous number of sandals, forcing her husband to make pair after pair for her many feet.

Eventually, the burden of producing so many sandals became too much, and the marriage ended in divorce. The story offers a humorous explanation for why a man who wished to marry a centipede ultimately regretted his decision. Rather than presenting the creature as a terrifying monster, the folktale turns its many legs into the source of an impractical and ultimately unsuccessful marriage.

Sources

“Mukade Nyōbō.” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1061416806.html

Qinyuan

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Tradition: Chinese Mythology
Alternative Names: Qinyuan-bird, Yuanyuan, Zhiyuan
Category: Insect

The Myth

The Qinyuan is a strange and dangerous creature that inhabits Mount Kunlun, the legendary Pillar of Heaven. Although it is classified as a bird, it resembles a bee and is said to be as large as a mandarin duck. Its appearance combines the familiar shape of a stinging insect with the extraordinary size of a bird.

The Qinyuan possesses a highly venomous sting capable of killing other animals and causing trees to wither. Despite its size, it is therefore a formidable creature, able to bring death to living beings and destruction to vegetation with its venom.

Mount Kunlun, where the Qinyuan dwells, is a sacred mountain associated with immense spiritual energy and a brilliant, fiery aura. Four great rivers—the Black, Red, Yellow, and Oceanic Rivers—flow from the mountain. Its administration is attributed to the god Luwu, while later traditions associate it with Xi-Wangmu, the Queen Mother of the West. The Qinyuan is one of the many extraordinary birds and beasts said to inhabit this remarkable place.

Despite its traditional classification as a bird, the Qinyuan may be better understood as a gigantic supernatural insect. Its bee-like appearance and deadly sting distinguish it from ordinary birds, making it one of the unusual creatures inhabiting the mythological landscape of Mount Kunlun.

Sources

“Qinyuan.” A Book of Creatures, June 12, 2017. https://abookofcreatures.com/2017/06/12/qinyuan/

Nozuchi

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Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: Nozuchi, Wild Mallet
Category: Insect

The Myth

Nozuchi are ancient, snake-like yōkai associated with fields and grasslands throughout Japan. They have short, thick bodies shaped like mallets, measuring around fifteen centimetres in diameter and just over a metre in length. Their bodies are covered in coarse, bristly fur resembling that of a hairy caterpillar. They have no eyes, nose, or other facial features, only a large mouth on the top of the head that points towards the sky.

These strange creatures make their homes inside large trees, particularly those growing on hilltops. Nozuchi move slowly, often rolling and tumbling down slopes before gradually making their way back uphill. They are carnivorous and usually prey on small animals such as mice, rats, rabbits, squirrels, and birds. Despite their small size, they possess a fearsome appetite. In Nara, they are said to feed on deer, swallowing an entire animal in a single bite and drawing it into their surprisingly compact bodies.

Nozuchi are dangerous to humans who approach their nests. They may roll downhill towards intruders and snap at their feet, inflicting terrible, mangled wounds. Their attacks are believed to cause a severe fever that quickly leads to death. According to the folklore described in this account, even being touched or merely seen by a tumbling Nozuchi can bring on the deadly illness.

Fortunately, their unusual method of movement provides a means of avoiding them. Travellers are advised to remain on higher ground, beyond the creatures’ rolling paths, or to climb a tree if no suitable high ground is available.

Nozuchi can also assume a humanoid form, although they are rarely encountered in this shape. They then resemble human priests, but their heads lack eyes, noses, hair, and ears. Instead, they possess only a large, gaping mouth pointing upwards. According to the tradition described here, wicked monks banished from their temples and forced to live in the wilderness may gradually transform into Nozuchi. Those with this origin are more likely to retain a humanoid appearance than to take the usual snake-like form.

Despite their resemblance to another eyeless supernatural figure, the Nopperabō, Nozuchi are distinct creatures. Their characteristic mallet-shaped bodies, rolling movements, immense appetite, and deadly association with fever make them particularly dangerous inhabitants of Japan’s wild fields and hills.

Sources

“Nozuchi.” Yokai.com. https://yokai.com/nozuchi/

Kitai

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Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: 鬼胎
Category: Insect

The Myth

Kitai is a supernatural parasite that develops inside the human body and causes illness. According to the Japanese medical text Harimonsho (針聞書), it originates in the left armpit, where it first appears as a blood clot about the size of a large cup.

As the Kitai develops, the clot gradually transforms into a strange creature resembling a snake or a beast. It begins to move slowly within its host, and its movements are said to trigger fits of rage or hysterical states. Once these symptoms appear, curing the condition is considered difficult.

The Harimonsho describes acupuncture as a possible treatment for the Kitai. However, the precise method is not recorded in the text, as the knowledge was often transmitted orally.

The Kitai represents an unusual form of supernatural disease creature: rather than attacking from outside, it originates within the body and transforms from an abnormal mass of blood into a living, animal-like entity. Its movement is associated with severe disturbances in the host’s behaviour, while the secretive nature of its treatment suggests that knowledge of how to combat it was restricted to practitioners who had learned the method directly.

Sources

“Kitai.” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1010654267.html