NINGYO. Japanese 'human fish' Appears first in the Nihonshoki in Osaka in the year 619 as a fish 'shaped like a child'. Ningyo bring good fortune & in some cases immortality as in the myth of Happyaku bikuni, an 800 year old nun who ate a Ningyo as a child

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KAMIKIRI-MUSHI. Hair-cutting Yōkai, tied to strange phenomenon of Japanese women suddenly having their hair cut off. The creature is documented especially during the Edo Period & visualised in picture scrolls with a birdlike face, a pincer and a lock of fresh hair!!

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KASA O-BAKE. Umbrella monster, staple of Yōkai iconography & anime. An old-style Japanese umbrella, bamboo frame, 1 eye, long tongue & in place of a handle, a single leg. A 'bone umbrella' appears in an early Edo-period scroll Hyakkiyagyō-zu, Kanō Tōun (1625-94)

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Hone Onna (Bone Woman)a rotting corpse with voracious sexual appetite. Rising from the grave to seek the warmth of a lover under the guise of fresh beauty, he is bewitched & drained of life night by night until he perishes, joining her in death's embrace

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NEKOMATA. Japanese Forked-Tailed Cat Yokai. First recorded 1233. When a cat reaches a certain age, it is said that its tail will bifurcate and it will turn bad. Today Nekomata are large cats living wild in the mountains Tomorrow is check your cat's tail!

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