6. Funny Yokai

There are many strange Yokai, and we will introduce some of them here.

*Azuki Arai

A furtive little fellow, often heard but only very rarely spotted alongside isolated streams and riverbanks, the Azuki Arai(literally, “Red Bean Washer”) is an unassuming sort of creature that is believed to resemble an odd-looking little human. It is preternaturally engaged in the act of washing azuki beans in the basket it carries for that very purpose, quietly mumbling a weird little tune all the while. When hikers or travelers curious as to the source of the sound make a closer approach, they can make out the words to the Azuki Arai song: “Wash me beans, or human to eat…..Shoki-shoki! Shoki-shoki!” (The last bit being onomatopoeia for the sound of azuki beans tumbling over one another as they are washed.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Tofu Kozo

Tofu Kozo is a small boy dressed in traditional clothes, armed with but a single weapon; a jiggly block of tofu on a plate. Encounters invariably take the same form. Someone is taking a walk on a pleasant, uneventful night. Ahead in distance, they can just make out what appears to be a tiny figure wearing a traditional straw hat. As they approach, they see that it is only a boy bearing a plate quivers what appears to be an expertly prepared and delicious-looking block of fresh tofu, adorned with a momiji(Japanese maple) leaf. If anyone tastes the tofu, they’ve fallen into the otherwise unassuming Tofu Kozo’s trap. Results vary. In some cases, those who eat the tofu walk away with absolutely no ill effects. In others, however, once even a morsel of the tofu is consumed, a virulent fungus begin to grow within the victim’s body, its fetid spores eventually draining it of all life.