AKANAME

Lore

Akaname (“filth-licker”) is a small yokai said to haunt old or poorly maintained baths and washrooms. It typically appears as a goblin-like creature with slick skin in shades from dark green to reddish pink, a long sticky tongue, and clawed fingers and toes. The number of eyes and digits can vary between tales, giving it an unsettling, ever-shifting appearance.

Before modern plumbing, Japanese baths and toilets were simple and varied greatly by class and region. A traditional o-furo might be a wooden tub or stone basin filled with hot water, sometimes heated by a fire beneath. In such places, grime and scum easily accumulated if the bathing area was neglected—and that is where Akaname finds a home.

According to folklore, this yokai slips into houses at night when everyone is asleep and laps up the filth of dirty baths with its unnaturally long tongue. It rarely attacks humans directly, but a household that leaves its bath unclean may be visited again and again. After its work, a slimy, magical residue often remains on the floor and walls. Contact with this residue can be troubling: it clings stubbornly to the skin, resists ordinary cleaning, and may cause itchiness or other minor ailments.