Daily mythical creature 436: the Yamabiko [Japanese folklore, yokai]!

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(image source: Sawaki Suuchi, 18th century)

If you’ve ever stood in a mountainous valley and yelled something at the top of your lungs, your own words might have returned back to you as an echo. This is the doing of the Yamabiko – or so claims old Japanese folklore.

The name literally translates to ‘mountain boy’ but the author of the Gazu Hyakki Yagyo (18th century Japanese monster encyclopedia) spelled it with symbols that mean ‘mystical valley echo’. The creature lives in mountainous valleys, and has a very loud voice. It spends its days mimicking the sounds of travelers. Not much is known about these enigmatic creatures, but they are not malicious.

Source: the Gazu Hyakki Yagyo from Toriyama Sekien, I personally read the “Japandemonium” translation by Hiroko Yoda and Matt Alt

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3 years ago |

JustHereForTheLewdStuff

If he were to echo certain noises, could that technically be seen as him joining in?

VosperOfAntarctica

ECHO Echo echo... Me: who said that? Yamabiko: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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