Honen-game

Drypoint etching, 100×150, June 2020

Series: Japanese phantoms

I found another yokai spirit similar to the Amabie. There were many yokai here and there in Japan. Actually, there are more yokai with similar ideas. The Honen-game (bumper-crop-year turtle) is a long-haired woman with two horns, with a turtle’s body and a tail like a minokasa (old-style rain poncho). It was found in Kishu Province (now Wakayama Prefecture) on June 14, 1839, and it became a charm for warding off evil.