Drypoint etching, 100×150, November 2020
Series: Japanese phantoms
In the second year of the Koka era (1845), after severe weather had been continuing for several days and nights at Osorezan (Mount Osore) in what is now Aomori Prefecture, this mythical beast appeared in a black cloud at the foot of the mountain. It was in the shape of a flying dragon with wings and its face looked like a giant snake. It said to people that they would be saved from an evil cold and would have good harvests for the next seven years if they displayed its picture on their door, then it disappeared. This prophetic beast of the sky also had the same idea as many yokai of the ocean!
