Ikuchi


Ikuchi is a yōkai of the sea in Japanese legend. It is described in Tankai by Sōan Tsumura and in Mimibukuro by Negishi Shizumori among other written works of the Edo period.

Outline

According to "Tankai", in Hitachi Province, the ikuchi is a strange fish that appears in the open sea, and it comes in contact with a boat once it discovers one, and even when it straddles the ship it is still able to pass, but since it has a body of several kilometers in length, it would require at least 12 koku to pass it. From its body surface, an adhesive oil would seep out, and when it straddles the boat, it would spill a large amount of this oil on the ship, so if this is not scooped out, the boat would sink.
In "Mimibukuro", it was written as "Ikuji", and it was stated to appear from time to time from the western sea to the southern sea, and they would get caught on the bow of the ship. It is unusually long like an eel, so that it would take 2 or 3 days for the boat to pass it, and it was stated that the proverb "ikuji naki" came from this. From the same book, a certain character said, "in the sea of Hachijō, Zushū.
During the present Heisei period, there have been hypotheses proposed that they are not strange fish, but rather giant sea snakes, or that they are humans who have drowned and want others to join them. Sekien's yōkai drawing resemble a sea serpent, a cryptid, some have identified them to be the same.