Amabie
Sign in to saveright|thumb|300px|The amabie. Woodblock printing in Japan|Woodblock print, late Edo period, dated [[Kōka 3 (1846).]] is a legendary Japanese mermaid or merman with a bird beak-like mouth and three legs or tail-fins, who allegedly emerges from the sea, prophesies either an abundant harvest or an epidemic, and instructed people to make copies of its likeness to defend against illness.
Article
12 sectionsContents
- Legend
- Amabiko group
- Name variations
- Locality of appearances
- Physical characteristics
- Similar ''yōkai''
- COVID-19
- See also
- Footnotes
- Explanatory notes
- Citations
- Bibliography
right|thumb|300px|The amabie. Woodblock printing in Japan|Woodblock print, late Edo period, dated [[Kōka 3 (1846).]] is a legendary Japanese mermaid or merman with a bird beak-like mouth and three legs or tail-fins, who allegedly emerges from the sea, prophesies either an abundant harvest or an epidemic, and instructed people to make copies of its likeness to defend against illness.
The amabie appears to be a variant or misspelling of the amabiko or amahiko (, , , , , ), otherwise known as the , also a prophetic beast depicted variously in different examples, being mostly as 3-legged or 4-legged, and said to bear ape-like (sometimes torso-less), daruma doll-like, or bird-like, or fish-like resemblance according to commentators.