is a yà Âkai from Japanese folklore that has the form of a giant, black, human-like being.
Little is known of the origin of umibà Âzu but it is a mythical sea-spirit creature and as such has multiple sightings throughout Japan. Normally, umibà Âzu appears to sailors on calm seas which quickly turn tumultuous. It either breaks the ship on emergence or demands a ladle from the sailors and proceeds to drown them. The only safe way to escape an umibà Âzu is to give it a bottomless ladle and sail away while it is confused.
The monster is known by other near-synonymous names such or .
They are often encountered by ships at night. A calm sea would suddenly surge and a giant black bà Âzu (bald-shaven) head surfaces, and destroy or damage ships. They are said to range from a few meters to tens of meters in length, but some are about human-size. It typically reveals only its upper body above the waist.
The umibà Âzu is not always solitary, and some lore claim that swarms of them arrive on ships to do mischief, such as clinging to the hull and scull as well as put out the basket fire. Their weakness is said to be smoke (tobacco fumes according to some) which causes them to flee.
The umibà Âzu is explained by some to be the ghost of the drowned, a belief held locally in Chiba Prefecture, though the lore from Chà Âshi, Chiba asserts that a certain priest named had drowned and became the umibà Âzu, according to Edo Period literature. (Cf. below). An English source claims the umibà Âzu is more generally regarded as the spirit of the drowned priest.
The lore of the umibà Âzu is widespread and occurs all over Japan. Also the story of the umibà Âzu (or some maritime yà Âkai under various names) that asks for a ladle-type utensil then tries to sink the gift-giver's ship by scooping water in it, is found all over Japan.
In a commonplace story, the umibà Âzu asks for a ladle-type utensil from the gullible seafarer, only to have the creature try to fill the ship with the implement and try to sink it. In the version of Ukujima island (of the Gotà  Islands, Nagasaki Prefecture), the creature is called either umibà Âzu or funayà «rei, and demands a hishaku (wooden dipper). Since it would try to use it to pour water into the fisherman's vessel, the wise strategy to survive this is to lend a ladle with the bottom punched out. This story is found all over Japan, though the sea creature may be told under various names. which is presumably a ladle or dipper also. In the version of , Aichi , the funayà «rei demands an aka-tori ()ãÂÂwhere aka refers to "bilge water" and tori means "taker, gatherer" for any kind of such tool..
Other (near-synonymous) names include or , where (literally "law-master") and both refer to a monk or priest.
The umibà Âzu has a clean shaven head like a priest's, as aforementioned. Some English sources also generalize the umibà Âzu to be the spirits of drowned priests.
Sometimes the umibà Âzu is conflated with the , and it is difficult to make a stark distinction between them. As in the aforementioned example the same yà Âkai may be known as either funayà «rei or umibà Âzu (Gotà  Islands).
In the western seas the creature known as umibà Âzu is a human-headed sea turtle, corresponding to the (or in Japanese, meaning "monk-fish") from Chinese literature (cf. )
In European folklore, there is also said to be sea creatures of like meaning, namely the sea monk and sea bishop.
In the aforementioned lore around northern Gotà  Archipelago, the part about the umibà Âzu aka funayà «rei demanding the ladle is a motif that is widespread throughout Japan as aforementioned, but there are more superstitions about this yà Âkai according to fishermen of the area, namely, that it never tries to come aboard ship from the aft (stern) of the ship because the faces that way, and always tries to climb from the prow. Also, if it clings onto the scull (oar), then one should keep pushing it until the edge of the oar digs in, and the umibà Âzu would start screaming " (ouch ouch)" in pain..
In Uwajima, Ehime Prefecture, there are tales where they would shapeshift into a zatà  (blind person) and kill human women. Also, while there are many legends of them attacking humans, in Uwajima there is the legend that those who see an umibà Âzu would live a long life.
In Nagato Province (now Yamaguchi Prefecture), at a part of village called Kawashiri, there is a tale passed down about a fisherman long ago who had been out night-fishing and witnessed a umibà Âzu that came to extinguish the basket fire, so he threw the fire-lit torches at the monster.
In the Sea in-between Okayama Prefecture and Kagawa Prefecture, tales are told of a type of umibà Âzu called the nurarihyon with a large round head: they float towards the boat, and slowly (nurari) away and then unexpectedly (hyon) float approaching the boat again. They would do this several times over to taunt people. This marine creature is completely different from the old man-like yà Âkai called nurarihyon that bears the same name.
Around the San'in region it is said that one can encounter the umibà Âzu on the shore as well, while walking on the beach at night, and the slick, black mass-like creature will rub itself onto the passerby and attempt to drag the person into the sea. There are anecdotes of some survivor who got away with all his might.
From Tottori Prefecture, a piece of writing from the Edo period called attests to the umibà Âzu. A strong man from the village next to (now part of Matsue) who boasted of being undefeated in sumo matches held at ceremonies encountered the one-eyed monster shaped like a stake measuring 2 shaku () circumference. The man captured the monster after a struggle. Most villagers who gathered could not identify it, but a 90-year old man suggested this might be the umibà Âzu, said to lean on to people it finds, with its body slick with goo, causing an itch all over the body if touched, or so the old man had been told by his grandfather long ago.ãÂÂ
There is also the umibà Âzu of unusual appearance. The creature was said to appear periodically in the bay of (now Kemi in Wakayama city, Wakayama Prefecture). Finally, one was caught in the area at Miidera town, as reported in the 26 December 1888 issue of the Miyako Shinbun of Tokyo. This umibà Âzu was about tall and weighing about 60âÂÂ70 kan (), and was a large ape-like creature with brown hair, orange eyes, a mouth of a crocodile, belly of a fish, tail of a lobster, and the cry of a bull.
On Awaji Island in town of (now part of Sumoto, Hyà Âgo Prefecture), it has been told that one can be spared from an umbà Âzus attack by tossing the most precious cargo into the sea. However, the prescribed rule demands one must jettison the objects from the bow end of the boat.
In the Tohoku region, there is a custom of making an offering of the first catch of the season (hatsumono) to the Sea God, and if this is disregarded, the umibà Âzu was said to appear and destroy the boat and kidnap the boat owner.
Umibà Âzu are also said to change their appearance, and a tale is told on the island of in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, about an umibà Âzu that shapeshifted into beautiful women and engaging in swimming contests with humans. There is also a similar tale in Iwate Prefecture, but there it is said that those who accept the challenge would be swallowed down instantly.
In land-locked Nagano Prefecture there is no sea coast, but still claims to have umibà Âzu dwelling in its rivers. According to legend, it lived in rivers near Kaesa in Nakano city, had giant body and a black head like the head of a giant Buddha statue. Only its upper body was said to show above water.
In Cape Shiriya, Higashidà Âri, Shimokita District, Aomori Prefecture, it is said that people eaten by sharks would become . These ghost ships can be repelled by dissolving some miso (soy bean paste) in water and letting the cold soup flow down the sea.
The "umikozà Â" told about in the Kamo District, Shizuoka Prefecture is a boy covered with hair all the way to the sides of the eye, and it is said that they would approach fishing lines with a grin.
The folklore of the frightening or (from literally "Mongol and Kogureo Korea"), presumably the ghosts of the victims of the Mongol invasion is passed on in various ways, but in the area of Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture it is told that the monster[s] appear when people visit the mountains on the lunar March 3 or if people visit the sea on the lunar May 5. According to one local informant, the ones that appear in the sea are a swarm of jelly-fish like things. Thus this has been characterizable as an umibà Âzu of a sort. But locals tell it differently for the mokuri kokuri that appears on land, namely, that they are human-like creatures that stretch or shrink to different size, and are encountered in the wheat fields. And according to a variant told at Kamikohama beach in Tanabe, the terrestrial mokuri kokuri is a weasel-like small beast that puncture the butts of humans who enter wheat fields at night. This version is conjectured to be a conflation of the lores of the "earth-rat" (i.e. mole) and the kappa by Minakata Kumagusu
In the Kitauwa District, Ehime Prefecture, the sea would become white at night and a "shirami", also called "shirami yà «ren", would come swimming, and fishers would call these idiots. However, it is said that if they hear "idiot", they'd get angry and cling on to the scull and give a bad time.
On Sado Island, the "tate-eboshi" ( "propped up hat") is a monster said to stand at a height of who would aim at ships and try to flip them over.
The (published 1687) includes a narrative claiming an encounter with a -type umibà Âzu, which purportedly took place during the Meià  era (1492âÂÂ1501). Two sarugaku performers, a drummer and a flautist, needed passage to Suruga Province and boarded a ferry boat from Ise Province (Mie Prefecture) bound for Cape Irago (Aichi Prefecture). The ferryman had the policy of refusing a "lone woman" aboard, but the drummer or insisted his wife be carried. When the boat encountered a big storm, the ferryman angrily blamed the presence of the lone woman for incurring the anger of the Dragon God, and told the group to cast valuables into the sea to appease the god, to no avail, Then the black bald thing appeared, which had a head five to six times the size of a human's, glittering eyes as large as Tenmoku teacups, and a horse-like (or bird-like) mouth that was in length. The wife made her resolve and tossed herself into the ocean, and the black bald thing snatched the woman in its jaws, upon which the waves calmed and the group made it ashore, though bereft of their possessions. According to the ferryman, the black bald thing was a monster called . These umibà Âzu are said to be fallen dragon deities who would demand sacrifice.
According to the narrative found in the , the samurai (d. 1441) was crossing the sea to Tsushima he had an encounter with a slick, oily sea monster, and asked about it from a local fisherman, who replied that such monsters exist, additionally informing the warrior that the sea also has creatures called the (or measuring in height, and had neither eyes, nor nose, nor limbs. Upon seeing one, it was considered necessary to say nothing and pretend to have seen nothing, because if one says even something such as "what was that?" it would sink the boat in an instant.
The samurai daimyo lord 's essay , which recorded the report from Kaizuka, Izumi Province (now Kaizuka, Osaka Prefecture) that an umibà Âzu rose out of the sea and remained ashore (near shore) for three days; meanwhile, the local inhabitants told their children not to play outside. According to eyewitnesses, it was human-like in appearance and gigantic, black as lacquerware in its entire body, but stayed half-dipped in water and was facing away, so no one saw its face.
In the essay , possbly by Matsudaira Sadanobu (d. 1829), there appears an anecdote from Kuwana (in what is now Mie Prefecture) claiming an umibà Âzu encounter. It was local tradition to avoid sailing at the end of the month for fear of encountering the monstrosity. But a sailor named broke this ban and went out to sea, whereupon an umibà Âzu appeared that was 1 jà  (3 meters) tall with eyes like mirrors painted with red pigment. The giant asked "Frightened?", to which the sailor answered, "There's nothing as frightening as trying to make it across this mundane world", at which the umibà Âzu disappeared. Similarly, there is a legend about a "zatà  gashira" (blind man head), a blind bà Âzu that appears above the sea, and it would ask people, "Frightened?", and if one acts afraid and answers "I'm scared", or exclaims "Help", it would say, "You should not be going out to sea at the end of the month", and disappear.
In the early Edo period scroll Bakemono no e, the depiction of the umibà Âzu is rather unique, resembling a catfish.
's Wakan Sansai Zue (completed 1712) has an entry for a human-faced sea-turtle, known in Chinese as the "monk-fish" (, ), which Ryà Âan claims is known as umibà Âzu by the Japanese who find it in the western seas. (cf. fig. right, and below).
Another work entitled (pub. 1775), as well as the later, Meiji period compilation adds that according to the lore of Chà Âshi Bay in Shimà Âsa Province (Chiba Prefecture), a priest named Shà Âgaku-bà  (aforementioned) having drowned to death became the umibà Âzu. Its appearance is close to what the Japanese call "mud turtles" (Kinosternon] spp.), but the face resembles a cat, and the fore- and hind-paws do not have well-defined toes. When fishermen capture one of these, they would customarily take pity and release it.
The Wakan Sansai Zue also describes the umobà Âzu being released by Japanese fishermen. But encountering an umobà Âzu turtle was considered unlucky, i.e., an omen of a bad catch. Therefore, when the turtle pressed its forearms together in front of its breast in a praying gesture, and shed tears to beg for its life, the fisherman made sure to warn the creature not to take vengeance on my fishing before releasing it.
In Sanuki (Kagawa Prefecture) such creature is called a .
As already touched upon above (in ) Terashima Ryà Âan's Wakan Sansai Zue equates the monster known in Japan as umibà Âzu with the Chinese ( "monk-fish", , pronounced oshà Â-uo in Japanese), described as a red creature with a humanlike face and softshell turtle-like body of reddish color.
In the (,"Leisured Gazetteer of Islands" pub. 1791) by Wang Dahai, under the name of "umi oshà Â" or "kai oshà Â" ( "sea monk, sea priest", , Chinese pronunciation: ), it was written to be a yà Âkai resembling a human but has a tear from mouth to ear, and would make a big laughter upon finding a human. Umi oshà  are said to be feared because when they appear, a storm surge always follows. It is also theorized that this was actually the sea turtle hyperbolically remade into a yà Âkai. Note that or "monk/priest-fish" of Chinese tradition (Japanese: ) which is human-headed and turtle (terrapin)-bodied, is equated with the umibà Âzu in the encyclopedia Wakan Sansai Zue.
According to the Taiwan xuzhi () i.e., ("Continued & Revised Gazeteer of Taiwan Prefecture", 1764), the hai heshang sea-monk "had a red color, with head and body similar to human form, with four wings/fins, and no scales so it was essentially a ningyo (man-fish, meraman), and was merely a newly coined term used around the Canton area to refer to such creatures. Whereas the hai heshang described in the (, "Zhejian county gazetteer") is an entirely different creature.
In China, there is the legend of the bald-headed sea horde called ( in Chinese pronunciation, "demon-crying rough sea" or "ghost-wailing sea"). The horde of about 100 "headless, one-handed and one-legged, short and bald beings arrive and try to overturn the ship. They are said to dissipate once some sort of foodstuff is scattered at it. Inoue Enryà  considered this the counterpart of Japan's funayà «rei, while à Âta Nanpo wrote it was a type of umibà Âzu.
The Kikoku-nada legend is also known in the Chita District, Aichi, where it has been told that if one sailed out on the lunar New Year's Eve, one was sure to encounter the eerie creature (ayakashi), but the disturbance will cease if a lot of ladles are cast into the sea.
In April 1971, the fishing vessels 28th Konpira Maru which sailed off from Miyagi Prefecture (Onagawa, Oshika District) allegedly had its tuna-fishing long line snapped off by a giant marine beast off of New Zealand, approximately southeast of Cape Lyttelton, and this has been tied to the umibà Âzu. The creature has also been dubbed ' as a sort of UMA (cryptid). It had greyish wrinkled skin, with glaring eyes about in diameter, a flattened nose, and no mouth to be seen. Though the rest of its body was in murky waters to see clearly, there was some billowing movement under the surface suggesting a trailing tail. As they got ready to harpoon it, the monster disappeared into the sea.
When an officer at the Yaizu, Shizuoka branch of the heard of this account, he supposed that it was likely that the fishermen were mistaking an organism, such as a fish or whale, for a monster. In another eyewitness account, the half of its body that appeared from the water surface was about in length, so by inferring that its whole body was several times that length, they said that they never heard of an organism like that.
These accounts were published in Mainichi Shimbun on July 17 of the same year.
The umibà Âzu sometimes appear at seas with no abnormalities (and in this case, once the umibà Âzu was seen, the weather would start getting stormy), so it's pointed out that these could be things that do exist but were misinterpreted. Some examples of things that could have been misinterpreted include sea organisms, cumulonimbus clouds, big waves, and other natural phenomena.
Umibà Âzu always appear only in the ocean, usually during peaceful waters and fair weather. These fair conditions would normally put the sailors at ease as they are literally "sailing on smooth waters" but the possible presence of a malicious spirit put many sailors on edge in these times of peaceful sailing. Upon its sudden rising from the ocean, causing waves and sometimes flipping ships or breaking them with its emergence, umibà Âzu is accompanied by the winds begin to blow and waves toss the ship about. The appearance of an umibà Âzu alone causes this dramatic shift in weather which puts any ship in immediate peril, not only from being capsized by the waves but also from being crushed by the yà Âkai. This could be a mixing of the funayà «rei legends which suggests these yà Âkai appear during storms at sea.