Amabie

Amabie is said to be a mythical Japanese mermaid that depicts a variety of ape-like, daruma-doll-like, or bird-like, or fish-like appearances.

However, it is most commonly depicted with a mouth like a bird's beak, has three or four legs, or a tail fin, has an ape-like voice, and is said to have emerged from the sea. Some descriptions suggest that they can even glow (at night). Amabie appeared to prophesy a bountiful harvest or a plague. Its images, carvings are said to have the ability to protect people against illness or death

Another illustration also attributed to Amabie from the hand-replicated pamphlet depicts an ape-like creature with three legs, the legs seeming to project straight from the head (no neck or torso in the middle) . The body and face are covered with short hair, except it is bald. The eyes and ears are human-like, with a drooping or protruding mouth. This creature appeared in 1844 and predicted the doom for 70% of Japan's population that year, which could be prevented with its amulet.

According to legend, an amabie appeared in Higo Province (Kumamoto Prefecture), around the middle of the fourth month, year Kōka -3 (mid-May 1846) during the Edo period. A luminous object has been discovered in the sea, almost every night. Town officials went to the shore to investigate and witness amabie. According to the official's sketches, it had long feathers, a beak-like mouth, covered with scales from the neck down, and had three legs. Speaking to the official, it identified itself as an amabie and told him it lived in the open sea. It went on to make a prophecy: "Good harvests will continue for six years from the current year; if the plague spreads, paint a picture of me and show the sick people a picture of me. I." Then it returned to the sea. The story was printed on kawaraban, where its portrait was printed, and this is how the story was popularized in Japan.

Similar Youkai

In Japanese folklore or popular imagination, there are also other similar yōkai that follow the model of predicting doom and instructing humans to copy or view its image, but outside the classification of amabie/amabiko according to one researcher note. These are collectively referred to as the "other" yogenjū.

Among the other prophetic summoned beasts was Arie, which appeared in the "Aotori-kōri" district, Higo Prefecture.

The yamawarawa in the folklore of Amakusa is believed to haunt the mountains. Although neither of these last two emerge from sea, other similarities such as prophesying and three-leggedness indicate some sort of interrelationship.

A tradition in the West ascribes every creature of the sea with the ability to foretell the future, and there is no scarcity of European legends about merfolk bringing prophecy. For this reason, the amabie is considered to be a type of mermaid, in some quarters. But since the amabie is credited with the ability to repel pestilence as well, it should be considered as more of a deity according to some

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