Amabie
A glowing sea creature with a beak and three tails was said to rise off Kumamoto with a warning about disease.
What was reported
A woodblock print from 1846 reports that in Higo Province, now Kumamoto, a light kept appearing at sea night after night. When an official went to look, a creature with long hair, a bird's beak, a scaly body and three legs or tails rose from the water.
It said its name was Amabie and foretold six years of good harvests, but also an epidemic. If disease spread, it said, people should show its picture to others.
Explanations offered
Amabie is a yōkai, a creature of Japanese folklore, and the print was probably as much a way to sell printed sheets as a record of a sighting; similar 'prophetic beast' prints were common then. It became famous again in 2020, when people in Japan and around the world shared drawings of it during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- When
- Reported in 1846
- Where
- Kumamoto, Kyushu, Japan
- Witnesses
- A local official, according to a printed sheet
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.