42) Japan - 19. Aburasumashi

This is a yokai said to appear in the mountains of the Amakusa Islands in Kumamoto Prefecture. 'Abura' in its name means 'oil,' and 'sumashi' is an Amakusa dialect word for 'to squeeze.' Therefore, it is considered a yokai whose origins are tied to the local custom of extracting oil from camellia seeds. For this reason, there are also tales that it is the transformed spirit of someone who stole oil. While its exact appearance is not clearly passed down in folklore, its image became established after Shigeru Mizuki featured an Aburasumashi with a potato-shaped head, large eyes, wearing a straw raincoat and holding a staff in his manga 'GeGeGe no Kitaro.' According to Amakusa folklore, an old woman taking her grandson through the mountains recalled, "I heard a yokai carrying an oil bottle used to appear here in the past." To which a voice immediately replied, "It still appears~." This brief local legend from Amakusa was later recorded in a magazine by Kunio Yanagita, becoming known throughout the country. It is said that author Shigeru Mizuki then gave it its current form as described above.