A yokai depicted only as an image in Toriyama Sekien’s Edo-period Gazu Hyakki Yagyō. It appears with scissor-like claws resembling those of a crab or scorpion, but the book gives no explanation, and its nature remains unknown. Some link it to the hair-cutting yokai “Kamikiri” seen in earlier picture scrolls, or read it as a visual pun connecting fishing nets and small crustaceans. Later writers often describe it as snipping mosquito nets or fishing nets, though historical evidence for this is limited.
Folklore & Legends
Later interpretations based on early-modern picture scrolls describe it as a nocturnal pest that slashes household mosquito nets or drying fishing nets. Fishing villages sometimes attributed damaged nets to a yokai, but firmly local traditions naming “Amikiri” are scarce. It is occasionally folded into the lineage of hair-cutting spirits or told as a cautionary tale about caring for tools—warning people not to leave nets out carelessly.
An interpretation grounded in Sekien’s depiction, tempered by later commentaries that popularized the trait of cutting nets and mosquito screens. Concrete behaviors are sparsely recorded in local sources, and it is often understood as a personification of wear, tear, and fraying. It appears with a carapace-like body and large pincers, shows up at night, and quietly severs its target, with no clear evidence of direct harm to people.
Character Profile
This section is our own creative profile for storytelling. It is not historical fact or scholarship.
The diagram below is a diagnostic evaluation chart for Iconographic Standard, Traditional Interpretation. The higher the value of each item, the stronger that characteristic is expressed.
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