A consolidated image of ayakashi used as a catchall name for sea-borne anomalies tied to maritime disasters across Japan. Forms vary widely—ghostly fires, phantasms, phantom women, sea serpents—but share behaviors such as leading ships astray, blocking courses, distracting crews, and luring the thirsty. In Tsushima, will-o’-wisps are said to become mountains, and local lore advises boldly pressing ahead to disperse them. In Nagasaki they drift as ghostly lights at sea, in Yamaguchi and Saga they are feared as funayurei, and off Bōsō they are recorded as a well-woman specter. The name is also shared with the real remora in folk belief that it slows a vessel, functioning as a folk explanation for natural phenomena and seafaring anxiety. Toriyama Sekien’s imagery shows a giant sea serpent, tying the idea to ancient notions of sea monsters.