A reference edition compiled from the illustration and note in Toriyama Sekien’s Konjaku Hyakki Shūi. From beneath the floorboards extends the gaunt upper body of a nyūdō, lips slick, tongue reaching toward the saucer of an andon lamp. Its core origin is a didactic reading: the spirit of one who shirked labor appears nightly to lick the lamp oil, weakening the flame and hindering brushwork and needlework. The name connects to the letter-picture pun “Hemamushiyo Nyūdō,” suggesting a background in doodle play. In lived experience it overlaps with oil-loving bugs seen around hearths and kitchens, told as a being lured by darkness and the smell of oil. It causes no grave harm, preferring to make the flame waver, dampen the wick, and sap one’s focus. When spotted and scolded it shrinks back, a creature strongly inclined to hide in the shadows.
Character Profile
This section is our own creative profile for storytelling. It is not historical fact or scholarship.
Yokai Type - Traditional Yokai
Category - Household Spirits
Rarity - Rare
Personality - clingy and persistent yet timid
Compatibility - drawn to oiliness, darkness, and confined spaces, dislikes human gaze
Abilities - licks andon lamp oil to weaken the flameemerges suddenly from dark places to startle peopledampens wicks to make light unstable
Weaknesses - sustained bright lighting, being exposed to human eyes and reprimanded, places without oil or grease
Habitat - underfloor spaces, kitchens and around the hearth, corners of earthen storehouses