Painted BuddhaCanonical Traditional Iconography

Based on Edo-period yokai picture scrolls: a monk-like figure lacquer-black in color with protruding drooping eyes, accompanied behind by hairlike or fishtail-like elements. Most sources lack commentary, leaving its nature and origins unclear. In Sekien’s depiction it emerges from within a household Buddhist altar, which later encouraged reinterpretations as a possessed object or tool-spirit, though the original intent is uncertain. Accordingly, it is treated as an image embodying anxieties and awe surrounding domestic ritual spaces, with abilities limited to what the images suggest.