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The Great Kiseru

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The Great Kiseru

The Great Kiseru

Their soul is listening — speak, and they will answer.

Basic Description

A shape-shifting tanuki specter from Keida in Mishō Village, Miyoshi District, Tokushima. It appears when boats anchor late at night at the Aoiseki (Blue-Stone Rapid) on the Yoshino River, extending an enormous kiseru pipe and demanding tobacco. If you can pack the pipe full, it causes no harm—but the amount required is absurdly large. If your supply runs out, it capsizes the boat or triggers strange disturbances. It is a waterside tanuki that frightens travelers and boatmen, told as a cautionary tale.

Folklore & Legends

Boats moored overnight at the Aoiseki would see a great hand reach from the darkness, offering a long kiseru and asking for “a puff.” The boatman packed all his shredded tobacco, yet the bowl seemed bottomless. When his supply finally ran out, the current reversed, eerie sounds rose, and the boat heaved violently. Elders said it takes ten bags of forty monme each to fill the pipe, and warned anyone lacking that much tobacco to avoid the rapid.

Yokai Cards1

The Great Kiseru across multiple art-style decks

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Detailed Analysis

Character Profile

This section is our own creative profile for storytelling. It is not historical fact or scholarship.

Rarity
Uncommon

For more detailed information and diagnosis results about 阿波青石瀬の煙管狸・大煙管, please click here.

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