Clear native Japanese traditions are scarce, and there is no direct match in standard oral tale types. From the modern era onward, the name and image spread through translated literature and popular entertainment, where the idea of a monster lurking in sand took root. In domestic accounts of the uncanny, “things dwelling underground” are sometimes compared to concepts like the earth-dragon (doryo) or earth-bugs, but no specific folktale title or local term has been firmly identified.