Shiranui are mysterious sea fires said to appear along Kyushu’s shores, especially on the Yatsushiro and Ariake Seas. On a windless new-moon night around the first day of the eighth lunar month, one or two “parent lights” flare up offshore, split left and right, and multiply until hundreds or thousands line the horizon. They are hard to see from sea level but clear from higher ground, and retreat as one approaches. Also called “Thousand Lanterns” and “Dragon Lanterns,” they were feared as bad omens that warned fishers to stay ashore.