Akaname: Unveiling the Nightly Licker of Japanese Folklore and Hygiene Tales

• Aka-name is the personification of fear that can visit a superstitious person in a dark, non-residential building late at night. According to Japanese beliefs, this spirit appears at night to lick the dirt accumulated in public baths, bathrooms in unwashed tanks and tubs.

• If you take a bath after being licked by Aka-name, then this is fraught with some kind of disease. Thus, the image of Aka-name reflected the observation that neglect of hygiene rules has a detrimental effect on health. This youkai has a relative - the long-legged Tenyo-name, who licks dirty ceilings and surfaces in living quarters.

• In Japanese mythology, Aka-name is a demon-like creature with a long, prehensile tongue that enters the bathroom in the dead of night to lick off the accumulated dirt there. This youkai is said to represent the fears associated with going to the bathroom at night, but objections have been raised based on the tendency of this harmless spirit to appear in didactic tales as an indication of the need to keep the bathroom clean.