Exploring the Enigmatic Basan: A Fiery Feathered Mystery in Japanese Folklore (波山)

The Basan is a very rare youkai bird that is found only in the mountains of Ehime Prefecture, on the island of Shikoku.

• Basan is about the size of a turkey, and looks very similar to a rooster. They are easily recognized by their colorful plumage and bright red crest that looks like a tongue of flame.

• A distinctive feature of this bird is its fiery breath, like that of a dragon, but the flames flying out of its beak do not burn.

Basan: an overgrown rooster
• Basan is extremely rare and is exclusively nocturnal, so very little is known about its habits.

• They build their nests in distant bamboo groves, where humans rarely set foot.

• Their diet consists of firebrands and coals, so the Basan occasionally appears in remote villages during holidays, when the remains of fires or charcoal can be found there.

| When the Basan is happy or frightened by something, it flaps its wings, producing a characteristic rustling sound “hasa-khasa”, from which it got its name. People who have seen the Basan say that the bird simply disappears into thin air if it detects an observer.