Abura-akago is a type of Japanese infant spirit or ghost. It is a yōkai that appeared illustrated in Toriyama Sekien’s mid-Edo period Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki, as an infant spirit lapping oil out of an andon lamp. In more modern yōkai literature, it is interpreted that this yōkai takes on the appearance of a ball of flames and flies into people’s houses, shapeshifts into that of a baby and licks the lanterns (andon lanterns), and returns to being a ball of fire and leaves. Resembling this interpretation, in the book Tōhoku Kaidan no Tabi by the novelist Yamada Norio, a collection of kaidan, there was one Akita Prefecture kaidan titled “abura-name akago” (oil-licking baby) in which a baby-carrying woman in Akida stayed at the house of a shōya, and there the baby sucked completely dry all the oil of a lantern.
Alias Abura-akago (油赤子)
Real Names/Alt Names “Oil baby”, “Oil-licking baby”
Description Abura-akago is a type of Japanese infant spirit or ghost. It is a yōkai that appeared illustrated in Toriyama Sekien’s mid-Edo period Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki, as an infant spirit lapping oil out of an andon lamp. In more modern yōkai literature, it is interpreted that this yōkai takes on the appearance of a ball of flames and flies into people’s houses, shapeshifts into that of a baby and licks the lanterns (andon lanterns), and returns to being a ball of fire and leaves. Resembling this interpretation, in the book Tōhoku Kaidan no Tabi by the novelist Yamada Norio, a collection of kaidan, there was one Akita Prefecture kaidan titled “abura-name akago” (oil-licking baby) in which a baby-carrying woman in Akida stayed at the house of a shōya, and there the baby sucked completely dry all the oil of a lantern.
