Ameonna is a Japanese yōkai thought to call forth rain, illustrated in Toriyama Sekien’s Konjaku Hyakki Shūi as a woman standing in the rain and licking her hand. In modern usage in Japan, “ameonna” (or the male equivalent “ameotoko”) refers to an unlucky person that seems to be jinxed to have the rain follow them wherever they may go, thus gaining a reputation for ruining special events such as weddings or sporting events. In the collection of yōkai pictures, the Konjaku Hyakki Shūi by Toriyama Sekien, there is a picture titled “ameonna,” and the explanatory text says “in Fuzan (Wu Shan), China, the goddesses become a cloud in morning and rain in the evening. The ameonna is probably like one of these”… There are no statements about any rain-related yōkai to be seen, so it’s been suggested that the ameonna is simply a made-up creation by Sekien in order to satirize the Edo Period Yoshiwara Yūkaku. There is also the idea put forth that women who lose their recently born children on a day of rain due to a kamikakushi (spiriting away) would become rain women (ameonna), so they would appear before crying children carrying a large sack. Sometimes, they are considered a “bothersome yōkai that calls forth rain,” but they are also sometimes considered a holy “rain god” as a “yōkai who saves people by calling forth rain” in times of continuing drought by making it rain.
Description Ameonna is a Japanese yōkai thought to call forth rain, illustrated in Toriyama Sekien’s Konjaku Hyakki Shūi as a woman standing in the rain and licking her hand. In modern usage in Japan, “ameonna” (or the male equivalent “ameotoko”) refers to an unlucky person that seems to be jinxed to have the rain follow them wherever they may go, thus gaining a reputation for ruining special events such as weddings or sporting events. In the collection of yōkai pictures, the Konjaku Hyakki Shūi by Toriyama Sekien, there is a picture titled “ameonna,” and the explanatory text says “in Fuzan (Wu Shan), China, the goddesses become a cloud in morning and rain in the evening. The ameonna is probably like one of these”… There are no statements about any rain-related yōkai to be seen, so it’s been suggested that the ameonna is simply a made-up creation by Sekien in order to satirize the Edo Period Yoshiwara Yūkaku. There is also the idea put forth that women who lose their recently born children on a day of rain due to a kamikakushi (spiriting away) would become rain women (ameonna), so they would appear before crying children carrying a large sack. Sometimes, they are considered a “bothersome yōkai that calls forth rain,” but they are also sometimes considered a holy “rain god” as a “yōkai who saves people by calling forth rain” in times of continuing drought by making it rain.
