In Japanese folklore, nobusuma (also known as Tobikura) are bats that live to very old age & then transform into yokai. They eat nuts & fruit like regular bats but also feed on fire & blood sucked out of humans or animals.
#FolkloreThursday #yokai
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They prey on travellers, swooping down from trees, extinguish fires & attaching to their victim's faces to begin sucking their blood. When the Nobusuma age they transform again into an even more dangerous #yokai known as yamachichi.
Art: Kyoka Hyaku Monogatari, 1853.
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Very long-lived bats can transform into yokai called yamachichi. This pointy-faced monster visits people when they are sleeping & sucks the life force from their mouth before tapping them on the chest, causing them to die the very next day.
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#FolkloreThursday #yokai

If the yamachichi is interrupted while sucking out the victims life force, it will mean the person actually has a much longer life than expected instead.
#yokai #folklore
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