#akateko

Connor Sheehan

Co-Founder - 5th Column Studio

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Inktober #29: Akateko

Akateko

classification: Yokai

native location: Japan

Habitat: trees

appearance: this yokai appears as one or possibly many bright red infants hands dangling down from the branches of a tree

The akateko is known to scare people standing under trees by dropping its hands down in front of them or even right onto their shoulders to scare them but it just wants to scare people and cannot actually harm anyone.

The Lord our Protector (AKATEKO-ACATECO: Kanjobal, Western Bible 2016)

AKATEKO-ACATECO: Kanjobal, Western Bible 2016

Psalms (Salmos) 121

1 Ja’ yet chi wilon atoj sjolomlaj tx’otx’ mimej wonan, chi walon yin jin na’b’al jaxca ti’: ¿Tzet watx’ chi wunne yet chin colon jin b’a? jin chi.

2 Ja’ yin Jehová chin col jin b’a, yutol ja’ Naj jix wa’nen satcan, c’al tx’otx’ tx’otx’ ti’.

3Man oj yal sc’ul Jehová oj jaach telc’otoj, c’am b’ey oj oc numna sweyan Naj chach…

The Lord our Protector (AKATEKO-ACATECO: Kanjobal, Western Bible 2016)

AKATEKO-ACATECO: Kanjobal, Western Bible 2016

Psalms (Salmos) 121

1 Ja’ yet chi wilon atoj sjolomlaj tx’otx’ mimej wonan, chi walon yin jin na’b’al jaxca ti’: ¿Tzet watx’ chi wunne yet chin colon jin b’a? jin chi.

2 Ja’ yin Jehová chin col jin b’a, yutol ja’ Naj jix wa’nen satcan, c’al tx’otx’ tx’otx’ ti’.

3Man oj yal sc’ul Jehová oj jaach telc’otoj, c’am b’ey oj oc numna sweyan Naj chach…

Akateko

赤手児 あかてこ

TRANSLATION: red child’s hand HABITAT:  Japanese honey locust (Gleditsia japonica) trees DIET: unknown

APPEARANCE: The akateko appears—just as the name implies—as a red, disembodied hand belonging to a child. It is found hanging in Japanese honey locust trees.

INTERACTIONS: Akateko drops down from trees as people pass underneath them. Aside from giving its victims a nasty surprise and the general creepiness of a disembodied red child’s hand, it is not known for causing any great harm.

Some people have seen the figure of a furisode-wearing beautiful girl of 17 or 18 years standing underneath an akateko’s tree. Those who witness her are immediately struck with a powerful fever. It is not clear what relationship she has to the akateko, if she is part of the same apparition or another spirit entirely.

ORIGIN: The origin of akateko is usually given as a certain tree in front of an elementary school in the city of Hachinohe in Aomori Prefecture. However, there are local versions of it in Fukushima and Kagawa Prefectures as well. In these prefectures, akateko sometimes work together with another yokai called aka ashi. They grab at the feet of pedestrians, causing them to stumble and fall. It has also been suggested that akateko and aka ashi are two forms of the same yokai.