Amabie

8"x8"
Heavy cream felt paper

“Largely forgotten for generations, Amabie, as it’s known, is an auspicious yokai (a class of supernatural spirits popularised through Japanese folklore) that was first documented in 1846. As the story goes, a government official was investigating a mysterious green light in the water in the former Higo province (present-day Kumamoto prefecture). When he arrived at the spot of the light, a glowing-green creature with fishy scales, long hair, three fin-like legs and a beak emerged from the sea.

Amabie introduced itself to the man and predicted two things: a rich harvest would bless Japan for the next six years, and a pandemic would ravage the country. However, the mysterious merperson instructed that in order to stave off the disease, people should draw an image of it and share it with as many people as possible.”

Here is my take on the Amabie, who has been emerging as a symbol of hope in Japan and around the world. How timely for Asian Pacific Heritage Month and MerMay. I tried to make the second version look like a seal of protection with the characters 疫病退散, or roughly translated (by me) to “disease begone”. Create or perish!