村上隆のインスタグラム(takashipom) - 3月20日 10時50分

On Japanese social media, a yokai monster called Amabie is trending.
The trending started alongside the spread of COVID-19 infection and it vividly embodies our current sentiment of wanting to lean on a myth: it was said that when one copied the likeness of Amabie and looked at the drawing, one would escape an epidemic. It is with this very wish I started drawing this monster.

A single print owned the Kyoto University Library, “Higo no kuni kaichu no kai (Amabie no zu)" describes the lore of the yokai. The inscription says the following:
in 1846, something was glowing nightly underwater off the coast of (what would later become) Kumamoto Prefecture. When an official went to investigate, a sea monster that called itself “Amaebi” appeared and predicted that for the next six year, the region would enjoy good harvests but at the same time, illness would spread. It advised that people copy its likeness and look at the drawing.

I’m just making a sketch right now, but I plan to create paintings and printing it on T-shirts. I’ll distribute the t-shirts to my Kaikai Kiki employees in the hopes that they will bring safety and good health to my company.
translate: @tabi_the_fat

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