Baku

◆ The legend

An imaginary beast first told of in China. It is described as having the trunk of an elephant, the eyes of a rhinoceros, the tail of an ox and the feet of a tiger, so it looks as if it borrowed a little from many different animals. In China, it is said, people believed that sleeping on its hide, or drawing its picture and hanging it up, kept sickness and evil away.

Once it reached Japan, the baku became beloved as "the beast that eats bad dreams." Around the New Year, when people hoped for a lucky first dream, there was a custom, it is said, of sleeping with a picture of a treasure ship marked with the character for baku tucked under the pillow, or of keeping a picture of the baku by the bed. Even on a night of nightmares, the baku would gobble them up. Thinking that way may have helped people sleep a little easier.