Raiju

◆ The legend

A beast yokai said to fall from the sky whenever lightning strikes. It's said to live inside thunderclouds and ride violent storms down to the ground. In Edo-period essays and broadsheet news sheets, it was recorded as looking like a weasel, a cat, or a tanuki (raccoon dog), and was often drawn as an animal with sharp claws. Stories tell of a fallen raiju tearing trees apart or racing wildly about.

Raiju tales were told especially in the stormy season, and in places where thunder rolled often. Some stories say a raiju was caught right where it landed, or put on show for curious crowds. As for what it really was, one theory says people saw a real animal, such as a masked palm civet, on a stormy night and linked it to the lightning. Perhaps people long ago gave the huge power of thunder the shape of a small, wild beast.