AZUKIARAI 小豆洗い
Pronunciation: AH-zoo-key-AH-rye
Translation: The Red Bean Washer
Etymology: The first two characters (小豆) mean “small” and “bean,” referring to azuki beans. The second word (洗い) means “to wash.”
Also known as: Azukitogi (小豆研ぎ), Azukiage (小豆アゲ), and Azuki Goshagosha (小豆ごしゃごしゃ)
Similar to: Azukihakari (小豆はかり), Azukibāba (あずき婆), Kuneyusuri (くねゆすり), Sentaku Kitsune (洗濯狐) and Kometogi Bāba (米とぎ婆)
Overview
The azukiarai is a mysterious yōkai that is almost always heard and not seen. Nevertheless, it’s not difficult to find a description or image of this creepy little fellow. As far back as 1841, in volume 5 of Ehon Hyaku Monogatari (絵本百物語), or the Picture Book of a Hundred Stories, Takehara Shunsensai gives us a colored illustration of this unnerving diminutive man-creature. In it, he’s standing by a riverbank with his bald head, clawed feet, large eyes, and toothy grin. He’s hunched over a wooden bowl, reaching in, presumably concentrating on doing what he’s always doing: bean washing.
It’s said if you’re hiking through the mountains and suddenly catch a sound like shoki-shoki, shoki-shoki, it could be the sound of water trickling over river stones and echoing through the valley—or, it could be the azukiarai, out there in the middle of nowhere, humming a little tune as he works. There’s no need to be afraid, though. This old-man-looking yōkai is harmless—at least that’s what everyone says. But that song he sings does have some unsettling lyrics:
“Shoki-shoki! Shall I wash the beans?
Or shall I catch and eat a human being?
Shoki-shoki!”
This unnerving ditty might explain why so few people have ever actually laid eyes on an azukiarai. If you were out in the middle of nowhere and heard that song, you probably wouldn’t stick around to find out who was singing it either.
Throughout Japan, there are differing theories about what the azukiarai really is. Some people believe the sound is caused by a weasel crying out or wagging its tail. In other places, it is attributed to a variety of animals, such as the tanuki (Japanese raccoon dogs), foxes, otters, or even giant toads called gama-gaeru, either shaking their bodies or rubbing the warts on their backs against one another.
Background and Popular Stories
Usually, azukiarai are found outdoors near rivers, but there is one variety that resides in houses and temples. These bean washers may be male or female, and they tend to be active in the middle of the night while folks are trying to sleep. If you’ve woken up after hearing a disturbance and expect to find the enigmatic bean washer in your home, you’d most likely find nothing at all, since the azukiarai are rumored to be heard, not seen.
There might be an explanation for this. Long before neatly sealed houses and bug spray, people lived closer to insects, or insects preferred to live closer to people, nestling in their homes. One of these bugs was nicknamed the chatate mushi (茶たて虫), which means “tea-making insect.” As the vermin munched on paper or mold or rubbed its wings together, the noise would reverberate off the taut shoji windows, creating a sound similar to someone whisking—or making—green tea. In a quiet house at night, this same sound could be mistaken for someone stirring beans in a colander. Because of this, the insect earned a second nickname: the “azukiarai mushi” or “azukiarai bug.”
There is another tale in a book written in the Edo era (1603–1867) called Kaidan Oi no Tsue (怪談老の杖). It tells the story of a temple; when night fell, the sound of someone tossing dried azuki beans onto the attic floor could be heard from within. The noise would grow louder and louder until it seemed as if 5 gallons (18 liters) of azuki beans were being scattered across the floor. This was dubbed the “ceiling azukiarai” or the “azukihakari.”
There are different origin stories, but the following tale found in Ehon Hyaku Monogatari, simply titled Azukiarai, seems to be the best known. According to the story, at a temple in Takada, Echigo Province (present-day Joetsu City, Niigata Prefecture), there was a young monk named Nichigen (日顕). Nichigen had a physical disability, and he also had a talent for counting things and guessing measurements with amazing accuracy. He could look at a pile of azuki beans and tell exactly if it equaled one gō or one shō (these are old measurements—a gō is 6.1 ounces, or 180.4 milliliters, and is one-tenth of a shō, which is 61 ounces, or 1.804 liters).
The head abbot of the temple favored Nichigen and was even planning on making him his successor. That news didn’t settle very well with another monk named Enkai (円海), who was evil-hearted and envious of the young Nichigen. One day, Enkai seized Nichigen and threw him down a well, killing him.
Thereafter, the spirit of the poor dead monk would throw azuki beans against the temple’s wooden rain shutters from dusk until nightfall, then go down by the river and wash and count beans. The murderous Enkai was sentenced to death. Today, if you are able to find the well where Nichigen died, it is said you can hear him and Enkai arguing.
In Modern Stories
The azukiarai is a recurring character in the manga and anime GeGeGe no Kitarō and also appears in the 2005 movie The Great Yokai War, directed by Takashi Miike.