In the mountainous regions of Kōchi Prefecture and Tokushima Prefecture among other areas of West Japan, encountering such a strange event is called "being cut by a nogama ( 野鎌, "wild sickle")," and they are said to be the deeds of grass-cutting sickles that have been left and forgotten on fields and have ended up turning into yōkai, and they are also said to be a sickle's vengeful spirit ( onryō) that has turned it into a tsukumogami (a receptacle that has turned into yōkai). It is said that the reason why no blood comes from the wounds from a kamaitachi is because the blood is being sucked away. In the eastern part of the Aichi Prefecture, they are also called idzuna ( 飯綱) and it is said that since an izuna-user once forgot to tell his disciple about how to seal an izuna, the runaway izuna would ride on whirlwinds and attack people in order to suck their living blood. In the Yoshio District area of the Nara Prefecture, it is said that when one gets bit by a kamaitachi invisible to the human eye, one would tumble over, even though no blood comes out, there is a big opening in the flesh. There are also regions that think of these three gods as a parent, child and brother. In Hida, in the Niu River basin, they are said in legends to be a company of 3 evil gods and the first god would knock down the person, the next god would cut with a blade and the third god would put some medicine on it which is why there is no bleeding or pain. In the Tōhoku region, when one receives an injury from a kamaitachi, it is said that by burning an old calendar black and putting it on the wound, it would heal. It is counted among the seven mysteries of Echigo. ![]() In the Shin'etsu region, a kamaitachi is said to be the work of an evil god and there is a folk belief that one would encounter calamity by stepping on a calendar. On occasions of cold wind and other times, they are also a strange event of where one would fall and get a leg injury. There are many legends passed down in snowy regions and there are some regions that call whirlwinds themselves "kamaitachi". Legends by area ĭevilish winds that would cut people are told about in the Chūbu, Kinki, and other regions. ![]() ![]() As a beast with fur like that of a hedgehog, and a cry like that of a dog, and one that flies through the air with wings, they are said to attack people with limbs like that of a sickle or razor. In the "Mimibukuro" by Negishi Shizumori as well, children in the estate called Kagaya in Edo were enveloped by a whirlwind, and on the surface of their backs, there remained the footsteps of a beast, and it was written that this was the proof of a "kamae tachi" ( 構太刀). It was originally thought to be a corruption of the word "kamae tachi" (stance sword), but like the kyūki in the "Yin" part of Toriyama Sekien's Gazu Hyakki Yagyō, they were thus re-used and depicted as a weasel yōkai, eventually becoming established as the yōkai it is now.
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