Grime-licking yokai of the bathhouse
Akaname
Akaneburi
In the empty midnight bathroom, only the wet sound of a tongue on the tub remains. The one who left the grime behind is the one who meets its eyes.
Overview
Akaname is a yokai said to appear in bathhouses at night and lick grime from tubs and washrooms. It is linked to Edo-period accounts of akaneburi and Toriyama Sekien's Akaname, turning neglect and uncleanness into the figure of a strange child.
Encounter
It slips into poorly cleaned bathrooms after the household has gone to sleep, following the smell of damp floors, cooled steam, and old grime. When it senses footsteps or light, it vanishes behind doors or boards.
Lore
A related creature appears in Yamaoka Genrin's Kokon Hyakumonogatari Hyoban as a being that lives in old bathhouses and ruined homes. Toriyama Sekien later fixed the image as Akaname in Gazu Hyakki Yagyo.
Traits
It resembles a disheveled child with clawed feet and a tongue longer than its body. It is drawn to filth rather than violence, and a clean bathhouse deprives it of what keeps it there.
A thing called grime-licker is said to live in old bathhouses.
Kokon Hyakumonogatari Hyoban