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Nobusuma (野衾 (のぶすま) or 野ぶすま Nobusuma) or Tobikura are a vampiric yōkai resembling giant flying squirrels.[1]

Appearance[]

Not much is known about Nobusuma, other than that they resemble the Japanese giant flying squirrels.[1]

History[]

2018 Anime[]

While Kitarō and the others speculate on which Japanese yōkai is causing the recent vampiric incidents, Mana mentions the Nobusuma as a possibility. However she reads that the one captured by a man named Ihei long ago only drank cat blood.[1]

Powers and Abilities[]

Blood Draining: They are capable of consuming the blood of their victims, with one, in particular, favoring cat blood.[1]

Legend[]

The Nobusuma (野衾) were originally bats that lived to very old age and developed magical powers. They look almost identical to the musasabi, or Japanese giant flying squirrels, but are much more dangerous. Their diet consists of nuts, fruit, and berries, but they also feed on fire, and by sucking blood from humans and small animals, cats being an example. They attack travelers at night by swooping down from the trees and onto the faces of their victims. There they latch on and begin to suck their blood. They also swoop down and blow out torches and lanterns, flying back up into the night sky crying “gaa gaa!” when they do not need to feed.[2]

Nobusuma Illustration

Illustration of the Kochi prefecture Nobusuma.

A different unrelated Nobusuma (野襖) from the Kochi prefecture, is a variety of the Nurikabe Yōkai, whose name is pronounced the same.[2] This is the lesser-known of the two, manifesting as an invisible wall that impedes or misdirects travelers walking at night and is described to be rather large, as trying to go around the wall is futile. It is said that knocking on the bottom left part of the wall with a stick will make it disappear, but if the upper right is knocked on and nothing will happen. Attempts to smash the wall will be futile as this Yōkai is immune to man-made weaponry. To expel the mischievous Yōkai the traveler has to sit on the ground, calm down, and maintain composure for a prolonged period of time, after this, the Nobusuma will go away.

References[]

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