Nugu

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Nugu
Name
Japanese	ヌグ ラビ
Rōmaji	Nugu Rabi
Profile
Species	Yōkai
Gender	Unknown
Home	New Guinea
First Appearance
Manga	The Great Spirit World Battle (1986)

Nugu (ヌグ Nugu) is a yōkai from New Guinea. Another name for them is Ravi (ラビ Rabi).

Appearance

Nugu appears as a large round creature, appearing to have scales, with a purple and blue coloration. They have a pair of black eyes with orange sclerae and a pair of light blue lips with two teeth prominently sticking out.

History

Saishinban GeGeGe no Kitarō

In the chapter eight The Great Spirit World Battle, they appeared as a minion of Nurarihyon.

They live in rock caverns of the spirit world. along with Iwaryū, Dasuza, and Tsuchi-Gumo, they attacked Kitarō and the others when they were playing "Spirit World Hide and Seek" in the caverns.

Legends

The Kopiravi is a mythological figure from folklore, especially from the Gulf Province region in New Guinea. They are large, basketwork monsters that are hollow, with wide gaping jaws and four wooden legs and have varying forms in different villages. They have a number of spellings, such as Kai-ia-imunu (sky imunu), Kaiemunu, Kaiaimunu, Kanipu, each having their own name, and are never taken out of the ravi. They have also been called Ukiravi or Ukiaravi in different documents. Men consult the invisible spirit of a Kopiravi before going out to kill anyone, where it comes out of the ravi and rocks the canoe if the expedition is to be successful. They may prove to be effigies of spirits who may be regarded as gods.

While Mizuki described Nugu to be similar to a crocodile with cassowary legs and emits a strange voice which makes women and children faint, no Kopiravi sculpture are depicted with avian-like legs.

Trivia

• Kopiravi was introduced to Japan by several authors, including Mizuki, which Nugu (ヌグ) was used as the main name, but it is unclear where this name came from.
• Sunekosuri's appearance in Akuma-kun is presumably based on Kopiravi sculpture.