Baku

Hello and welcome back to Fab Figmentals!

I’m Lindsey Morse, your guide through the realm of curious creatures, magical monsters, and beautiful beasts. Each week on this podcast, we explore a different legendary creature by looking at its history and folklore. We start with a story, and then go on to take a look at the creature’s origins and how it’s been portrayed throughout the ages.

This week, we’re traveling to Asia to visit the baku, a Japanese chimera who feasts on nightmares. 

Legend has it that baku were created from leftover parts when the gods were finished making all the other animals. As you might suspect, this means baku are quite a sight to behold. A mishmash of species, baku are said to have a bear’s body, an elephant’s trunk, a tiger’s paws, an ox’s tail, and the eyes of a rhinoceros. But despite their freakish appearance, baku are not inherently ill-willed. In fact, because they subsist on bad dreams, they’re often summoned by children who’ve been woken by nightmares.

But, as we’ll see in today’s story, one should exercise caution before invoking the baku. Because some baku are especially hungry. And one nightmare might not be enough to satisfy… 

Before we kick off the show, please be advised that our stories are often more Brothers Grimm than Mother Goose. They may not be appropriate for little ears. 

And now, I’m pleased to present today’s story, which was written by me with help from Niall Cooper. It’s about a girl named Kana, who is plagued by bad dreams. We’re calling it: Midnight Snack. 

-music begins-

Kana was on the precipice of another bad dream, though she didn’t yet know it. 

She was sitting happily on a stone ledge, her feet dangling lazily over a narrow crystalline stream. The air was bitter-sweet from the blush-colored blossoms of a nearby cherry tree forest in the full bloom of spring. 

She leaned back and warmed her skin in the sun glowing through the canopy of tiny florets. Delicate sakura petals fluttered to the ground around her, and she closed her eyes as they covered her in their flushing pink velvet. 

*Sigh* She loved the color. She’d just gotten a brand new watercolor palette and the blush hues were already looking worn. She’d need some replacements soon, if she kept painting everything in pink. 

The sun dimmed, just a fraction. The air cooled. A breeze brushed the petals from her skin. Something shifted.

Nearby, she felt rumbling.

Kana sat up and drew her legs close, as a low growl cut through the air.

On the opposite bank of the stream a grey wolf emerged and faced her, teeth bared.

Suddenly, the air soured, and all around Kana the cherry blossom trees released their flowers in a unified cascade.

Throughout the newly denuded forest, a white dozen wolves appeared. Maybe more. Each angry eye, focused on her. 

Kana wanted to run - but she was too scared. Instead, she wrapped her arms tightly around her knees.

The grey wolf hunched down and pushed off.  It leapt easily across the stream and landed next to her. 

Unable to move, she watched— frozen in fear— as its muzzle inched closer to her. Its black lips curled and twitched, fangs gleaming. 

The whites wolves followed, leaping one by one across the water, encircling her. Their snarling vibrated through the ground, through the air, through her body.

Kana willed herself to roll into a ball and bury her face.

But she could not will herself to wake … 

Coarse fur brushed her cheek, and she felt hot breath on her neck. 

She scrunched in tighter and tighter … she covered her ears with her balled-up fists … hot tears ran down her cheeks … she dug her nails into her palms … and… 

She woke up. 

She was back in her room.

But despite the realization that she was home, she did not feel safe. Her pillow was damp; her nightshirt, clammy. The darkness of her room felt thick, and the wolves still seemed so real … and close. 

Kana was haunted by bad dreams. 

The night before, she had been captured by a giant yellow spider who suspended her in its sticky web. Two nights ago, she’d been chased by a legion of angry stone warriors who came to life right before her eyes. 

But she knew what to do.

Scrunching her eyes tight, she scooched down under her covers. She summoned her voice, and called out into the darkness:

“Baku-san, come eat my dream,” her tiny voice quavered.

She took a deep breath, and steadied herself.

More confidently she cried out, ”Baku-san, come eat my dream.”

A rustling drifted in through her open window. It was working.

”BAKU-SAN, COME EAT MY DREAM!”

A great bulk pounded into the side of the house, and claws scratched upon the walls. With a clambering huff, the creature scraped higher … its claws rap-rapping upon the windowsill … then the window slid slowly, slowly up … and… Thump. 

The creature landed roughly on her bedroom floor. 

It shook, jowls flapping; stretched, and snarfled. But Kana dared not peek out from under the safety of her blankets.

In the darkness of her room, she heard the baku start to eat. And eat it did. And with each crushing chomp and gurgling burble, she felt a little piece of her nightmare disappear … until, before long, the wolves were all gone.

But tonight was not like the other nights. After eating the yellow spider and the stone warriors, Baku had quickly fled back out into the night. But tonight, he lingered.

Kana could feel him watching her. 

With a deep rumble, his stomach growled. 

He was still hungry.

She lay frozen - still as when the wolves had harried her. And an unknown sensation began to seethe in her chest— dark and cold and deep. It moved from her gut up into her chest, and it inched its way along her spine. It was a sense, she realized, of separation.

One by one, hopes and dreams and ambitions bubbled up and escaped into the room around her. They hung in the air, like little helium balloons.

Away floated her desire to achieve top marks on next week’s history test. Gone was her dream of one day learning how to make her mother’s fluffy cheesecake. Her goal to be next year’s class president left her.

Baku ate them all. 

As each tiny hope drifted away, she sunk further into her bed. Deep down, she knew that she should be worried about what was happening to her, but she couldn’t help it: with each passing moment she cared less and less. 

All week, she’d been looking forward to tomorrow. Her grandmother had invited her over to practice painting watercolor sakura trees, and she’d been counting down the days all week. But that, too, bubbled up and floated away.

Baku gulped, smacked his lips, and swallowed again. He let out a croaking belch. 

He was finally full. 

Burping again, he lazily dragged his bloated heft back to the window and slumped out. 

For the rest of the night, Kana slept better than she had in years, and when she awoke the next morning, the events of the night before did not trouble her. Come to think of it, she couldn’t remember the last time she felt so calm and unconcerned. 

Before heading downstairs for breakfast, she took a moment to tidy up her room. She made her bed, put her pajamas in the hamper, and got dressed for the day. 

Across the room, on top of a dresser, she spotted her watercolor set. She walked over,  picked it up, and turned it over in her hand— examining it. She’d been so obsessed with it yesterday, but now it seemed wholly unimpressive. She shrugged, and dropped it in the waste basket. She couldn’t muster even a hint of excitement about the watercolor lesson she had scheduled for that afternoon. She was definitely going to skip it. 

Maybe she’d visit her grandmother some other day, instead … or maybe not. 

It really didn’t seem to matter anymore.

-music ends- 

We talked about Baku’s appearance at the top of the show, and I’d like to revisit it. Let’s try something. Indulge me, if you will, by closing your eyes and building a mental picture as I describe each attribute. Unless you’re driving… if you’re driving please keep your eyes on the road. Okay here we go. First of all, picture the body of a bear- big and furry with a rounded back. Add on an ox’s tail, huge tiger paws, and the small black eyes of a rhinoceros. Finish things off with an elephant’s trunk. Can you picture it? I know I can, and it’s pretty wild. 

Like many mythological creatures, tales of Baku are varied and have changed over time; however, interestingly, many depictions make it clear that despite its unusual abilities and appearance, Baku does not live in a supernatural realm. Legend makes it clear that these are living, breathing creatures that exist in our mortal world.

And like actual wild animals, they are neither inherently good nor evil. Their particular predilections can be useful— hence why children for centuries have called upon them for protection from bad dreams— but they are unpredictable. And as we saw in our story, it’s wise to exercise caution when calling upon Baku, because if Baku is still hungry after eating your nightmares, he might then start feasting on your hopes and dreams, leaving behind an empty shell of the person you once were. 

Baku is most often associated with Japanese mythology and legend, but its origins can be traced back to China, where woodblock illustrations featuring the creature were described in Tang Poetry in the 9th century.

By the 14th-15th century, Baku lore had made its way across the East China Sea and was familiar throughout Japan. There, the creature fit nicely into Shinto— a traditional Japanese religion that incorporates worship of ancestors and nature spirits, as well as a belief in the sacred power of both animate and inanimate things. In Shinto, health is believed to be a condition of the mind, and being healthy is the original and natural state of being. Many environmental factors can disrupt this natural equilibrium and cause illness and disease— stress, age, and unhealthy food, for example— but health can also be upset by an insincere heart, spirits, and bad thoughts. A key tenet of shinto is that negative thoughts—  and nightmares—  are dangerous. If left unchecked, bad thoughts and dreams might quickly develop into something very real and very bad, like disease, accident, evil urges, or misfortune. Considering the perceived danger of bad dreams, it makes sense that nightmare-eating Baku would be welcomed into the Shinto belief system. A walking, dream-snarlfling monster made up of an amalgam of different animal parts is pretty scary, but it’s nothing compared to the truly hazardous realities a bad dream could turn into if ignored.

Traditional Japanese temples and shrines are often decorated with sculptural representations of powerful beings— like lions and dragon— and Baku is regularly depicted alongside them to help offer protection. 

As we’ll learn more in future episodes, Japanese legend is full of supernatural spirits, demons, and monsters— known as yōkai- but Baku is one of the few whose popularity has withstood the test of time.

In the early 1900’s, it was common for children to keep a talisman of Baku next to their bed, and pillows embroidered with his name or likeness were also thought to help keep evil spirits at bay. It seems simply reminding negative spirits that a Baku might be in the area could be enough to scare them off. 

Perhaps the most fascinating part of the Baku saga is that the myth may have been spawned by an actual creature. The word ‘baku’ in Japanese has two meanings: it refers to the mythological being we’ve been talking about today, but also to the Malayan Tapir, an animal that bears a striking resemblance to our chimera of the hour. Here’s a description: 

The Malayan Tapir has a stubby tail, four toes on the front foot, three toes on the back foot, poor eyesight, and long, flexible probiscises. It can be easily identified by its markings, most notably the light-colored patch that extends from its shoulders to its rear end. The rest of its hair is black, except for the tips of its ears, which, as with other tapirs, are rimmed with white. 

It’s not a perfect match, perhaps, but that long protuberance of a nose does certainly bring to mind an elephant’s trunk! Malayan Tapirs are now endangered and only exist in parts of South East Asia, but some have speculated that perhaps they once inhabited China, living there long enough to make a mark on Chinese folklore and art before dying out. 

Today, baku might be more popular than ever before, making regular appearances in comics and animation. And, interestingly, in modern times you’ll frequently find baku portrayed as an actual tapir instead of a chimera.

I first learned of baku in the Reading Rainbow book, The Dream Eater, a children’s book that tells the story of a young boy who befriends a baku and cures his village from a plague of bad dreams.

In 2003, Hakase Mizuki published a manga called Baku about a boy who is a reincarnation of the titular creature. Baku also finds a place in the pages of Neil Gaiman’s novella “The Sandman: The Dream Hunters.” 

But there’s one particular baku-related popular culture discovery that knocked my socks off. 

First though, I have a small confession to makea: I harbor a secret love of Pokemon. Imagine my surprise to find out that Drowzee, a bright yellow psychic pokemon, and one of my favorites, is likely a modern incarnation of baku. I never made the connection before researching for this episode of the show, but with his tapir-like appearance, “insomnia” ability, and “dream eater” attack, there’s definitely a family resemblance. 

But I have to admit, despite this newfound connection to baku, I don’t think I’ll be invoking him anytime soon. Given his terrifying appearance and near insatiable hunger, I think I’ll just take my chances with the occasional bad dream. 

 -closing music-

Thank you so much for tuning in to Fab Figmentals!

Research, writing, and sound editing are done by me, Lindsey Morse. Niall Cooper assists with writing and editing. Our theme music was created by the wonderfully talented Graeme Ronald. 

New episodes drop every Wednesday. Make sure to subscribe to the show to get new episodes as soon as they’re available.

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If you like learning about creatures that lurk in the shadows, perhaps you’d be interested in learning more about humanity’s darker side. If so, please also check out our sister show, Assassinations Podcast.

Thanks again for listening, and I hope you’ll join me next week, when I explore the mythology and lore surrounding the Rukh, an enormous legendary bird of prey from the Middle East.