The first recurring feature to be unveiled is …
Move over, Krampus!
First up, one of Japan’s impressive array of mythical changelings: the Aka-shita. Yokai.com describes these fearsome demons as “agents of bad luck and evil … primarily known as punishers in water disputes”.
Here it is as it appeared in our Japanese monster anthology, Obakarama, rendered visually by Michael Stone, and addressed in poetry by Adham Smart.
Traditionally, the Aka-shita is a summer monster, but there’s nothing to say a little winter shift work would go amiss. Hiding in its cloud, the bright-tongued revenger would find house entry via the chimbley easy. It would then proceed to the child’s bedroom and lick its sleeping face to make a moral determination. Evil or ethically-compromised minors would suffer bad luck in the ensuing present-giving, receiving the wrong edition of the latest Pokemon, Bryan Adams instead of Ryan Adams, and so on.