Of the myriad Yokai inhabiting Japanese folklore and mythology, Namazu is perhaps my favorite. Namazu is the name of the gargantuan catfish who lives near the earth’s center. When Namazu gets riled up, he’ll buck and thrash, the effect of which we experience on the surface as earthquakes. What fascinates me most is Namazu’s similarity to Loki’s plight in geographically distant Norse mythology, where Loki is bound beneath the earth with an enormous serpent dripping venom into a bowl suspended over his face by his dutiful wife, Sigyn. But, as Sigyn must eventually empty the bowl, the serpent’s venom will be allowed to drip freely into Loki’s eyes, causing him excruciating pain. Like Namazu, Loki’s painful frenzies are the source of all earthquakes.

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