Kamaitachi (窮奇, sometimes also 鎌鼬) is a Japanese
yōkai, most common in the
Kōshinetsu region. It was traditionally classified as a wind yōkai. There are several conceptions of how it looked like or operated, but the most common is one of a trio of weasels with sharp claws, riding on a gust of wind and cutting peoples' skin on the legs. According to this interpretation, the first weasel knocked the unsuspecting victim down, the second cut the victim's flesh and the third applied medication to the wounds, so that at the time the victim realised what was happening they were left only with painful wounds that weren't bleeding. Sometimes the three are described as brothers, sometimes as triplets. This account can be traced back to
Toriyama Sekien, who was presumably also the first to imagine the apparition to have the form of a weasel. The weasel was a typical Toriyama pun - one of the folk names for the appparition was kamaetachi (構え太刀), meaning "attacking
tachi", which he changed slightly to mean "sickle weasel".
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[Japanese] A Japanese monster that looks like a weasel, although it moves so fast no one has ever gotten a good look. They usually assault a victim as a team, where the first knocks down the victim, the second slashes him with its teeth, and the third heals the wound. The word kama means "sickle" and itachi means "weasel".