Akashita

right|thumb|180px|"Akashita" (赤舌) from the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by [[Toriyama Sekien]] is a Japanese yōkai that appears in yōkai emaki in the Edo Period, among other places. They are depicted as a beast with clawed hands and a very hairy face covered with dark clouds, but its full body appearance is unknown. In its opened mouth is a big tongue. Sekien did not attach an explanatory note about this yōkai, but its origins are identifiable as Akaguchi which appears in older Edo period yōkai scrolls such as Bakemono no e. This yōkai is known interchangeably as Akaguchi and Akashita.

==Origin theory== Usually, they are not depicted accompanied with anything other than a black cloud, but in the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by Toriyama Sekien, they are depicted on top of a sluice. However, there is no accompanying explanation, so details about it are unknown. Concerning the name "akashita", the modern literary scholar Atsunobu Inada among others suggest that they are related to the shakuzetsujin (赤舌神) and shakuzetsunichi (赤舌日), who protect the western gate of Tai Sui (Jupiter) as explained by onmyōdō.