Abumi-Guchi

Abumi-Guchi
鐙口 (あぶみくち)
Stirrup Mouth


A strange furry creature formed from a stirrup, illustrated in the Gazu Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro. The accompanying poem suggests that it once belonged to a man who has fallen in battle, and now shares in his misfortune:


膝の口をのぶかにいさせてあぶみを越して
おりたゝんとすれども、なんぎの手なればと、
おなじくうたふと、夢心におぼへぬ。
An arrow is shot deep into the knee, and he falls from his stirrups, and the hand of suffering is dealt, and such a song is sung, I saw it not in my dreaming mind.