Baku (spirit) - Modern Representations

Modern Representations

Since the 1980s, the baku appears not as a chimera of an elephant and tiger but as a zoologically recognizable tapir. Examples include Oshii Mamoru’s 1984 animated film Beautiful Dreamer, which is based on an episode of Rumiko Takahashi's manga Urusei Yatsura (1978-1987) that depicts the baku as a tapir. Tapir baku appear in Pokémon in the character Drowzee and Munna/Musharna and in Digimon, which features a character called Bakumon or Tapirmon. They also appear in Haruhiko Mikimoto's manga Marionette Generation (2001, original 1990). Dream-eating, tapir-shaped baku have also entered non-Japanese popular culture. The picture book "The Dream Eater" by Christian Garrison tells the story of a young boy, Yukio, who meets a baku and brings it to his village. A non-Japanese video game featuring a dream-eating tapir also exists., and in the Manga of Masashi Kishimoto Naruto, the late character Danzo Shimura is capable of summoning a giant Baku to aid him in battle (unlike many modern representations, the Baku that appears in Naruto is very close to the original Japanese description of a Baku). There also exists a Vocaloid song sung by Len Kagamine, Dream Eating Monochrome Baku, about the Baku, depicting it/him as a sharply dressed blond boy (Len Kagamine) with an elephant cane. In the song, the being first appears benevolent, offering to get rid of nightmares and make dreams more vivid. But it comes with the price that after the full moon, the being will take away all the victim's hopes and dreams.