Enenra (Hyogo)

Enenra is a yokai lurking in smoke. In hearth and lamp smoke its shape is said to take the form of a person or a dragon, visible only to those of pure heart. Toriyama Sekien's Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki (1779) figures the yokai as a slow column of smoke in which a dragon-like face and body appear; the inscription reads "drinking smoke, it becomes smoke," presenting the smoke itself as the yokai-substance. The figure appears within the smoke of hearths, irori, and lamp-flames as a calm yokai that watches rather than harms. Toriyama Sekien's Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki (Anei 8, 1779) is the principal textual source; Murakami Kenji's Nihon Yokai Daijiten (Kadokawa, 2005) and the Nichibunken Strange Phenomena and Yokai Folklore Database compile the figure. Adjacent insubstantial yokai include the moryo and kasumi, and adjacent hearth-fire yokai include the narukama, kasha, and gotoku-neko. Specifically Hyogo-local records are sparse; the entry is preserved as a figural source-yokai.