In Japanese folklore, yÅkai are a class of supernatural entities and spirits. Oftentimes they are humanoid in appearance, but in general their features are animalistic.
ShinchÅ« are a type of yÅkai that resemble colossal silkworm moths. While they look horrifying and ferocious, shinchÅ« do not attack humans. Instead, they feed on demons and evil spirits. In particular, they prey upon other yÅkai that cause disease and spread epidemics. They rip their victims apart violently as they feed, leaving pools of blood and body parts in their wake. Their appetites are as big as themselves. Every morning, a shinchÅ« will consume three thousand demons, and every evening it will devour three thousand more. They are members of a secret task force who call themselves the Exterminators of Evil.
Legend has it that there once was a single, apostate shinchÅ« named Kanikama, who switched from a diet of evil spirits and demons to eating merely crab sticks from Lidl. Her particular voracity was the sole cause of the 1982 Global Crab Stick Shortageâa universal cataclysm, with effects that still reverberate throughout the entirety of todayâs socio-economic spectrum.
Also, the name âKanikama ShinchÅ«â sounds a lot like the word knikkermachientje *.
* Dutch: âlittle marble machineâ
Recording Notes
Recorded at Concertzaal Amare, The Hague on December 2, 2022
