Key Points

- Legendary cow who guards the Temple of Yanaizu as a statue

- Now a popular children's toy 

Brief Bio 

Akabeko is a legendary cow from the Aizu region of Japan, who inspired a traditional toy. In legend, Akabeko the cow was present at the building of the Enzō-ji temple of Yanaizu in the ninth century, and became a permanent fixture there, with some stories saying that the animal was turned to stone. 

According to an Aizu-area legend recorded by Thomas Madden, akabeko toys are based upon a real cow that lived in 807 CE. At that time, a monk named Tokuichi was supervising the construction of Enzō-ji, a temple in Yanaizu, Fukushima. Upon the temple's completion, the akabeko gave its spirit to a Buddha, and its flesh immediately turned to stone. 

Another version of the tale claims that the cow instead refused to leave the temple grounds after construction had been completed and became a permanent fixture there. The red cow was called akabeko and became a symbol of zealous devotion to the Buddha. 

After Toyotomi Hideyoshi had solidified his power over Japan, his representative, Gamō Ujisato, was sent to be the lord of the Aizu region in 1590. At his new post, Ujisato heard the story of akabeko and ordered his court artisans, who had accompanied him from Kyoto, to create a toy based on the red cow. These early papier-mâché akabeko introduced most of the basic elements for which the toy is known. 

In the same period, Japan suffered a smallpox outbreak. People in Aizu noticed that children who owned akabeko toys did not seem to catch the illness. The akabeko's red colour may have enhanced this association, since red amulets are thought to protect against that illness. 

Akabeko toys became very popular as charms to ward off sickness, a superstition that persists in modern times. The toy has since become one of the few crafts from Fukushima Prefecture to be known all over Japan and a symbol of the Aizu area.