Funayūrei, the Drowned with Ladles

The myth

Funayūrei are the ghosts of those who died at sea. In the folklore of fishing communities they appear on foggy or stormy nights, sometimes as a ghost ship, and surround boats asking for a ladle, the hishaku, or a bucket. Given a whole one, they fill it with water and sink the boat. So fishermen carried a bottomless ladle, or knocked the bottom out of a bucket before handing it over. Lafcadio Hearn recorded the belief in Izumo: on the closing night of Obon the dead return across the sea and ask late boats for buckets.

Why it has this power

A Common level-3 Water Undead with 1000 ATK and 900 DEF: persistent ghosts who attack in numbers. Water, Moon and Leviathan are the night sea where they were lost. Fused with any Serpent, they give rise to Umibōzu, the giant monk of the black sea.

Did you know

Hearn tells that in Izumo no fisherman went to sea the day after Obon, called Hotoke-umi, the tide of the returning dead.

Connections

• Fuses into: + Serpent → Umibōzu, the Black Sea Monk
• In Aiko, Dojo Apprentice's deck
• In Kenji, Kamo River Fisherman's deck
• In Renji, Ronin of the Snowy Roads's deck

Where to get it

• Daily Offering: 0% per pack (Common 64% per card)
• Welcome Pack: 0.97% per pack (Common 70% per card)
• Traveler's Pack: 0.88% per pack · 5.2% in the themed pack (Common 64% per card)
• Bronze Reliquary: 0.86% per pack · 5.1% in the themed pack (Common 62% per card)
• Silver Reliquary: 0.67% per pack · 4% in the themed pack (Common 49% per card)
• Golden Reliquary: 0.46% per pack · 2.7% in the themed pack (Common 33% per card)
• Daily Showcase: Shows up on about 0.69% of days · 150 gold
• Craft with card dust: 40 dust
• Crossing of Myths: Can be offered as a reward during a crossing (the card stays in the crossing deck).

Sources

1. Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan: Second Series (Project Gutenberg) — Lafcadio Hearn
2. Kaii・Yōkai Denshō Database (folklore of strange phenomena and yōkai) — International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken)