陽の亀積
ようのかめしゃく

Translation: yang turtle shaku (a type of infection)
Habitat: the stomach

Appearance: Yō no kameshaku resemble turtles with speckled red shells with a circular pattern on the top. They have a blue umbrella-like growth on their heads which protects them against any medicines that their host might ingest.

Behavior: Yō no kameshaku feed upon cooked rice that their host eats. The host stays thin no matter how much they eat.

Interactions:To extermine yō no kameshaku, there is no treatment more effective than eating the peas of the pongam oiltree (Millettia pinnata).

The pongam tree’s effectiveness is not due to any medicinal properties, but to something more like a curse. To be eaten, the peas of the pongam tree must be removed from their shells. The pea then carries the residual memory of being removed. Upon eating a pea, a kameshaku absorbs that memory. Because their blue umbrella-like growth resembles the shell of a pongam tree’s pea, the kameshaku is overcome with the desire to remove its umbrella. Once this happens, the kameshaku loses its resistance to medicine. The host can then be cured by ordinary medicine.