Baku

These are creatures that devour dreams and nightmares. Baku watch over humans and act as a guardian spirits. They feed on the dreams – specifically bad dreams. Evil spirits and Yokai fear Baku and flee from them, avoiding areas inhabited by them. Therefore, health and good luck follow a Baku wherever it goes.

There are also stories that if a person wakes from a bad dream they can call out to a Baku and the repeat these words three times, "Baku-san, come eat my dream." The Baku will come and devour the nightmare, allowing the child to go back to sleep peacefully. But it must be done sparingly, because if a Baku remains hungry after eating a nightmare it will choose to eat one’s hopes and desires as well, leaving that person with an empty life. This in turn changes a Baku into one that eats good dreams making them a tainted creature needed of extermination as it would feed indiscriminately.

When it comes to appearances, legend has it that when the world was new and the gods were making the animals, the Baku was put together from the leftover bits and pieces at the end of creation. That is why it has such a bizarre appearance, and why it is considered a favorite of the gods. That’s why it won’t be odd to see a Baku with horns, long trunks, or big elephant feet. They’re constantly stuck in a perpetual human-beast form.