The Baku is a dream-eating spirit from Chinese and Japanese myth. While it is usually portrayed as a tapir in modern depictions, the baku was originally a chimerical creature. The earliest known description of it describes it as a shy creature with an elephant's trunk, rhinoceros eyes, an ox tail, a bear's body and tiger paws. In this form, it has yellow and black colouration. However, it has also been shown as a tiger with horns and an elephant's head, and, more rarely, a nine-tailed…
