The Akaname ("filth licker") appears in unwashed, dirty baths and bathhouses, licking up grime and mold with a long, sticky tongue. It is told to lurk, small and grotesque, in the dim corners of the bath.
Rather than harming people directly, it functions as a warning against slovenliness — a creature woven into daily life. That a lesson to keep the bath clean is passed down in the shape of a monster shows how closely Japanese yokai cling to the everyday.