Huoshu

Common card · No. 261176

The huoshu or huo shu (火鼠), meaning fire rat or fire mouse, is a fantastical beast in Chinese tradition. The huoshu is said to dwell inside fire within incombustible trees growing in mountains in southern China. Cloth woven from its hair is said to became clean when burnt, and is thus equated with the item known as huo huan bu (火浣布) or "fire-laundered cloth", which is thought in reality to have been a type of asbestos cloth.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Terajima Ryōan (寺島良安), Public domain