Dream-eaters have a body like a bear, a nose like an elephant, eyes like a rhinoceros, a tail like a cow and legs like a tiger. It is said that when God created animals, he created tapirs with the remaining half.
In China, there is no description of tapirs having nightmares. It is said that using the hair of tapirs as cushions or bedding can avoid diseases and bad luck, and there is also the custom of painting tapirs to ward off evil spirits. In the Tang Dynasty, tapirs were painted on the screen. After this folk belief spread to Japan, it was thought that "avoiding nightmares" was interpreted as "eating bad luck".
In the book Six Classics of the Tang Dynasty, a god named "Mohji" ate the description of a dream, and there is another saying that it was confused with tapirs. However, there is no so-called "Mochi" in the Six Classics of the Tang Dynasty, but "Birch Tree Dreaming for Food", which is one of the lyrics sung by the singers when the imperial court held a big Nuo sacrifice in winter, and the lyrics sung by this big Nuo sacrifice are also recorded in the later Han Dynasty. So the so-called "Mocky" is just a rumor.
At the end of Muromachi era in Japan, the portraits and characters of tapirs were regarded as auspicious things. In the first month, in order to have a good first dream, a picture of a treasure boat was placed under the pillow, and in order to be eaten by tapirs even if they had nightmares, it was a custom to write "tapirs" on the sails. In the Edo era, tapirs' brands were painted as auspicious logistics lines, and pictures of tapirs were also painted on box pillows to make tapirs-shaped "tapirs pillows".
In addition, a similar creature appeared in the first 19 episode of the early Japanese anime Blue Duma. But actually, according to the description, this kind of thing called "dark tapir" is different from the tapir in Japanese legend in China, and it is made by modifying some settings on the basis of the tapir in Japanese legend.