 There's the theory that in the countryside in the past, unrefined materials like fish oil were used, so when cats licked the lamps, they might have looked like an abura-akago (baby licking an oil lamp).Resembling this interpretation, in the book "Tōhoku Kaidan no Tabi" by the novelist Yamada Norio, a collection of kaidan, there was one Akita Prefecture kaidan titled "abura-name akago" (oil-licking baby) in which a baby-carrying woman in Akida stayed at the house of a shōya, and there the baby sucked completely dry all the oil of a lantern.Specialists have pointed out that "Tōhoku Kaidan no Tabi" includes many Sekien-created yōkai that have not originated from folklore, leading to the theory that this "abura-name akago" was also created based on Sekien's abura-akago.