As part of Japanese Tales I intent to explore the interesting monsters of Japanese folklore, these are commonly called Yokai. In this article, we will look at The Kappa.
The meaning of Yokai – supernatural monster, spirit, and demon in Japanese folklore.
The Kappa is one of Japan’s most famous monsters it is an amphibious yokai demon or imp and lives in the rivers, lakes, ponds, waterways, and wells of Japan.
The translation of Kappa is a river-child of the words kawa (river) and wappa a variant of warawa (child).
Appearance
The appearance of the kappa varies from tradition to tradition and area to area, but typically kappa is the size of a small child, with scaly skin ranging in colors deep green to bright red, even blue. They resemble a cross between a turtle, monkey, and lizard. Kappa is often depicted as having a shell on their backs, similar to a turtle.
They are built for swimming so have webbed, hands and feet, and having a beck like a mouth which in some accounts contains rows of sharp teeth. Their elastic, waterproof skin is said to have a strong fish smell.
They have some unusual attributes such as they have three anuses, allowing them to pass wind three times as much gas as humans. In some accounts, its arms are said to be connected to each other through their body and can slide from one side to the other, so one arm will extend the over will contract.
I think the most unusual and well-known feature of a Kappa is that it has a cavity on its head called a Sara (dish, bowl) that retains water or some sort of liquid, which is regarded as the source of the Kappa’s power or life force and must be kept wet at all times, if the liquid is absent, the Kappa will be unable to move and in some cases even die.
The Hyosube is a hairy version of the Kappa, it has a tendency to enter people’s houses and use their bathtub, and due to them being very hairy leave a lot of hair behind.
Behaviour
The Kappa is betrayed as a mischievous creature that passes wind aloud and looks up the kimonos of women. They love sumo wrestling and games of skill like shogi.
On the hand they are known to perform outrageous violent acts such as drowning children, attacking people in the water for the purpose of drinking their blood, eating their livers or gaining power by taking their shirikodama, a mythical ball said to contain the soul, this is said to be located inside the anus.
Kappa’s have a hatred for cows and horses, at any opportunity will drag them into the water and drown them.
Interaction
In the water, Kappa’s are a formidable foe, but when they venture on to land, they have their weaknesses. As previously mention they have a cavity like a bowl of water on their head, this can be protected with a metal plate. Kappa’s are obsessed with politeness, so if a person makes a deep bow, it will return the gesture. This will cause the water/liquid to drain from its bowl, the kappa will be frozen in this position until the bowl is filled with water from the exact area of the river, where it lives.
The person who refills the bowl the kappa has to serve them, another weakness of the Kappa is that its arms can be easily pulled off, to get the arm back the kappa will offer favors or share knowledge for its return.
Unlike most Yokai kappa can speak Japanese and do perform good deeds, such as helping farmers irrigate their land. They have even been known to bring fresh fish to families.
They are also highly knowledgeable about medicine and are highly proficient at bone setting.
Food
The Kappa’s favorite food is cucumber, they love them so much if given them they are likely to do favors such as land irrigation and fishing for the farmer/villagers
They also enjoy natto (fermented soybeans), buckwheat noodles (soba) and Japanese eggplant (Nasu).
Possible origins of The Kappa
A grim legend of the origin on the Kappa is that families who did not want children or could not afford children would throw their newborn babies into the river. To stop children from going to the river to play and seeing the bodies, the parents would tell them about the evil Yokai (Kappa) lurking in the water.
Another origin story goes back to when the Portuguese were the only foreigners trading in Japan. The Portuguese monks had only the top portion of their head shaved, and wore long hooded robes that resembled the turtle shell. The word ‘capa’ is Portuguese for a monks’ habit and this could have evolved into the Japanese language.
Of course, it could just be a tale to scare/warn children of the danger of going near water like so many other countries.
However, to this day there are still sightings of strange creatures resembling the Kappa. So keep your eyes open when you are near rivers in Japan.
Proof of the existence of the Kappa?
A few years ago some mummified remains came to light, there seems to be an arm with a webbed hand and afoot.
The mummified remains were shown at a private residence in Miyazaki prefecture on the island of Kyushu.
The Miyakonijo Shimazu family claim that a kappa was shot on a riverbank in 1818.
The foot measures around 3 inches (8cms) and the arm 5 inches (15cms). I don’t believe any experts were allowed to examine the remains.
So skeptics and believers had the opportunity to view the mummified remains and make up their own minds if it was a legendary Kappa.
Photo Credit: hoaxorfact.com
This is not a unique case there are several other reported mummified Kappa remains, but most can be dismissed because it is known they were crafted by Edo period artists (1603-1867) using parts of animals including monkeys, owls even stingrays and various parts of other animals.
Matsuura Ichi Shuzo Brewery (Kappa Brewery)
While looking into the Kappa, I found this intriguing story of a mummified Kappa at Matsuura Ichi Shuzo (brewery).
The Brewery is located between Imari and Sasebo in Saga prefecture in northeast Kyushu.
The Matsuura Brewery was founded in 1716. It is a traditional brewery making award-winning Sake. Matsuura brewery is open to the public, so you can view the Sake making process. To make Japanese Sake, there has to be a supply of absolutely clean and fresh spring water (maybe a link to Kappa’s).
There is also another reason people visit this brewery, on an alter is displayed a mummified Kappa.
The origin story of the Kappa in the Brewery
The story goes that the brewery masters would pass down a message to their successors “we have something rare in this house”, over time the meaning was lost.
Then around 50 years ago the main roof of the brewery was being replaced, one of the carpenters came out saying “I found this wrapped up on top of a beam”. He produced a box that was old and battered and covered in a thick layer of dust, which was neatly tied up with string.
I imagine very tentatively the brewery master removed the lid, he was surprised to find a mysteriously-shaped mummified object. On examining the box further, he found some characters, it just said one-word Kappa.
The brewery master was convinced that this was what his ancestors had been talking about, and the Kappa had been protecting the brewery. He believed this so strongly that he built an altar worshipping the Kappa as a water god.
So to this day if you visit Matsuura Ichi Shuzo Brewery you can see the mummified Kappa remains on the altar.
The brewery has an immense collection of Kappa memorabilia, from posters, statues, drawings to stories of Kappa from around Japan.
If you are ever in Japan a visit to this sake brewery, you can experience and hopefully taste the excellent Sake and also look at the mummified Kappa remains and decide for yourself if the Kappa exists.
Please check out our article on The Oni – https://japanesetales.com/oni/
