I came across this tale and thought it was perfect for japanesetales.com, it combines history and folklore.
Introduction
Heikegani (Heikepsis japonica) is a species of crab native to Japan, with a shell that has a pattern resembling a human face. Which people believe to be the face of an angry samurai, it’s commonly called the samurai crab. It’s believed the crabs are reincarnations of the Heike warriors defeated at the battle of Dan-no-Ura.
A Heikegani crab, with the face of an angry samurai on its shell.
Photo credit: Amusing Planet
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The Battle of Dan-no-Ura
The battle of Dan-no-Ura turned out to be a pivotal point in Japanese history. At the time the Taira clan (also known as the Heike) dominated Japanese politics (794-1185) during the Heian period with three other main clans, Fujiwara, Tachibana, and Minamoto.
Taira no Kiyomori rose to the position of Daijo Dajin (Great Minister of State) following his success at the Hogen Disturbance (1156) and the Heiji Rebellion (1160). Kiyomori managed to make his infant grandson Emperor Antoku in 1180, an act which led to the Genpei war (1180-85) and the Taira-Minamoto war.
In the final battle of the Genpei war, the Taira (Heike) and Minamoto clan (Genji) met on the Dan-no-Ura bay of Japan’s inland sea, on 24th April 1185.
The ruling Taira clan (Heike), was led by their child Emperor, Antoku, and his grandmother, Tokiko Taira. However, the Taira clan were massively outnumbered and faced defeat at the hands of the Minamoto clan, seeing this inevitable outcome Tokiko took the seven-year-old Emperor Antoku and descended into the waters of the Shimonoseki Straits, drowning the child emperor, rather than allowing him to be captured by the Minamoto’s. Seeing their emperor’s demise and the impending defeat most of the members and generals of the Taira clan followed their Emperor to the bottom of the sea.
This crucial battle was a cultural and political turning point in Japanese history. Minamoto Yoritomo became the first Shogun (military ruler) of Japan.
This began the seven centuries when Japan was ruled by warriors and Shoguns instead of Emperors.
The Samurai-faced crabs
So the folklore goes that the drowned Heike samurai warriors sunk to the bottom and the Heikegani crabs feasted on the remains of the samurai and their souls transferred, so they were reincarnated into the crabs, and their faces appeared on the shell of the crabs and they wander the seas of Japan looking to regain their Empire and their lost Emperor.
Photo Credit: Creation.com
Carl Sagan’s Theory
The famous American astronomer and author Carl Sagan had a theory about the Heikegani. He said the crabs which looked like they have human faces on were due to artificial selection, he proposed that the fishermen, if they caught a crab with a distinct face on the shell, would throw them back in respect to the fallen Heike warriors. This preserved the DNA of the crabs with samurai faces on while thinning the genetics of those without.
This sounds like a very logical theory, however, the Heike crabs are very small about 4cms/1.2 inches long, so they aren’t considered worth eating, so it isn’t worthwhile for the fishermen to go after these crabs.
Analysis of the shell shows that the face-like patterns are the result of connection points for muscle and ligament tissue.
Pareidolia
This is, of course, relevant to our tale of the Heikegani, when people see patterns in objects and link them to preconceived ideas that someone already holds and it’s just the brain’s way of trying to make sense of what it sees.
When I say look at this picture, do you see an angry samurais face, then you are more likely to see it.
“a situation in which someone sees a pattern or image of something that does not exist, for example, a face in a cloud”
(Cambridge Dictionary)
Final thoughts
I just think this is such an interesting tale involving a pivotal point in Japanese history, but also consists of the folklore aspect of the Heikegani (samurai crab)
Is it artificial selection, pareidolia, or the reincarnation of the Heike samurai warriors, you decide.
