A mummified entity resembling a half-fish, half-human, or mermaid, with sharp teeth and huge hands, as well as a scaly tail, is a dummy of a kappa, a mythical water creature from Japanese folklore.
According to The Sun, the artifact will be presented in a gallery in the city of Yonezawa and will subsequently be auctioned. The event organizers note that the "mysterious skeleton" was found in an old house in Fukushima Prefecture, and the estimated price of the model is over two and a half million yen (approximately 16 thousand dollars).
This is not the first case of finding kappa mummies in Japan; such discoveries happen quite often. According to media reports, similar artifacts have been found more than ten times.
In February 2023, it was reported that Japanese scientists studied one of these eerie relics stored in a temple and concluded that the "mermaid mummy" is an artificially created object made of paper, cotton, fabric, fish bones, and other materials.
Who are kappas in Japanese folklore
According to Japanese legends, kappas (translated as "river child") are water spirits that inhabit the ponds and rivers of the country. They are dangerous as they can drag people and animals into the water to drown them. These creatures are among the three main yōkai—supernatural beings in Japanese folklore, which include spirits, demons, shapeshifters, and other mystical beings.
Kappas are usually depicted as humanoid creatures the size of a child, with scales on their skin and webbed hands and feet, sometimes with a fish tail or turtle shell. On the top of their heads is a bowl filled with water, which grants them supernatural powers.
In some myths, kappas are portrayed as small, mischievous, yet dangerous creatures with green scales. They can lure people or animals into the water, play tricks on them, steal food, especially cucumbers, and challenge people to wrestling matches, particularly sumo.
However, if one asks a kappa for help properly, it can be useful, for example, saving a drowning person or assisting a fisherman with a catch. But if angered, the consequences can be dire.
A journey into the world of kappas is dedicated to the story by Japanese writer and Nobel Prize laureate Ryunosuke Akutagawa, "In the Land of Water Spirits," written from the perspective of a patient in a psychiatric clinic.
The post "A Creepy Mermaid Mummy Has Been Found Again in Japan" first appeared on K-News.
