Kappa (folklore)
In Japanese folklore, the ' is a familiar type of water monster, considered one of three major yōkai
Kappa'' are said to be inhabiting the ponds and rivers of Japan. It is also known by various local names, including.
The had been dangerous mankillers that drowned people, also targeting horses and cattle to be dragged into water. Later, they came to be depicted as mischievous beings which get punished, and in exchange of forgiveness, gratefully performed labor, or revealed a secret medicinal recipe.
Accounts typically depict them as green, slimy, human-like beings with webbed hands and feet and turtle-like carapaces on their backs. A depression on the head, called a "dish", retains water, and if this receptacle is damaged or if its liquid is spilled or dried, a becomes severely weakened.
The favor cucumbers and love to engage in sumo-wrestling. They are often accused of assaulting humans in water and removing a mythical organ called the from their victim's anus.
Nomenclature
The name kappa is a contraction of the compound from kawa "river" and "child, boy", or of, from . Another translation of kappa is "water-sprite".In earlier times, there was a clearer demarcation in terminology, where the creature tended to be known as kappa in the east and known rather as ' in the west from 18th century literature.
The kappa are also known regionally by at least eighty other names. Among older literature, the lists several local names such as gawara in Etchū Province. Ono Ranzan's Honzōkōmoku keimō also listed about 20 local names.
Alternate names close to the standard include: or ; ' ; ' ; kawatarō; '; ' ; ; kawara ; ; kawakoboshi ; ; ; kawawarō.
The form occurs widely in the Chūgoku region and perimeter of the Seto Inland Sea, but it is often heard pronounced as '. The form kawako has also been used in Izumo Province and recorded by Lafcadio Hearn who was based in that area.
The form gatarō used in Fukusaki according to Kunio Yanagita's memory from his birthplace. He also heard from an acquaintance that the local name was kamuro, kawakamuro in Akashi not far from hometown, and spent a lifetime trying to corroborate it, but to no avail.
In Tosa Province, it has been called gatarō, kadarō, or kataro.
The alternate name is localized around Kurume, Fukuoka.
The kappa was also known by simian-sounding names such as enkō or var. enko, These name derive from meaning "apes and monkeys", and in the modern age where these names are current, the local lore had reported these creature to be ape-like. Ironically it is also said that the kappa and the ape-kind are mortal enemies.
Some regions employ the term suiko with widespread examples from Tōhoku region to Kyūshū. In the local water deity worship found in Aomori Prefecture, the or "Exalted Water Tiger" is the deified form of the kappa. In the Tsugaru dialect, the pronunciation of this deity is corrupted to Osshiko-sama. During the Edo Period, it was commonplace to use suiko as a stilted sinitic translation for kappa.
In Ehime Prefecture, the kappa is sometimes called , which is usually the term for 'otter'. It is also called kawauso as well as kawako in a version of the tale from Shimane Prefecture.
In some areas, the kappa is called by the same name as the soft-shell turtle, namely: game ; dochigame ; dangame. Thus in these places, the terrapin-based names are a giveaway that the kappa is locally considered to be very turtle-like.
The terms dochirobe, game, and dochi are used interchangeably in the area of Gifu, Toyama, and Ishikawa Prefectures. This dochirobe is reputedly a red-bellied creature with lush flowing tail, but when it attains 1000 years of age transforms into a full-fledged kappa, known locally as Kārabōzu, whose head resembles the reddish apish creature with a shōjō-like face and a saucer atop its head to hold water, but otherwise more or less human-shaped. In Gifu Prefecture, their kawaranbe is distinguished from the dochi which is considered an almost-kappa. Another variant name of this group is the aforementioned dochigame.
The kappa is also called komahiki, meaning "steed-puller", attested locally around the Matsumae region, from the kappas reputed practice of trying to drag horses into water.
Similar creatures
Akin to the kappa are the local versions called the hyōsube in southern Kyūshū, as well as the of northern Tōhoku region. The name medochi and variants are grouped together as names derving from mizuchi, a mythical water-serpent or dragon. Of these, the subtype dochi was already discussed above.There are also the Wakayama Prefecture version called and the Ibaraki Prefecture version.
A is the winter-time transformation of the kappa according to the folklore of Kyūshū, where it is said that the creatures remove themselves into the mountains during the cold climate and returning to the rivers in the spring. The of the Amami Islands also exhibits this wintering behavior, and in the illustrated commentary of the creature in the, it is equated to the kawatarō and yamawaro.
In Shimominochi District, Nagano, the local version of kappa is called sēshin or sējin which is apparently a corruption of suijin.
Appearance and traits
The currently popularized image of the kappa describes it as roughly humanoid in form and about the size of a child.They are typically greenish in color.
They often have a pointed or beaked mouth. They are also usually equipped with webbed hands and feet, and bears a turtle-like carapace on their back.
Head dish
They have an indentation atop their head to retain water even when they venture on land, and when the water is full, they exhibit mighty strength, but if the water spills, the kappa is weakened, or it may even die. From around their bald depression, strands of long hair hang down.is one early work that refers to the strategy of upsetting the water in the dish in order to weaken the kappa to facilitate its capture.
Sliminess and odor
Kappa are said to be slick or slimy, and smell gamy or fishy.Their gaminess is referred to in , which states that "the gaminess saturates the nose, and trying to stab it with a wakizashi fails to hit, and since the body is covered in slime, it is difficult to capture". But even though sword cuts fail to deliver wounds to it, a sharpened hemp-shaft will penetrate it, according to the dictionary.
Joined arms
According to some accounts, a kappa's arms are connected to each other through the torso and can slide from one side to the other. That is to say, if one tugs on one arm, the other arm begins to shrink, and even come loose and fall straight out.It has been conjectured that this is an introduced piece of lore taken from fabulous Chinese descriptions concerning the gibbon.
Apish subtypes
As aforementioned, the ape-like form has survived in folklore into the modern age in the Chūgoku and Shikoku regions where the enkō nickname has remained current. The enkō-type kappa is based on ape, but endowed with river-dwelling characteristics; this relationship is somewhat analogous to the Kyūshū region lore of the mountain spirit becoming the river-dwelling kappa, called either kawawaro or hyōsubo depending on zone.Behavior
Kappa are regarded as dwelling in some body of water, a river, pond, swamp, pool, sometimes even salt water.Though sometimes menacing, they may also behave amicably towards humans. Their actions range from comparatively minor misdemeanors, such as looking up women's kimono if they venture too near to water, to outright malevolence, such as drowning people and animals, kidnapping children, raping women and at times eating human flesh.
As for the menacing part, kappa have been go-to monster to be blamed for any drownings, and were often said to try to lure people into water and pull them in with their great skill at wrestling. They are sometimes said to take their victims 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, which is located inside the anus. Kappa have been used to warn children of the dangers lurking in rivers and lakes.
The more sinister view of them tended to be found in older literature, e.g. Kaibara Ekken, since gradually over the Edo Period, a more comical image of the kappa had developed. According to these older writings, humans who survived the kappa could still sustain some sort of a mental aftereffect like stupor or insanity.
Much of the known modern folklore concerning the kappa involves them bungling in their mischief and being punished, e.g., attempting a or stroking the backside of someone in the toilet, and getting its hand chopped off, or being captured. In return for forgiveness, they typically disclosed the recipe to the, or make apologetic vows of good behavior, submit a letter of apology, bring gifts of fish, or help out with work in the fields, etc..
Although the cliché is for the kappa to beg the return of its lost hand, there are "specimens" everywhere in Japan purporting to be the mummified hands of the kappa, including those said to have been cut off by someone long ago.
Grateful ''kappa''
Once befriended, kappa may perform any number of tasks for human beings.Medicine
Typically the kappa has its arm sliced off and delivers up a wonder medicine to treat sword injuries. It may be some other treatment, e.g. for , or for .Tales about obtaining secret medicine from the kappa is ubiquitous throughout Japan.
There are old families purporting to have the secret medicine or its recipe learned from a kappa by an ancestor throughout the country, e.g., the Kashima family of town, Anan, Tokushima. Or tell of bone-setting techniques, or other treatment methods learned from the kappa.
An old example is found in Haruna Tadanari's, which relates that in Sayō District in western Harima Province, the kappa, here called a, fails his attempt at horse-pulling, receives a sword-cut losing his right arm from a samurai, begs forgiveness, promises to cease with his misdeeds, and relinquishes the secret craft of the special bone-setting medicine, in ordered to have its severed arm restored.
Other regional examples are found from or.