Kiken! Wakinosawa - day 3, about 11am.
Danger - watch out! If you go in the water, the kappa will get you!
Among the most famous and popular of yōkai, the kappa is a creature that ranges over the whole of Japan, subject to a wide range of interpretations and kin to a whole tribe of strange aquatic goblins of similar design. But this little water monster is still consistantly known for some unique and often rather silly characteristics.
The first of these is the water-filled dish, or moist cap-like plate on top of its head. The water in the kappa's head provides it with its supernatural power, and if it dries up or spills the creature will lose its great strength or even become too weak to move. The kappa is very proud of its hydropowered brawn, and often challenges human beings to bouts of sumō wrestling. Clever people, however, will trick the kappa into bowing or doing a handstand before the match, and when the water has spilled from the kappa's head the the now-weakened water imp always loses, which makes the boastful creature very upset.
Another of the kappa's distinctive traits is its love of the humble cucumber. This affinity may have its origins in a custom of floating the year's first crop of cucumbers and eggplants (which kappa are also said to favor) into the local river in order to appease water gods and hungry ghosts. Swimming during auspicious days also puts you at risk of kappa attack, perhaps because the kappa will mistake you for these offerings3. In the Tōkyō area, at least, it was once said that if you write the name of your family on the first cucumber harvest and toss it into the river, it will stave off kappa attacks. But cucumbers, or rather the smell of them, are more universally seen as inviting the predations of kappa, and almost everywhere in Japan people warn against eating these vegetables before swimming. The ends of the cucumbers seem to be particularly attractive.
But while the kappa may love cucumbers, it does not merely pose a danger to people it mistakes for vegetables. The kappa also shows interest in the backsides of humans and other large animals, often seeking to pull the nourishing guts out through its victim's backside and devour them. Its favorite part of this is the human shirikodama, a fabled ball found near the anus and an item rivaling the cucumber on the kappa's list of favorite foods. The extraction of this element by kappa is said to cause the loosening of the anus in drowning victims. Stories of kappa pulling horses and children into rivers are very common. Read more.
Beware! The kappa is a really popular yokai, or spirit/imp/demon. Usually these signs just say take care, danger, there is water, a river here! Do not swim! However, this one has the added danger of the Kappa.
Kiken! Wakinosawa - day 3, about 11am.
Danger - watch out! If you go in the water, the kappa will get you!
Among the most famous and popular of yōkai, the kappa is a creature that ranges over the whole of Japan, subject to a wide range of interpretations and kin to a whole tribe of strange aquatic goblins of similar design. But this little water monster is still consistantly known for some unique and often rather silly characteristics.
The first of these is the water-filled dish, or moist cap-like plate on top of its head. The water in the kappa's head provides it with its supernatural power, and if it dries up or spills the creature will lose its great strength or even become too weak to move. The kappa is very proud of its hydropowered brawn, and often challenges human beings to bouts of sumō wrestling. Clever people, however, will trick the kappa into bowing or doing a handstand before the match, and when the water has spilled from the kappa's head the the now-weakened water imp always loses, which makes the boastful creature very upset.
Another of the kappa's distinctive traits is its love of the humble cucumber. This affinity may have its origins in a custom of floating the year's first crop of cucumbers and eggplants (which kappa are also said to favor) into the local river in order to appease water gods and hungry ghosts. Swimming during auspicious days also puts you at risk of kappa attack, perhaps because the kappa will mistake you for these offerings3. In the Tōkyō area, at least, it was once said that if you write the name of your family on the first cucumber harvest and toss it into the river, it will stave off kappa attacks. But cucumbers, or rather the smell of them, are more universally seen as inviting the predations of kappa, and almost everywhere in Japan people warn against eating these vegetables before swimming. The ends of the cucumbers seem to be particularly attractive.
But while the kappa may love cucumbers, it does not merely pose a danger to people it mistakes for vegetables. The kappa also shows interest in the backsides of humans and other large animals, often seeking to pull the nourishing guts out through its victim's backside and devour them. Its favorite part of this is the human shirikodama, a fabled ball found near the anus and an item rivaling the cucumber on the kappa's list of favorite foods. The extraction of this element by kappa is said to cause the loosening of the anus in drowning victims. Stories of kappa pulling horses and children into rivers are very common. Read more.
Beware! The kappa is a really popular yokai, or spirit/imp/demon. Usually these signs just say take care, danger, there is water, a river here! Do not swim! However, this one has the added danger of the Kappa.