Documentation of a Kappa, supposedly found during the 1800s in Japan.

Aliases: Kawataro (river boy), Kawako (river-child), Hyosube (variation of kappa, covered in hair)

Introduction

The kappa, from Japanese lore, is named after the famous river god, Kappa. The Japanese consider the Kappa one of many water gods, or suijin. The name Kappa itself means “river-child.” The Kappa is described a monkey figure who is about two to three feet tall, covered with green, yellow, or blue scales from head to toe, and equipped with a tortoise shell on his back. He has webbed feet and hands, a nose that resembles a beak, and sometimes he is depicted with pointed ears.

He has indentation on top of his skull-like head that looks like a bowl. It is filled with a weird clear jelly which is believed to be his source of power. He has short black hair that circles around the jelly-like indentation. They are expert swimmers and smell like fish. A variation of the Kappa is covered in hair and is called a Hyosube.

The Kappa is often found living in swampy areas or other bodies of water, such as ponds, lakes, and rivers. It is very vicious and enjoys taunting the living into deep water where they drown. Once the victim is trapped in the water and drowns, the Kappa will enter the human’s body through the anus where he drinks the blood and sucks on the entrails. It isn’t unusual if parts of the flesh are eaten as well. The Kappa also finds the liver irresistible. There is a known phenomena that when I a person dies a drowning death, their anus will often swell. The Japanese explained this as being caused the kappa.

The Kappa also loves pranks and is very mischievous. He will look up women’s kimonos, steal crops, steal children, and often passes gas quite loudly. Children are one of the kappa’s favorite meals, even though he will eat adults as well.

Scaring Away the Kappa

The Kappa can be scared away or confronted. The Kappa is afraid of fire and some villages will have a festival each year filled with fireworks to scare the spirits away. It can also be confronted by being polite. If someone comes face to face with the Kappa, one can bow and the Kappa will want to be polite back and bow in return. This will cause the Kappa to spill the jelly-like substance that is in his head. When the substance leaves his bowl, he cannot move and will stay in the bowed position until water from the river fills his head again. However, if a human refills the bowl, the Kappa will serve the human for the rest of its life.

The Kappa’s Missing Arm

In different folk tales about the kappa, it oftens tells the tale of a Kappa that loses an arm while attacking something. It then goes on a hunt for an arm and promises people different favors in exchange for an arm. It may promise not to attack local people anymore or teach people how to heal a sickness. They can also perform duties for humans such as farming, medicine, and bone setting, which is an ancient practice similar to chiropractic care or physical therapy.

The Kappa loves Cucumbers!

It is believed that the Kappa is interested with human civilization and can both speak and understand Japanese. They sometimes befriend humans and will exchange gifts such as cucumbers. They would rather eat cucumber than children. Many times if a family wanted to bathe in the waters which belonged to Kappas, they would write their names on cucumbers and throw them in the water to allow the family to bathe. There is even sushi filled with cucumber named Kappamaki, after the famous kappa.

Uses in Japanese Culture

There is an expression that the Japanese use today, they say “kappa no kawa nagare” which means “a kappa drowning in a river,” which refers to the idea that even a clever person can make a mistake.

Kappa, the Extraterrestrial

Kappa encounters have been recorded in South America along with UFO sightings. They are believed to be extraterrestrials. Eyewitnesses claim that they don’t take blood directly from humans, but can take energy, similar to the chupa-chupa attacks. People feel weak, anemic, and sometimes faint after the Kappa steals the energy from them.

Janus is often depicted as having two faces opposite of eachother.

Introduction

Janus (a.k.a. Ianus) is from Roman mythology and was considered the god of doorways, gates, beginning and ends. He is described as a man with two heads that are connected back to back so that the faces are opposite of each other. Legend has it that Janus was very hospice to the god Saturn, whom in return gave Janus the gift to see the future and the past. At one time him and Jana were a pair and were thought to be the most important gods, the sun and the moon. Many people made sacrifices to them before the other gods.

God of Beginnings

He was also considered the god of the beginning of the world and human life itself. Then he became associated with being the god of entrances, bridges, and gates, which were all named after him. Entrances were called “ianua” and bridges were known as “iani.” He became the symbol for time and future, since he could fortell the future and past. People around started to honor him at the beginning of harvest time, births, marriages, and other celebrations that were considered beginnings. The first month of the year, January, was named in his honor.

Janus as a Mortal

One legend says that Janus was once mortal and went to Latium and met Camese. They later got married and had a lot of children together. One of the most famous of their children was Tiberinus, the god of the Tiber River. After his wife died, he was the ruler and introduced the people to laws. This was known to as the Golden Age. He later married a nymph named Juturna and had a few children. Of of their children was Fons or Fontus, which was the god of springs or wells.

Cupidon, a work of art by french painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau.

Cupid (also known as Amor), from Roman mythology, is very commonly associated with Valentine’s day. But where did he come from? The name itself comes from the Latin word cupido, meaning desire. He is the son of god Mercury and the very popular goddess Venus. Cupid is known as the god of beauty and erotic love. He is closely related to the Greek Eros and the Hindu diety Kamadeva. Cupid is often described as a boy with wings and carries a bow with arrows. Usually he is seen as a young boy with a mischievous nature or sometimes he appears as a baby boy.

Cupid and Psyche

The most familiar version of cupid is from Metamorphoses by Lucius Apuleius. Venus was very jealous of princess Psyche (her name means “soul”), who was getting all of the attention from the people, whom all forgot to worship Venus. In rage, Venus demanded Cupid make Psyche fall in love with something awful. Cupid went to do as his mother asked, but when he went to approach her, she was so beautiful that he instantly fell in love with her.

As the days went by, Cupid would visit Psyche every night when she was asleep. He then would speak to her in the darkness and told her to never try to see him. Psyche told her sisters and they told her that Cupid was a monster. She tried to gaze at him and he became so angry and left. She then went and searched around the known world for him until at last the leader of the gods, Jupiter, who then gave Psyche the gift of immortality so that she could be with him. They were then brought together and had a daughter named Voluptas or Hedone, which means “pleasure.”

His Power

Cupid, like his mother was also worshipped, and was thought to be more powerful than his mother. It was said that he was dominant over all of the dead in Hades. In some different cults, it was believed that Night and Hell mated with Chaos which created both men and gods, and their offspring was Cupid. They believed the gods were the offspring of love.

In Artform

In art, Cupid is usually depicted as a nude young boy or sometimes wears a diaper if he is a baby. In some paintings his mother Venus is shown spanking him because he was often described as being mischievous.

Valentine’s day

He is a very popular symbol during Valentine’s Day. He is usually childlike or a baby with a diaper holding a bow and arrow. In some depictions his arrow tip is heart shaped and shoots people with arrows and makes people fall inlove or makes the inflicted want to become intimate.

Some believed that the arrows from Cupid would hit the person and “pierce” the heart with desire and longing. The “arrows wound” is an oxymoron and symbolizes pain and pleasure. The person becomes spellbound. In the ancient Greek Romance titled “Leucippe and Clitophon,” Cliophon describes love at first sight:

“As soon as I had seen her, I was lost. For Beauty’s wound is sharper than any weapon’s, and it runs through the eyes down to the soul. It is through the eye that love’s wound passes, and I now became a prey to a host of emotions.”

Interesting Fact

People can determine if someone is attractive in an average time about 0.13 seconds. They say that’s all the time it takes for Cupid’s arrows to take affect.