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.

The Hannya is often seen characterized on Japanese masks.
©BloodyLexicon.com

Introduction

The hannya is a demonic woman with vampire-like qualities from Japanese lore. She is very jealous and is described as having two sharp horns poking from her head, eyes that are known to glare, and a large mouth. When opened, the mouth stretches from ear to ear. She eats children and drinks their blood. She is very popular and can be seen in many mask designs throughout Japan. The masks expression has her mouth open and is suppose to capture her anger and wrath. The oldest hannya mask is from 1558.

The Mask

When the mask is used in popular plays the coloration of the mask will depend on how angry she is. The redder her face the more angry she is. For example in a play known as Dodoji, which is a play about a woman who falls inlove with a priest from the Dodoji Temple, the hannya is very violent. She turns herself into an evil serpent and slithers up to the bell at the top of the temple. She wraps herself around it and eats it then turns against the priest and devours him as well. In other plays when she is not so angry her face is portrayed with a paler yellow mask.

Interesting Fact:

In modern day Japan when a wife gets angry or jealous the man will put his two index fingers out from his forehead to symbolize the hannya.

The Drunken Boy, from Japanese lore.
©BloodyLexicon.com

The Drunken Boy, from Japanese lore, is a demonic ogre that drinks the blood of his targets. He often wears red and tends to favor women as his victims. In medieval Japanese lore, a hero named Raiko disguises himself and gets into the Drunken Boy’s lair. Raiko finds the ogre and others sucking blood from young females. He then shows himself and decapitates the ogre. He takes the head back to Miyako (Kyoto) and saves the women.

The azure dragon, said to protect the east of Kyoto.

Aliases: Seiryuu (Japanese), Cheongryong (Korean)

The Azure Dragon, in Japan, is said to protect the east of Kyoto. There are three other spirits that protect cities. The north part of the city is protected by the Black Tortoise, the South is proctected by the Vermilion Bird, the west is protected by the White Tiger, and the center is protected by the Yellow Dragon. In the the Kiyomizu Temple,a temple in eastern Kyoto, there’s a statue of the Azure Dragon in the entrance. They say that when it’s nightfall the dragon statue is said to drink from the waterfall inside the temple, so each eary there is a ceremony held to worship the Azure Dragon. It is believed that He Suwen (Liao Dynasty’s prince) is the reincarnation of the Azure Dragon’s Star.