Shimzu Kon’s Kappa kawatarō, centered on a kappa child, was the first work to portray the yōkai as cute. Shimizu’s characters were instrumental in creating a kawaii image for kappa. His endearing version of the water-dwelling yōkai became a mascot for Tokyo Citizen’s Day on October 1 each year, and also appeared in commercials for snacks and sake. Shimizu Kon’s manga works Kappa kawatarō and Kappa tengoku (Kappa Heaven) were massive hits that instigated a kappa boom. While this was one stage in the development to the contemporary kappa, it was not until the 1950s that the creatures were portrayed as straightforwardly cute. They were depicted as comical figures, with their original terrifying nature, as seen in their tendency to drown unwary humans, considerably toned down. In the Edo period, kappa and other yōkai were characters in the illustrated books ( kusazōshi) that were the equivalent of today’s manga. (Courtesy Hyōgo Prefectural Museum of History) Cuter Kappa The main point I would like to stress here is that Edo-period ukiyo-e are the reason that people now think of kappa as green.Ī kappa (bottom right) modeled on a turtle in Katsushika Hokusai’s Hokusai manga (Sketches by Hokusai). There is almost no evidence of previous traditions for green kappa or connections with the amphibians, but their webbed feet and similarity in outline to young children, apart from the head, suggest that some artists chose frogs as convenient models for the imaginary creatures. Other ukiyo-e artists would sometimes color kappa bodies green, perhaps due to an association with frogs. Buoyed by printed materials, and especially visual media like ukiyo-e prints, what was once a minor variant nationwide soon established a new standard.įor example, Katsushika Hokusai followed Edo conventions in depicting kappa with pointed beaks, as well as shells and bodies like different kinds of turtle, in his Hokusai manga (Sketches by Hokusai) picture books. Just as with the word kappa, this was due to Edo influence. In the nineteenth century, however, kappa with turtle shells became predominant. The term kawarō for kappa is also found in the Japanese-Portuguese dictionary compiled by Jesuit missionaries in Nagasaki in 1603 it is defined as a monkeylike creature that lives in rivers. The fifteenth-century dictionary Kagakushū (Collection of Low Studies) describes how when otters become older, they turn into kawarō, which is the oldest reference on record to kappa. Kappa were also thought of as mammals like monkeys or otters until the eighteenth century, rather than reptiles or amphibians. The Edo variant kappa now became mainstream, just as Tokyo dialect became standard Japanese in modern times. In the nineteenth century, however, the rise of woodblock printing gave Edo (now Tokyo) an unassailable lead in publishing, which brought with it a complete cultural shift. Thus, at that time documents used the term kawatarō, with kappa noted only as a regional variation. Until the eighteenth century Kamigata was Japan’s cultural center. (Courtesy Hyōgo Prefectural Museum of History) The kappa is introduced under the name kawatarō in the 1715 encyclopedia Wakan sansai zue (Japanese-Chinese Illustrated Assemblage of the Three Components of the Universe), and looks like a hairy monkey. In Tōhoku, they were medochi, in Hokuriku mizushi, in Chūgoku and Shikoku enkō, and in Kyūshū hyōsube. In the Edo period (1603–1868), they were known as kawatarō or gataro in the Kamigata area around Kyoto and Osaka. Even the names of the creatures themselves once varied by region. Today’s idea of a kappa only coalesced fairly recently, from the nineteenth to the twentieth century, and it is quite remote from former traditions. Despite this monstrous activity, the kappa of today are often seen in cartoon form as cute and merely mischievous characters.Ī standard image of a kappa. Kappa live in rivers and ponds, where they catch hold of the feet of swimmers, dragging them to a watery death. On their backs, they have what looks like a turtle’s shell, and their hands and feet are webbed. They have smooth, circular dishes on their heads, with a kind of hair growing around it, and pointed beaks like birds, which are often yellow. This testifies to a powerful shared image in Japan of their appearance and characteristics.Ĭontemporary Japanese people typically visualize kappa as having green, hairless bodies shaped like that of a human child. The supernatural creatures abound in manga, anime, and other entertainment, but also appear in television commercials and as promotional mascots for local authorities. Kappa are among Japan’s most famous yōkai.
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