Tuesday, June 03, 2014

Japanese water demon "bones" to be displayed


Interestingly, the purported "bones" of a traditional Japanese water demon, the Kappa, are going on display in Japan. Because.

Purportedly, this one had been shot to death in 1818, although the more conventional method was just bowing to the Kappa or distracting it with cucumbers. The Kappa is a nasty piece of work though, sometimes mischievous, but when he's hungry, he's known to eat unfortunate victims by sucking innards and viscera out through the victim's anus. Ouch, and undignified.

Of course, this all also makes me wonder how Lovecraftian mythology regarding the Deep Ones of Innsmouth might get connected, and what a Lao story would involve, but that's something to contemplate another day.

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