Kappa

Kappa also known as a "river child" or Kawatarō are legendary creatures, a type of water sprite found in Japanese folklore. In Shintō they are considered to be one of many suijin. A hair-covered variation of a Kappa is called a Hyōsube. Kappa are usually seen as mischievous troublemakers. Their pranks range from the relatively innocent, such as stealing toys, but the nastier meaner kappas do things such as drowning people and animals, kidnapping children, and raping women. As water monsters, kappa have been frequently blamed for drownings, and are often said to try to lure people to the water and pull them in. It was believed that if confronted with a kappa there was but one means of escape: Kappa, for one reason or another, obsess over being polite, so if you were to gesture a deep bow to a kappa it would more than likely return it. In doing so, the water kept in the lilypad-like bowl on their head would spill out and the kappa would be rendered unable to leave the bowed position until the bowl was refilled with water from the river in which it lived. If a human were to refill it, it was believed the kappa would serve them for all eternity. Once befriended, kappa have been known to perform any number of tasks for human beings, such as helping farmers fertelize their land. They are also highly knowledgeable of medicine, and legend states that they taught the art of bone setting to humankind. Due to these benevolent aspects, some shrines or paintings are dedicated to the worship of particularly helpful kappa.

Kappa

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