Madam Mythos
Japan
Kappa
One tactic for defeating a kappa in sumo is simply to bow beforehand; when the kappa bows in response, it spills its strength-giving liquid from the saucer on its head.
Michael Dylan Foster
The Book of Yokai
Origins
Ancient Japanese folklore
Home
rivers, ponds and swamps
Alias
Kawataro
Alias
Kawataro
The Legend
The kappa is a mischeivious and sometimes murderous water spirit, who enjoys pulling livestock into bodies of water and drowning them. Another hobby that it enjoys is grabbing humans, especially childern from river banks, submerging them, and removing their internal organs from their anuses. This spirit enjoys dining on melons, eggplants, and most of all, cucumbers. It is not advised to go swimming in kappa-infested waters after eating cucumbers, as it may inspire their organ-harvesting proclivities. In Shinto Buddhism, the kappa is seen as less of a rude goblin and more as a water god. Offerings of cucumbers are often left at Shinto shrines, in order to appease these creatures, so that they might grant favorable river conditions.
Physical Description
The kappa is child-like in both size and shape, yet imbued with incredible strength. In some accounts, it bears likeness to a monkey, but sometimes it is more turtle-like. Typically, it is depicted with a turtle beak and shell, slimy green skin and no fewer than three buttholes. It also has a circular indentation on the top of its head in which it stores water. If the water is spilled, then the kappa is said to lose it’s super-strength.
