人魚
にんぎょ

TRANSLATION: human fish; mermaid, merman
HABITAT: seas, oceans, and other large bodies of water
DIET: omnivorous; fish, seaweed, and other aquatic foods

APPEARANCE: Mermaids are known as ningyo in Japanese, but they are very different from the mermaids of Western tradition. Ningyo more closely resemble fish than humans, with a varying level of human-like features, ranging from just an ugly, deformed fish-like face, to an entire human torso with long, bony fingers and sharp claws. They can range in size from the size of a human child to the size of a large seal. Unlike the mermaids of the Atlantic and Mediterranean legends, ningyo from the Pacific and the Sea of Japan are hideous to behold, resembling more of an otherworldly nightmare than a seductive siren.

Mermaids resembling the breeds known throughout the West – with an attractive human torso and a piscine lower body – are not unheard of in the Japanese islands. Particularly since the end of the Edo period and the opening of Japan to the West, more and more Western-style Atlantic mermaids have been seen in Japanese waters. However, the most common Japanese mermaid is more beast than beauty.

INTERACTIONS: Ningyo sightings go back to the earliest written histories of Japan. The first recorded mermaid sightings in Japan are found in the Nihon Shoki, one of the oldest books of classical Japanese history, dating back to 619 CE. The flesh of a ningyo is believed to grant eternal life and youth to those who eat it, and thus it is the subject of many folk tales. However, it carries with it a danger that most people are not willing to risk. Ningyo can place a powerful curse on humans who try to wound or capture them, and some legends tell of entire towns that were swallowed by earthquakes or tidal waves after a foolish fisherman brought home a ningyo in one of his catches. While their grotesque appearance and supernatural powers make them an intriguing subject, they are best avoided at all costs.

磯撫で
いそなで

TRANSLATION: beach stroker
ALTERNATE NAMES: ō-kuchi-wani (giant mouthed sea monster)
HABITAT: shallow seas and coastal waters of West Japan
DIET: carnivorous

APPEARANCE: Isonade are mysterious shark-like sea monsters which scour the rocky coastlines searching for boats to scuttle and fishermen to snatch. Their bodies are enormous, and their fins are covered with countless tiny metallic barbs, like a grater. They use these to hook their prey, dragging it deep into the water to be eaten. They are said to appear when the north winds blow and the sea currents change.

BEHAVIOR: Despite their size, isonade are incredibly elusive. They move through the water with unparalleled grace. They can swim without creating so much as a splash, making them very difficult to notice. By the time most sailors have noticed that the winds have changed and a strange color is upon the sea, it is too late; a huge tail is already rising out of the water, above their heads. When isonade strike, they do not thrash about violently like a hungry shark, but instead hook their prey on their fins or tail with a gentle stroking motion, dragging them into the depths almost peacefully. They do this without a sound and without ever showing their bodies, making them all the more dangerous for their stealth.

塗佛
ぬりぼとけ

TRANSLATION: coated Buddha
HABITAT: poorly cared for family altars, run-down homes
DIET: none

APPEARANCE: Nuribotoke is a kind of grotesque zombie which creeps out of a butsudan that has been accidentally left open at night. It is a soft, flabby corpse-like spirit with oily black skin and a pungent smell. Trailing behind is a catfish-like tail connected to its spine. The most striking and disturbing feature is this spirit’s eyeballs, which dangle wildly from its eye sockets.

INTERACTIONS: Nuribotoke do not do much other than fly about, flapping their tails, and terrorizing the families whose butsudan they crawled out from. They dance about impishly, reveling in their ability to terrorize the living. Occasionally they try to trick foolish humans by giving false prophecies. They can be kept at bay by sprinkling salt on the floor, which they will avoid crossing. Nuribotoke return to their butsudan before sunrise, and they vanish altogether during the day. However, it is best to prevent their appearance altogether by never leaving a butsudan open at night.

ORIGIN: In most Japanese homes there is a large ornate wooden shrine called a butsudan. Inside are religious icons, scrolls, mantras, statues, and other holy items. It serves as the center of household spirituality, and the ancestors of a family are all enshrined in it. During the day, the butsudan stays open, and during holidays and special occasions it is treated like a member of the family, with offers of food and sake given to it. The doors to a butsudan are always closed at sunset; the butsudan is a gateway to the spirit world, and superstition warns that if it is left open at night, certain spirits can wander freely back and forth between the land of the living and the land of the dead. Nuribotoke is one of these spirits.

大鯰
おおなまず

TRANSLATION: giant catfish
ALTERNAtE NAMES: jishin namazu (earthquake catfish)
HABITAT: rivers, seas, oceans, and subterranean caverns
DIET: omnivorous

APPEARANCE: As their name suggests, ōnamazu are gigantic catfish which live in the muck and slime of the waterways around Japan. They also inhabit large caverns deep underground.

BEHAVIOR: Ōnamazu behave much like their smaller cousins. They dig in the muck, and thrash about when disturbed or excited. Due to their titanic mass, the thrashing of ōnamazu is considerably more violent than ordinary catfish, to the point where they are dangerous to humans. When these monstrous fish get excited, they shake the earth with their violent thrashing, causing devastating earthquakes in the areas near where they live.

INTERACTIONS: Ōnamazu do not normally interact with people, however during the Edo period they were popularly depicted in newspaper illustrations. Usually these pictures showed a huge, grotesque catfish being subdued by a large number of people, gods, or even other yokai, desperately trying to calm its thrashing.

ORIGIN: Long ago, common belief was that earthquakes were caused by large dragons which lived deep in the earth. During the Edo period, the idea of catfish causing earthquakes gradually began to displace dragons in popular lore as the origin of seismic activity. By the 1855 Great Ansei Earthquake, the ōnamazu had become the popular culprit to blame for earthquakes. This was due mostly to the hundreds of illustrations of thrashing catfish which accompanied newspapers reporting the news of that disaster. They were so popular they spawned an entire genre of woodblock print: namazu-e (catfish pictures).

The reason catfish came to represent earthquakes was due to a large number of witnesses observing catfish behaving oddly—thrashing about violently for seemingly no reason—just before the earthquake. Rumor quickly spread that that catfish had some kind of ability to foresee the coming disaster. Since then, the catfish has regularly appeared as a symbol for earthquakes—either as the cause or as a warning sign of the coming disaster. Recent studies have shown that catfish are in fact very electrosensitive and do become significantly more active shortly before an earthquake hits—showing that there is more to this myth than meets the eye!

LEGENDS: The Kashima Shrine in Ibaraki prefecture is the source of a famous story about ōnamazu. The deity of the shrine, a patron deity of martial arts named Takemikazuchi, is said to have subdued an ōnamazu. He pinned it down underneath the shrine, piercing its head and tail with a sacred stone which still remains in the shrine today—the top of the stone protrudes from the ground. Earthquakes that take place during the 10th month of the lunar calendar—”the godless month,” when the gods all travel to Izumo—are said to be due to Takemikazuchi’s absence from the shrine.

During the 2011 Tōhoku disaster, the Kashima Shrine was badly damaged by an earthquake. The large stone gate was destroyed, stone lanterns were knocked down, and the water level in the reflecting pond changed. The gate was rebuilt in 2014.

イクチ

TRANSLATION: none; just the name for this monster
ALTERNATE NAMES: ayakashi, ikuji
HABITAT: open seas
DIET: unknown; but it is big enough to eat anything it wants

APPEARANCE: Ikuchi are colossal sea monsters that roam the open seas off the coasts of Japan. They appear in numerous stories from the Edo period, where they are described as enormous fish or monstrous serpents of some kind. Their bodies are covered in a slippery oil, which sheds as they swim the ocean.

INTERACTIONS: When an ikuchi’s path crosses a boat’s, the sea monster envelopes the boat in its tentacle-like body. It slithers over the sides and across the deck, slowly sliding its whole body over the boat. Ikuchi are so long—many kilometers, by some accounts—that it can take hours for an entire one to slither over a boat. On a few occasions, boats have been tangled up in this monster for days. During this time, sailors must constantly bail the monster’s oily slime off of the deck to avoid being capsized by the heavy goo.

ORIGIN: An ikuchi is depicted in Toriyama Sekien’s bestiary Konjaku Hyakki Shūi, where it is called ayakashi. This yōkai is often referred to by that name. Ayakashi is more commonly used as a term for other strange creatures and supernatural phenomena and has nothing in particular to do with ikuchi. Toriyama Sekien may have just been listing the ikuchi as an example of an ayakashi. For whatever reason the name stuck.

雨鱒
アメマス

TRANSLATION: white-spotted char; literally “rain trout”
HABITAT: cold streams and lakes, occasionally seagoing
DIET: carnivorous, ranging from small fish and plankton up to and including large boats

APPEARANCE: Amemasu is the Japanese name for the white-spotted char (Salvelinus leucomaenis leucomaenis), a species of trout which is found in Northeast Asia. They are a popular target of game fishing and are also raised in fisheries.

BEHAVIOR: Amemasu spend most of their lives in the water, away from humans. They are found mostly in rivers and streams, but seagoing varieties exist as well. They are more common in Hokkaido, the northern parts of Honshu, and along the Sea of Japan—however legends of amemasu are occasionally found in the southern parts of Japan as well. They feed on whatever they can eat—from plankton to insects, to fish and any other aquatic lifeforms they can fit into their mouths. Yōkai amemasu can grow to colossal sizes, sometimes spanning an entire lake from head to tail. These giant amemasu also occasionally thrash and sink ships, devouring any poor souls who happened to be on the ship. In Ainu folklore, the wild thrashing of giant amemasu is believed to be what causes earthquakes—much like giant catfish are thought to cause earthquakes in the rest of Japan.

INTERACTIONS:  Amemasu can transform into human shape and walk about on land. They usually take the form of young, beautiful women in order to seduce young men. Shape-changed amemasu can be identified by their skin, which feels cold and clammy like that of a fish.

LEGENDS: A number of lakes in Hokkaido are believed to be the home of giant amemasu. According to Ainu folklore, these amemasu are thought to be the guardian deities of their respective lakes. Lake Mashū is home to an amemasu the size of a whale. Lake Shikotsu contains an amemasu so large that its head touches one end of the lake and its tail touches the other.

A legend from Minabe, Wakayama Prefecture tells of a mysterious whirlpool that appeared in a deep pond. A giant amemasu lived in the pond. Every spring, she would emerge from the pond in the form of a beautiful woman. For two or three days she would catch young men and take them away—where to nobody knows, but they were never seen again. The only way to know that it was a fish and not a woman was from her cold, clammy skin. One day, a cormorant dove into the pond to go hunting. The giant amemasu swallowed the bird in a single gulp. However, after a short time, the amemasu’s body floated up to the surface of the pond, dead. The cormorant burst out of its stomach. A shrine was built at that spot to honor Konpira-san, which still stands today.

鮫人
こうじん

TRANSLATION: shark person
ALTERNATE NAMES: samebito
HABITAT: oceans; particularly the South China Sea
DIET: carnivorous

APPEARANCE: Kōjin are aquatic humanoids that closely resemble ningyo. Unlike the merfolk of Western legends, Asian merfolk are monstrous in appearance. Kōjin have black, scaly shark-like bodies, and ugly, human-like facial features and arms.

BEHAVIOR: Kōjin are native to the South China Sea, where they live a life similar to other merfolk. They are well known for their skill at weaving, and they spend much of their lives working on their looms. The sea silk that they weave is of the finest quality and doesn’t get wet even in the water. They are very emotional, and cry frequently. When they cry, pearls (or precious gems, by some accounts) fall from their eyes instead of tears.

ORIGIN: The kōjin is better known in the West by the alternate reading of its kanji—samebito. This is because of Lafcadio Hearn, who included a story about a samebito in his book of Japanese folk tales, Shadowings.

LEGENDS: Long ago, a man named Tawaraya Tōtarō lived on the shore of Lake Biwa. One day, he came across a strange looking creature crouching near the base of a bridge. It resembled a man, but its body was inky black, it had the face of a demon and the beard of a dragon, and its eyes were like green emeralds. Although Tōtarō was scared, the green eyes seemed gentle to him, and so he approached the creature. The creature introduced himself as a samebito. He had served as an officer under the Eight Great Dragon Kings in the dragon palace of Ryūgū-jō, but was banished from the palace and exiled from the sea due to a small mistake he had made. Since then, he had been wandering, unable to find food or shelter. He begged Tōtarō for help.

Tōtarō pitied the samebito. He took the samebito back to his home, where he had a small garden with a pond. He told the samebito that he could live there for as long as he wanted, and he could have as much food as he wanted to eat. For six months they lived together, and every day Tōtarō brought the samebito fresh food fit for a sea creature.

During the seventh month, Tōtarō went to a festival at Mii-dera, where a great pilgrimage of women had come. There, he met a woman of extraordinary beauty and refinement, with skin as white as snow, and a voice like a nightingale. Her name was Tamana, and Tōtarō fell in love with her at first sight. Totaro followed Tamana home, and discovered that she lived in the same town in which he had met the samebito. He also learned that she was unmarried, and that her family wanted her to marry a man of rank. They demanded as a betrothal gift a casket of ten thousand jewels from whomever wished to marry Tamana.

Tōtarō fell into despair, knowing that even if there were ten thousand jewels in all of Japan, he would never be able to procure them. Though it seemed impossible that he could ever make Tamana his wife, he could not get her lovely face and sweet voice out of his mind. It haunted him so much that he refused to eat or sleep, and became so ill that he could not even lift his head from his pillow. It seemed that he would die of a broken heart. The samebito, whom Tōtarō had cared for in his time of despair, entered the house to care for Tōtarō in his last days. Tōtarō apologized to the samebito, fearing that after his death, the samebito would lose his home and his means of survival, and would die as well. The samebito was so touched by Tōtarō’s compassion that he began to cry. Great tears of blood spilled from his green eyes and down his black cheeks, but by the time they hit the floor they had hardened into splendid rubies.

At this sight, Tōtarō instantly found new strength, and began to gather the jewels. The samebito, astonished at Tōtarō’s recovery, stopped crying. Of course, the flow of jewels also stopped. Tōtarō begged the samebito to continue crying until he had ten thousand jewels, but the samebito regretfully replied that he could only weep when he felt true grief in his heart. Seeing that Tōtarō’s sickness was cured, the samebito was filled with nothing but relief, and thus could not cry anymore. The samebito suggested that they visit the bridge where they had first met to reminisce, and perhaps he could cry again.

The next day, Tōtarō and the samebito visited the bridge. They ate fish and drank wine, and watched the setting sun. Seeing the sun set over the sparkling sea, and with a little help from the wine, the samebito thought about his former life in the sea and his happy days in the dragon palace. He was overcome with homesickness and began to weep profusely. A great shower of jewels covered the bridge. Tōtarō began gathering them up. When he had collected ten thousand jewels he shouted for joy. At the same moment, a delightful song was heard far away in the sea. Like a cloud, a glorious palace made of coral the color of the setting sun rose out of the water. The samebito leaped with joy. He explained to Tōtarō that the Eight Great Dragon Kings must have granted him amnesty and were calling him back home. He bade his farewell to Tōtarō, thankful for his kindness and their friendship, and then dove into the sea.

Tōtarō never saw the samebito again. He brought the casket of ten thousand jewels to Tamana’s family and presented them as a betrothal gift. Shortly after, Tōtarō and Tamana were married.

神社姫
じんじゃひめ

TRANSLATION: shrine princess
HABITAT: deep lakes and oceans
DIET: unknown

APPEARANCE: A jinja hime is a serpentine creature roughly six meters long. It has two horns on its head, a long tail, a dorsal fin, and flippers. Its face is that of a human woman. It resembles a ningyo, the Japanese mermaid.

BEHAVIOR: Jinja hime spend most of their lives underwater, and as a result rarely interact with humans. They are the servants of Ryūgū, the palace of the sea dragon king.

ORIGIN: Jinja hime was first sighted in Hizen Province (present-day Saga and Nagasaki Prefectures) in 1819 by the Edo period scholar Katō Ebian. He recorded the encounter in his book Waga koromo. According to Katō, he encountered a fish-like creature on a beach in Hizen. The creature spoke to him: “I am a messenger from Ryūgū, called jinja hime. For the next seven years there will be a bumper crop. After that, there will be an epidemic of cholera. However, those who see my picture will be able to avoid hardship, and instead will have long life.” After delivering her prophecy, the jinja hime disappeared into the sea. Katō printed an illustration of the jinja hime in Waga koromo so that all could see it and be protected.

The news of the jinja hime and her prognostication became so popular that it spawned numerous copycat stories across Japan. Not long after the sighting of jinja hime, stories about other yokai with foresight, such as kudan and amabie, began popping up all over Japan. Jinja hime is thought to be the basis for all of these stories.

The giant oarfish strongly resembles the size and description of jinja hime. Its name in Japanese is ryūgū no tsukai, which means “servant of Ryūgū.”

鯱
しゃちほこ

TRANSLATION: fish-tiger
ALTERNATE NAMES: shachi
HABITAT: oceans
DIET: carnivorous

APPEARANCE: Shachihoko are fearsome sea monsters. They have the body of a large fish and the head of a tiger. Their broad fins and tails always point towards the heavens, and their dorsal fins have numerous sharp spikes. Shachihoko live in colder, norther oceans. They are able to swallow massive amounts of water with a single gulp and hold it in their bellies. They are also able to summon clouds and control the rain.

INTERACTIONS: Shachihoko are often found adorning the rooftops of Japanese castles, temples, gates, and samurai residences. They are placed facing each other on opposite ends of a roof. They serve as protector spirits, similar to the oni roof tiles also commonly found on castles. It was believed that in the event of a fire, the shachihoko could protect the building by summoning rain clouds or by spitting out the massive amounts of water they had previously swallowed.

ORIGIN: Shachihoko as an element of construction evolved from shibi, large, ornamental roof end tiles. Shibi originated in China during the Jin dynasty and were popularized in Japan during the Nara and Heian periods. During the Sengoku period, when castles rapidly began appearing all over Japan, shibi were reimagined as large fish, and the image of the shachihoko was popularized. From them on, shachihoko remained popular elements of Japanese roof construction.

The shachihoko’s origins may go even further back, to India. In Hindu mythology, there is a large sea monster named Makara who is half-fish and half-beast (sometimes depicted as an elephant, a deer, a crocodile, or another animal). Makara was a powerful protector and servant of various deities. Images of Makara were commonly used in temple architecture, particularly over archways and doorways, or as rain spouts. Japanese versions of Makara tend to resemble the shachihoko more than they resemble the original Hindu creature.

Today, the Japanese word for the orca is shachi—no doubt because of its similarity to this creature.

アマビエ
あまびえ

TRANSLATION: unknown; possibly a misspelling of “amabiko”
HABITAT: oceans
DIET: unknown

APPEARANCE: Amabie is a mermaid-like yōkai with a mixture of human and fish features. It has long hair and a scaly body. It has a beak-like mouth, and three legs. It glows with a bright light that can be seen from the shore. They are auspicious yōkai—keeping a picture of an amabie can protect you from disease.

ORIGIN: Little is known of the amabie’s characteristics. However, its story is very similar to other prophetic yōkai such as jinja hime and kudan, which deliver a prognostication and then disappear. These yōkai began appearing during a period when diseases like cholera were killing people all over the world. Images of protector yōkai that could be used as charms against sicknesses were in high demand. It is very possible that amabie was a sort of copycat yōkai, following the trends of the time.

The origin of the name amabie is a mystery. There is only one record of amabie in existence, and it appears very similar to another yokai with a similar name: amabiko. There are numerous recorded amabiko sightings, and all of them are minor variations on the same theme: a three-legged creature that appears on the water to deliver a prophecy about abundant harvests and disease. Similarly, amabiko instructs people to spread its image around to protect them from the disease. “Amabie” may have been a simple typographical error, or else it may be a regional variation of the amabiko.

LEGENDS: The only recorded sighting of an amabie comes from Higo Province (present-day Kumamoto prefecture) in April of 1846. For some nights in a row, a bright light could be seen in the waters off shore. One night, a government official went out to see to investigate the strange light. When he approached, a strange creature appeared to him. The creature introduced itself as an amabie. It told the government official that a six-year bumper crop was coming. It also said that should there be an outbreak of disease, he should immediately show the amabie’s picture to people everywhere, as it would protect them against harm. After that, the creature returned to the sea. Shortly after, the amabie’s story along with a woodblock print image of it was featured in the newspaper to be distributed to as many people as possible.

鳳魚
ほうそうぎょ

TRANSLATION: unknown; possibly “red phoenix fish”
HABITAT: oceans and coastal areas in eastern Japan
DIET: unknown

APPEARANCE: Hōsōgyo are kaigyo (strange fish) which live in the waters around Japan. Overall they resemble shrimp, however they have heads like a shōjō (an aquatic yokai which resembles an orangutan), faces like that of a horse or a cat, and four large fins which resemble arms and legs. Their eyes look like large bells, and their bellies are golden and sparkling.

BEHAVIOR: Hōsōgyo spend their days swimming about in the ocean like normal fish. During the night, they climb up from out of the sea and remain on the land until morning.

INTERACTIONS: Because of their habitat, hōsōgyo rarely interact with humans. Very little is known about them. A hōsōgyo was reportedly discovered in June of 1838 on the beach of Uraga, Sagami Province. It was captured alive and quickly became a popular misemono sideshow attraction.

ORIGIN: When the name hōsōgyo was first written down, the kanji for the second part of its name (sō) was written with an invented character which combined the words for red (赤) and appearance (相). Although it’s hard to say what the original author had in mind, it’s possible that the fish’s strange appearance reminded people of the hōō. Or perhaps the name was chosen to make it more appealing as a sideshow attraction.

The only place this unique character appears is in hōsōgyo’s name. It is not a part of Unicode. As a result, it is displayed as an image instead of a font on this website.

豊年魚
ほうねんぎょ

TRANSLATION: fruitful year fish
ALTERNATE NAMES: kaigyo (strange fish)
HABITAT: rivers
DIET: unknown; probably carnivorous

APPEARANCE: Hōnengyo are strange fish or amphibian yōkai which occasionally appear in rivers. They can grow quite to be large—at least over two meters long. Their bodies are long and flexible like a weasel’s, and they are covered in scales like a snake. They have legs like a turtle, and their eyes are like mirrors. They have black. spiked dorsal fins, and mosses and river grasses are often found attached to their massive bodies.

BEHAVIOR: Hōnengyo spend their lives away from humans, deep in rivers, and thus very little is known about their natural life cycle or behavior. They are only seen when they are accidentally caught by fishermen, or when they surface unexpectedly.

INTERACTIONS: Occasionally hōnengyo wash up on riverbanks in large cities, attracting lots of attention from locals. They have historically appeared just prior to years with bountiful catches, and it is believed that their appearance is a good omen of fortunes to come.

ORIGIN: The most famous hōnengyo sighting occurred in 1866. A strange fish was discovered on the bank of the Yodo River in Osaka. The story and a colorful illustration were widely circulated in the newspapers. The creature measured 7 shaku and 5 sun (between 2 and 3 meters) long. It weighed in at 20 kanme (about 70 kilograms). The article reported that in the past, when similar strange fish were discovered, their appearance was followed by several years of prosperity. Hoping that the appearance of this creature was an auspicious sign, the newspapers dubbed the creature “hōnengyo.”

Although it is referred to as a fish, its description and illustration more closely resemble an enormous amphibian or aquatic mammal. The Japanese giant salamander (Andrias japonicus) can grow up to 1.5 meters long and lives in rivers. It has been speculated that the hōnengyo of the Yodo River may have been a giant salamander which wandered down from the mountains, or a seal which wandered up from the ocean.

Hōnengyo has also gained attention due to the Edo Period illustration’s similarity to the Shōwa Era movie monster Godzilla, who appeared in theaters almost 90 years after hōnengyo’s newspaper debut.

悪魚
あくぎょ

TRANSLATION: evil fish
ALTERNATE NAMES: daigyo (giant fish)
HABITAT: open seas
DIET: carnivorous

APPEARANCE: Akugyo are an enormous species of mermaid found in the waters surrounding Japan. Their head and arms resemble those of human women, but the rest of their body is fish-like. They are covered in gold and silver scales, and they have two white horns on their head. They can spit fire from their mouths.

BEHAVIOR: Akugyo spend most of their time beneath the seas, so little is known of their natural behavior.

INTERACTIONS: Although akugyo sightings are rare, they are feared by fishermen nonetheless. Boats can get stuck on their large backs. Eventually the boats capsize, and the akugyo eats everyone who was on board.

LEGENDS: An akugyo was sighted in the Sea of Japan, off the coast of Echigo Province (present day Toyama Prefecture) in 1805. Its body was approximately 11 meters long, and its horns measured over 60 centimeters long. It was vanquished by Lord Matsudaira of Kaga, who sent 1500 men and 450 guns to slay it.

A famous taiko master from Kaga, Izutsuya Kanroku, was on a boat in the Sea of Japan when suddenly the boat stopped moving. It had gotten sailed over the back of an akugyo and gotten stuck. Kanroku was sure he was doomed. With nothing to do but wait for death, he played his with all of his remaining energy. He drummed so loud that the sound traveled across the sky and throughout the sea. His boat was shaken loose from the akugyo, and his life was saved.

人魚
にんぎょ

TRANSLATION: human fish; mermaid, merman
HABITAT: seas, oceans, and other large bodies of water
DIET: omnivorous; fish, seaweed, and other aquatic foods

APPEARANCE: Mermaids are known as ningyo in Japanese, but they are very different from the mermaids of Western tradition. Ningyo more closely resemble fish than humans, with a varying level of human-like features, ranging from just an ugly, deformed fish-like face, to an entire human torso with long, bony fingers and sharp claws. They can range in size from the size of a human child to the size of a large seal. Unlike the mermaids of the Atlantic and Mediterranean legends, ningyo from the Pacific and the Sea of Japan are hideous to behold, resembling more of an otherworldly nightmare than a seductive siren.

Mermaids resembling the breeds known throughout the West – with an attractive human torso and a piscine lower body – are not unheard of in the Japanese islands. Particularly since the end of the Edo period and the opening of Japan to the West, more and more Western-style Atlantic mermaids have been seen in Japanese waters. However, the most common Japanese mermaid is more beast than beauty.

INTERACTIONS: Ningyo sightings go back to the earliest written histories of Japan. The first recorded mermaid sightings in Japan are found in the Nihon Shoki, one of the oldest books of classical Japanese history, dating back to 619 CE. The flesh of a ningyo is believed to grant eternal life and youth to those who eat it, and thus it is the subject of many folk tales. However, it carries with it a danger that most people are not willing to risk. Ningyo can place a powerful curse on humans who try to wound or capture them, and some legends tell of entire towns that were swallowed by earthquakes or tidal waves after a foolish fisherman brought home a ningyo in one of his catches. While their grotesque appearance and supernatural powers make them an intriguing subject, they are best avoided at all costs.

磯撫で
いそなで

TRANSLATION: beach stroker
ALTERNATE NAMES: ō-kuchi-wani (giant mouthed sea monster)
HABITAT: shallow seas and coastal waters of West Japan
DIET: carnivorous

APPEARANCE: Isonade are mysterious shark-like sea monsters which scour the rocky coastlines searching for boats to scuttle and fishermen to snatch. Their bodies are enormous, and their fins are covered with countless tiny metallic barbs, like a grater. They use these to hook their prey, dragging it deep into the water to be eaten. They are said to appear when the north winds blow and the sea currents change.

BEHAVIOR: Despite their size, isonade are incredibly elusive. They move through the water with unparalleled grace. They can swim without creating so much as a splash, making them very difficult to notice. By the time most sailors have noticed that the winds have changed and a strange color is upon the sea, it is too late; a huge tail is already rising out of the water, above their heads. When isonade strike, they do not thrash about violently like a hungry shark, but instead hook their prey on their fins or tail with a gentle stroking motion, dragging them into the depths almost peacefully. They do this without a sound and without ever showing their bodies, making them all the more dangerous for their stealth.

神池姫
かみいけひめ

Translation: divine pond princess
Alternate names: himeuo (princess fish)
Habitat: oceans
Diet: unknown

Appearance: Kamiike hime are a kind of strange fish, or kaigyo. They are huge, with a body length of about 10.5 meters. They have the head of a woman, topped with a pair of antlers that are 1.5 meters long. Their head is also topped with black hair which grows to about 2.4 meters in length. Their tails hold three long swords, and the sides of their bellies are decorated with six round jewels; three on the left and three on the right.

Behavior: Kamiike hime live deep in the oceans, and little is known about their natural lives.

Interactions: They are prophetic, and when they do appear to humans it is in order to deliver a message from the gods. Due to their similarity with other prophetic yōkai like jinja hime, it is possible that they too are servants of Ryūgū-jō, the castle of the dragon king of the sea.

Origin: A kamiike hime was spotted off the coast of what is now Hirado, Nagasaki Prefecture in the early 19th century. It spoke to observers, and predicted a coming bumper crop. It also said that an outbreak of cholera would appear, and those without virtue would die in three days. Anyone who did not wish to die was instructed to copy the kamiike hime’s image and hang it on their wall.

In the summer of 1858, a major outbreak of cholera appeared in Japan. It originated in Nagasaki and spread along the highways to the rest of the country, killing tens of thousands of people.

赤えい
あかえい

Translation: red stingray
Habitat: open oceans
Diet: unknown

Appearance: Akaei are titanic fish which live in the Pacific Ocean. Their bodies can reach 10 to 12 kilometers in length. Physically they resemble stingrays, but they are so large that they are often mistaken for islands.

Behavior: Akaei spend most of their lives on the ocean floor. Every now and then they swim up to the surface and shake off the sand and rocks which have collected on their backs. This creates a maelstrom as the fish’s great mass displaces huge amounts of water.

Interactions: Sailors frequently mistook surfaced akaei for islands–a mistake which was often fatal. If a ship got too close to an akaei as it surfaced or sank, the ship was almost certain to be destroyed in a great wave, or sucked down to the bottom of the sea in a whirlpool.

Origin: Akaei’s description comes from Ehon hyakumonogatari, a picture book of strange tales published in 1841.

Legends: A ship departing from Awa (today the southern tip of Chiba Prefecture) was blown off course during a typhoon. Although the sailors survived, the ship was heavily damaged and they needed to find repairs. After the storm had passed, the sailors spotted a island. They made for it, hoping to perform some badly needed repairs on their ship. When the sailors set foot upon the island, they were surprised to find no humans anywhere. Even stranger, the trees and bushes growing on the island were like none they had ever seen before, and their branches were covered in algae. All of the cracks and crevices in the island’s rocks contained pools full of different kinds of fish.

The sailors marched around the island for hours, covering many kilometers. They found no trace of buildings or people anywhere. When they tried to slake their thirst in one of the many ponds, they discovered that every bit of water on the island was salty. Eventually, they gave up any hope of finding repairs on the island. They returned to their battered ship to seek help elsewhere.

No sooner did the sailors depart the island, when it sunk straight down into the sea. The sailors didn’t realize it at the time, but they had been walking on the back of an akaei.

悪樓
あくる

Translation: evil watchtower
Alternate names: Anato no akujin (the evil god of Anato)
Habitat: the Seto Inland Sea
Diet: omnivorous; including boats

Appearance: Akuru is a monstrous fish found in Japan’s oldest mythological texts. It is described as both a giant fish and an evil god. It lived in the Seto Insland Sea off of present day Okayama Prefecture. It was so large that it could swallow a ship in a single gulp. It was slain by the legendary warrior prince Yamato Takeru, son of Keikō Tennō, the twelfth emperor of Japan.

Origin: The origin and the meaning of akuru’s name are mysterious. The giant fish appears in Japan’s earliest mythical chronicles such as the Kojiki and Nihon shoki. Its story appears in the local folklore of the Seto Inland Sea, however the name akuru doesn’t appear to have been used until the 20th century. The ancient texts describe Yamato Takeru’s subjugation of various tribes during the period when the Yamato court was trying to seize control of Japan’s land and sea routes. In the areas around Kibi and Naniwa (present day Okayama and Ōsaka), Yamato Takeru exterminated various evil spirits who were disturbing the peace and challenging the central government’s control. He is said to have conquered many mountain and river gods–including the god of Anato, who is believed to be the akuru.

It has been suggested that the “gods” that Yamato Takeru conquered–including akuru–were actually bandits (“mountain gods”), pirates (“river gods”), and other groups subjugated by the prince on his campaign. They may be examples of people who were transformed into yōkai by chroniclers for symbolic effect, like tsuchigumo–a tribe of humans who were turned into yōkai by storytellers. The giant fish-god of Anato may have been a mythical representation of a leader of a group of pirates or rebels whom Yamato Takeru exterminated as a favor to the governor of Kibi.

Legends: Yamato Takeru was sent on a long journey by his father to subjugate the the Kumaso people–a mythical ancient people who resided in south Kyūshū. After conquering the Kumaso, he sailed back to Yamato via the Seto Inland Sea. While traversing a shallow section of the Seto Insland Sea known as Kibi no Anaumi, his ship was attacked by a giant, evil fish. Before it could swallow him whole, Yamato Takeru leapt off of his ship and onto the monster. He clung to its back as it thrashed about, and he slashed it over and over with his sword until he killed it.

ビタン
びたん

Translation: unknown
Habitat: ocean (around Taketomi Island, Okinawa)
Diet: unknown

Appearance: Bitan are large, chubby, cow-like sea creatures which lives in the waters around Okinawa. They have horns and beards like a dragon. Their bodies are fish-like and densely covered in scales. Their tails are split in two.

Behavior: Nothing is recorded about bitan’s natural behavior. However, the locals of Taketomi Island claim that the image of a bitan has magical healing properties.

Interactions: Copying a picture of a bitan and hanging it on your wall is said to cure headaches immediately. As evidence of its healing power, the people of Taketomi Island are said to rarely suffer from headaches.

Origin: Bitan appears in Ryūkyū kitan, published in 1832. It was written by Beizanshi, a traveler from Suzhou, China who visited the Ryūkyū islands and recorded what he witnessed.

The bitan resembles the rokugyo, another cow-like fish found in the Chinese encyclopedia Shan hai jing. However the resemblance seems to be coincidental, as there is no evidence which links the two creatures.

Legends: Long ago, during the reign of Tensonshi, the first dynasty of the Ryūkyū islands, there lived a woman named Bintara. She worked in the royal palace as a housemaid. One day she entered the water and transformed into a sea creature. The creature came to be known as a bitan. That even a lowly housemaid could transform into such a miraculous, healing fish is a testament to the holiness of the Tensoshi dynasty.

姫魚
ひめうお

Translation: princess fish
Alternate names: jinja hime
Habitat: deep in the sea
Diet: unknown

Appearance: Hime uo are mermaids that have the body of a fish and the face of a woman. Their bodies are about 4.5 to 5 meters long and their heads are around 90 centimeters long. They have long black hair and two horns sprout from the top of their heads. They are creatures of good luck, and viewing an image of them will protect the viewer from disease and evil spirits.

Interactions: Hime uo are servants of Ryūjin and spend their lives deep underwater. They only appear to humans when they have an important message to deliver from the dragon god, such as warnings of coming plagues.

Origin: A hime uo was sighted in 1819 near the island of Hirado in what is now Nagasaki Prefecture. The hime uo’s words and its details, including body length, hair length, and color, were recorded and printed along with an illustration and distributed like flyers around the country. Due to the instructions that its image should be hung in every house for protection, countless copies of these flyers were made. Some were printed, while others were hand-copied, resulting in a vast number of slightly different depictions of hime uo being circulated across Japan. Some have long hair, some have short hair. Some have pointy horns, others have deer-like antlers. Some are bearded. Some have breasts. The number of swords in their tails varies as well.

Several other yōkai originate from the same story. While they seem to be the same creature, originating from Hirado, Nagasaki in 1819, the depictions vary in several details including the size and shape of the fish. They tend to divided up based on their appearance—with the shorter fish-like ones categorized as hime uo, the longer, serpentine ones categorized as jinja hime, and others with local names such as kamiike hime.

Legends: On April 8, 1819, a strange fish appeared off the coast of Hirado, Hizen Province. The fish delivered a warning: “I am a messenger from Ryūjin. In seven years time a disease called cholera will break out across the country and many people will die. However, if you hang my picture in your house, it will ward off the sickness and your descendants will thrive. I have come now to deliver this message to you.” Then the strange fish disappeared back into the sea.