Kappa in Pop Culture

Nowadays, kappa are much less threatening and more... well, cute. There are toys, games, anime, and videos featuring the once-threatening creature. They appear in Shigeru Mizuki's long running comics, a film called "Kappa" produced my Bruce and Norman Yonemoto, and the very popular children's anime Pokémon. In the James Bond novelization "The Man with the Red Tatto" by Raymond Benson, an assassin is nicknamed "the Kappa" because of his short height. However, the media in which kappa are most prominent is video games. Mario's arch nemesis Koopa in Super Mario Bros. is basically a kappa, and there's even a place called Kappa Mountain in the game. A video gamed called "Kappa no Kaikata (How to Breed Kappa)" is the story of a boy who must raise kappa and teach them up to 30 manners for his grandparents while he stays at their place over the summer.

Other sightings of kappa include but are not limited to:

• Animal Crossing
• Final Fantasy VI
• Goemon's Great Adventure
• Harvest Moon
• Megan Man: The Wily Stars
• We Love Katamari
• InuYasha
• Pocky & Rocky
• Usagi Yojimbo
• Arthur (children's TV show)

A Conspiracy Theory

Behold a theory of gloriousness! Could it be that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, so beloved by fans of all ages, are really the devious kappa? Perhaps not, since the ninjas are mutated turtles and the kappa are only turtle-like, but replace Michaelangelo's nunchucks with cucumbers, like so-



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...and you've got yourself a kappa! Make some minor alterations to their appearance, such as a bowl or moist cap on the head, and voila. The TMNT are super strong, and so are kappa if they can drown cows. Also, pizza in Japan has been known to have cucumbers on it. Coincidence? I think not. In an episode where the turtles were sent back in time to the Edo Era, they were all confused for kappa.

Perhaps the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles aren't kappa, but it could very well be that the creator was inspired by this old myth. Think on it.

Kappa in Literature

In Oba Minako's "The Marsh," there are two kinds of creatures that live in the water, the kappa and the spirit of the marsh. However, I do not believe that these are one and the same. Kappa in this story are described as a grotesque monster that the main character uses to scare her children into being good. "Mr. Kappa over there, do you want a little girl?" While certainly frightening and forboding, the image of kappa as child eaters is not congruent with the spirit of the marsh. The spirit is a lonely creature that longs for a man to complete it, much like the main character, but perhaps the need for children and the viciousness of the kappa is also an aspect of her personality that can be described by the marsh, "a creature without human form, like an evil spirit that inhabits the mountains and rivers.



More folk tails and descriptions of kappa can be sought from Kunio Yanagida's "Tono-monogatari." Also, be sure to check out Hiromi Goto's "The Kappa Child," a kappa story in Canada.

Akutagawa Ryunosuke

The most obvious example of kappa in Japanese literature is the story "Kappa," written by Akutagawa Ryunosuke in 1927, the same year in which he took a dose of veranol and thus his life. "Kappa" is narrated by Patient 23, an institutionalized man who tells the story of his journey to the land of kappa, his adventures there, and a brief glimpse into what happens after his return. The story is a thinly veiled satire about Japanese society in the 1920's and covers topics such as marriage, socialism, labor shortage and censorship in a fantasic, amusing world. It was also an avenue for Akutagawa to explore his mental state.

These kappa have a society of their own, very similar to that of the Japanese. They have theatres, artists, historians, capitalists, and wars with the otters, and they have a love of new inventions. They even wear glasses and have their own language, although they understand and speak Japanese as well. Much like in the myths, the kappa in this land are benevolent teachers and always trustworthy, but a subtle disturbing quality still hangs about them. Perhaps Akutagawa chose the kappa as his subject because they have a dangerous like the society he was commenting on.

For those who have not read it, "Kappa" is an vivid, imaginitive story that will hopefully make the reader question what they've read, and it's a short, easy read.

What's a Kappa?

In Shinto mythology, suijin (水神) are deities that live in lakes, ponds, rivers, springs, irrigation canals, and even wells. One of these is the kappa (河童), a tortoise-like imp the size of a child that smells like fish, has the face of an ape, sometimes a duck beak, webbed hands and feet, and a shell on its back. Their slimy, scaly limbs can be yellow, green, gray, or blue, and some people even report that they can change colors like a chameleon.
The most distinctive feature of the kappa is their long hair, much like Portuguese monks in the 1600's, that circles the bowl-shaped depression on the top of their heads. The bowl is said to harden with age and it holds essential, strength-giving water which may let them move about on land. If a kappa loses this water, it can be immobilized, weakened, forced to return to its kingdom, or even die.

Although kappa are only the size of a six to ten year old child, they are very strong. Kappa pull people, cattle, and horses into the water, where they sometimes drown their victims or pull their livers or entrails out through the anus. Kappa feed by sucking out the blood or life force of their victims. The only food they enjoy more than this is cucumbers.

Kappa are mostly evil, but can sometimes be benevolent, too. They are skilled pranksters and their gags can range from innocent (passing gas loudly) to troublesome (kidnapping) to severe (raping women). Despite this, kappa are always trustworthy and very polite, and they are expert teachers in the art of medicine and bone setting, which is why there are shrines dedicated to them. They also understand and speak Japanese, as well as their own kappa language.

Danger: Kappa Crossing!

It's a well known fact that kappa love to eat children and sometimes even pull them into the water and drown them for fun. To protect our children we can follow three simple steps.

1. If you meet a kappa, bow! Kappa are extremely polite and etiquette dictates that if bowed to they must reciprocate, and all the strength-giving water in the bowls on their head will pour out. They'll be too weak to be naughty and will have to go home! To avoid being eaten, children should learn to bow properly, and to be safe they should bow to everyone!
2. The only thing kappa love to eat more than children is cucumbers. Write your name and your children's on a cucumber and toss it into kappa-infested waters to mollify them.
3. Kappa hate loud noise and fire, so scare them away with fireworks! Have a firework festival every year and the kappa will be too afraid to come back.

Of course, if you're clever enough to trick a kappa into a promise (such as not eating you) their sense of decorum demands that they keep that promise, and you won't need to follow the three steps. Otherwise, have fun with fire, eat your cucumbers, and practice that bowing!

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