All about yokai: Kappa
Much like the kitsune and the tanuki, the kappa is one of the most well known yokai both in Japan and overseas. Seen as a kami of the water, kappa are revered and many are helpful to humans, however similarly to kitsune, kappa have a darker side too. I explored this in my story Lonely Waters showing both their kind and dark side, as well as what happens when people go against the water kami.
Kappa
河童 - かっぱ
Translation: River Child
Alternate names: 川太郎 - かわたろう kawatarou (River boy), 駒引 - こまひき komahiki (horse-puller)
This yokai is a green humanoid being roughly the size of a child, however with the strength of a grown adult. Their skin can be slimy or scaly, and they have webbed hands and feet and a turtle-like carapace on it’s back. Some kappa can be hairy, and they go by the name of a hyousube. On top of a kappa’s head is a dish shaped depression which carries water in and if it dries up, the kappa will be weakened and even can die. If a person fills a dried up head-dish, that kappa will serve them for eternity. They are also said to smell like fish. A kappa’s favourite food is a cucumber, along with animal/human flesh.
Kappa live in ponds and rivers although from time to time they also venture onto land. To protect the water in their dish, they sometimes cover it with a metal cap. Unlike in the water where they are adept to their surroundings, kappa are clumsy on land.
I feature kappa in my story Lonely Waters where we mostly see Sou, the main character’s best friend. I kept their appearance true to all accounts of a kappa’s description with mine having a more scaly type of green skin, and beak-like mouth. In the story we also see Sou’s head-dish drying up and it being refilled so he can continue to help and live on land.
Much like other animals, kappa live in family groups until children have grown and leave the group, becoming solitary. It’s common for them to also befriend people and other yokai. They also prefer warmer months, which I assumed was because they were cold-blooded. These attributes helped me form my story, with Sou cherishing his friendship with Ryozo, but also how the kappa in the lake live. I imagined them migrating away from the cold lake during the winter, swimming to southern places which were warmer, then returning again in the summer. I also wanted to show how dangerous a solitary kappa could be, as kappa, much like other yokai, can be very friendly and helpful, or very dangerous.
Behaviours
When a kappa is friendly, they can help humans with many tasks. In the water they have been known to save people from drowning, however an unfriendly kappa may do the opposite with their great wrestling skills. On land, kappa will help with irrigation and bringing fresh fish. This can be seen as good fortune. Kappa are also highly knowledgeable about medicine and they are said to have taught humans how to reset dislocated bones. They are also one of the few yokai who can learn human languages.
When a kappa is not friendly, however, they can be very dangerous. They have been known to become harmful when not respected for their kami-like status. Sometimes they might look up women’s kimono if they happen to be near water, although they can also drown them, or even other animals. Kappa also can kidnap children and even eat the flesh of those they’ve drowned.
If confronted by a dangerous kappa, there are ways of escape. They love sumo wrestling and won’t deny a challenge to that, or other tests of skill. Kappa are also obsessed with politeness and will return a bow without hesitation. Doing so can spill the water in it’s head-dish and weaken it, unable to move from the bowing position until it’s refilled. Another kappa weakness is their arms which can be pulled from their body. In desperation, a kappa will perform favours or share their knowledge for the return of their arms. They also hate metal objects and loud noises, and can be scared away with them.
It has also been tradition for people to write names on cucumbers and throw them into rivers for kappa, hoping to gain their favour and stopping those people from coming to harm in the waters. Others also attach a cucumber to the end of a fishing line and fish for a kappa.
When researching kappa, I found all of this information interesting and I knew I had to try and show it all in my story. I built on their knowledge of medicine, having Sou teach Ryozo more than how to set a dislocated joint, and instead how to set a broken bone and amputate a limb. Medicines in that time period will have solely come from plants, and so I thought Sou would know many that humans hadn’t found, especially with access to underwater plants. I also wanted to show the range of kappa behaviours, without going too dark, as my focus was on Sou and Ryozo. I tried hard to add lots of little details whilst embellishing parts which made sense to me. Overall, kappa are really fun yokai to write about, and I may return to them in future.
If you’d like to read all about Sou and Ryozo, you can find them in Lonely Waters.
