![]() However these all turned out to be local names for the kappa or "water imp". 1, 1850) mentions medochi (Ehime prefecture) and mizushi (Fukui prefecture). Minakata also collected variants that sounded like mizuchi in local dialects, such as mizushi (Ishikawa prefecture), medochi (Iwate prefecture), mintsuchi (Hokkaido). The Old Shack, Furuya, may actually signify a place name, with a possible double-entendre involved. To the green pool to capture the mizuchi dragon, "Oh if I only had a tiger to ride to leap over the Old Shack, In the Man'yōshū, Book 16, a tanka poem composed by Prince Sakaibe (境部王) reads: However, the kappa can also be seen as sinister, reaching in and extracting the liver or the shirikodama from humans (see also #Name for kappa below). "From this passage we learn that in ancient times human sacrifices were made to the dragon-shaped river-gods." Foster (1998:1) suggests this is "perhaps the first documented appearance of the water spirit that would become known popularly in Japan as the kappa." In Japanese folklore the kappa is a water sprite often considered benignly mischievous, in contrast to the deadly dragon. Therefore, in spite of Aston who in another work discusses the River God (Kawa-no-kami) mentioned here and mizuchi in the same breath (Aston 1905:1, 150-151), one must caution against automatically equating one with the other. This entry mentions River God, but not the precise word mizuchi. A whirlwind came and tried, but the calabash just floated away, and thus he extricated himself from death using his wits. One of the men, who resisted being sacrificed, employed the floating calabash and dared the River God to sink it as proof to show it was truly divine will that demanded him as sacrifice. The Emperor then had an oracular dream, which prescribed two men, Kowa-kubi from Musashi Province and Koromo-no-ko from Kawachi Province to be sacrificed to the River God or Kawa-no-kami (河伯). The Mamuta dikes built along Yodo River kept getting breached. Aston 1896:1,299).Īnother entry under Nintoku (323 CE) records a somewhat connected cirumstance. Therefore that water was called the pool of Agatamori" (tr. He slew them every one, and the water of the river became changed to blood. Now the tribe of all the water-dragons filled a cave in the bottom of the pool. The record goes on to say: ".He further sought out the water-dragon's fellows. The beast transformed into a deer and tried unsuccessfully to sink them, whereby the man slew the monster. He then challenged the beast, saying he would quit the spot if it could sink these gourds, but slay it if it failed. Under the 67th year of the reign of Emperor Nintoku (conventionally dated 379 A.D.), it is mentioned that in central Kibi Province, at a fork on Kawashima River (川嶋河, old name of Takahashi River (高梁川) in Okayama Prefecture), a great water serpent or dragon (大虬) dwelled and would breathe or spew out its venom, poisoning and killing many passersby.Ī man named Agatamori (県守), ancestor of the Kasa-no-omi (笠臣) clan, came up to the pool of the river, and threw in three calabashes which floated to the surface of the water. ![]() The ancient chronicle Nihongi contains the earliest references to mizuchi. Some commentators perceived it to have been a water deity.Īt one level, mizuchi seems to have been the Japanese name for such a creature, but besides one mention in the ancient chronicle Nihon Shoki, and one Manyoshu poem, there is a dearth of information regarding the original mizuchi.Īt another level, the name mizuchi (midzuchi) is the kun-yomi or Japanese equivalent name applied to several mythological creatures of the dragon kind in Chinese literature. KAPPA - 河童 / かっぱ / カッパ - Yokai Monsters -Ī name for a Japanese dragon or legendary serpent-like creature, which is aquatic or somehow related to water. ![]()
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