There are so many stories in folklore based on water. So it’s not surprising the main source of life would connect to one of the most well known Japanese Yokai; the Kappa - or translated to “River Child.”

Kappa are described in many different ways; they are roughly the size of small children with green, blue, or sometimes red skin. However their most consistent feature is the circular depression on their head used to hold water, their main source of power.

Oh, and they have three anuses.

This Yokai is used throughout countless forms of media, often looking adorable. However, the origin describes them as much more dangerous and mischievous.

Stories of the Kappa include them drowning fisherman, consuming people alive, farting at fisherman, and peaking women’s kimonos. While also using their free time to sumo wrestle and play shogi.

However, there are a few ways to defend oneself from these river children.

The Kappa LOVE cucumbers, farmers are known to carve their name into a cucumber, and throw it into nearby rivers as an offering. In return the Kappa will help irrigate fields, and on some occasions bring fish to the farmers as gifts.

For a creature described as mischievous, they are also very polite to a fault. If confronted by a Kappa, travelers are advised to challenge them to a sumo match. Before the game begins both players should bow to the other, this causes the water to spill out of the Kappa’s head, draining all it’s strength. Allowing the traveler to get away.

Even though Kappa is such a popular Yokai, there’s no clear explanation for where they came from.

One theory is they were created from newly born children. Poor families who couldn’t afford to raise a child believed the only option would be to dispose of it at the river. These abandoned children eventually grew into Kappa, hence the name “River Child”.

There are many examples of Kappa acting friendly, dangerous, or mischievous. There’s no way I could write about all of them here. In this way, the stories of this Yokai truly embody the waters they inhabit.

Never still, and always changing.