Kappa: Difference between revisions
Adding more information to the description page and examples
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There are ''thousands'' of [[Youkai]] in Japanese mythology... but one of them is ''far'' more popular with the public than the others. The Kappa is a river-dwelling creature of Japanese folklore. It is often depicted in [[Anime]] and modern media as an anthropomorphic turtle with a domed head, parrot-like beak, and a ring of spikes sticking out from its head.
In Japanese myth, the kappa is a river-dwelling spirit who likes to eat human entrails and blood. It has a deep depression in its head that is full of water, which is the source of its power. That bowl is surrounded by scraggly hair (transformed into the "spikes" of the modern incarnations by the [[Anime Hair]] phenomenon). Those confronted with imminent devouring by a Kappa are advised to take two courses of action: The first, and most preferable, is to give the kappa a cucumber inscribed with one's name. The cucumber is the [[Trademark Favorite Food]] of the kappa, and a kappa so bribed will spare the giver. It may even befriend the human for the [[Tastes Like Friendship|tasty gift.]] The other action: Bow to the kappa. Kappa are extremely polite, and will always bow too. Bowing will cause the water to fall out of their bowl, weakening them and allowing you to escape. (Don't bother trying to fight them, as they ''love'' sumo wrestling.) While some of them are harmless prankster, other subspecies are far more viscious, trying to drown people, eat babies and gruesomely feed by pulling either the intestines or the Shirikodama (a fictitious orb-like organ and source of courage located in the anus) through the poor victims rectum.
Aside from standard Kappa, several other types exist in Japanese folklore such as:
* Enko: a fur-covered Kappa resembling a monkey, with extremely elastic limbs.
* Garappa: a kappa variant with overly-long limbs, usually benevolent, found in Kyushu.
* Suiko (lit. Water Tiger), a big and ferocious type of Kappa, always a man-eater with large claws located above the knees and elbows.
* Hane no haeta Kappa, a very weird variant that looks like a water fowl with an extensible neck rather than a turtle-man hybrid.
* Gangi Kozo, a monkey-like Kappa that feeds on fish with his sawtooth-like teeth.
* Kenmun: another hairy regional variant from the Ryukyuu.
* Ichimoku Nyuudo (One-Eyed Monk), the "boss" of the Kappa, with a large eye where his head plate should be and a love for pranking humans by riding unattended horses.
In modern times, kappa have undergone a bit of [[Disneyfication]] that [[bowdlerize]]s most everything except their appearance and love of cucumbers. In Japan, kappas endure a surprising popularity that leads to them popping up in a lot of Japanese works. Even those that aren't explicitly mythological like to throw in a kappa or two. While they haven't reached the same level of popularity in the West, [[Popcultural Osmosis]] and the recent popularity of anime means that Western works sometimes feature a kappa or two.
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* One of the first creatures encountered by [[Hell Teacher Nube]] is a kappa. (In the author's notes, he posits that the myth may have been inspired by Jesuit priests, who have a similar hairstyle and a penchant for "drowning" people via baptism).
* In the new ''[[Pet Shop of Horrors]]'', one episode revolves around D looking for kappas.
* In [[One Piece|''One Piece'']], during the Wano Arc we're introduced to a self-proclaimed Kappa, Kawamatsu, one of the retainers of the Kozuki family and a [[Master Swordsman]] of great skill (though in truth he's actually a Fishman).
* [[Ushio and Tora|''Ushio and Tora'']] has a Kappa who willingfully helps Ushio twice during the story, despite the current hostility between the Yokai and the young man. Despite being scared of the Beast Spear, he's still willing to cure Ushio and explain him why the monsters are so angry with him. Apparently he used to prank humans until he was forced to behave.
* [[GeGeGe no Kitaro|''GeGeGe no Kitaro'']] often features Kappa of all kinds in both manga and anime, such having the dish-washing Sara Kozo coming after a human who stole his song, or a rather humorous story in the 2018 anime in which Nezumiotoko coaxes a shrewd businessman into hiring Kappa to work for him, paying them with three cucumbers for 20 hours of work. Things go south when the Kappa realizes they've been underpaid and go on a [[Ass Shove|shirikodama-stealing rampage.]]
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