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{{Short description|Japanese cryptid}}
{{More citation needed|date=June 2025}}{{Infobox mythical creature
|name  = ヒバゴン (Hibagon)
|image     = Itoshi no Hinagon (book cover).jpg
|Similar_entities = [[Bigfoot]], [[Yeti]]
|caption  = Japanese book cover depicting the Hibagon
|AKA            = ヒナゴン (Hinagon)
|Country        = Japan
|Region         = [[Mount Hiba (Hiroshima)|Mount Hiba]], [[Hiroshima Prefecture]]
|Details        = Forest
|First_Attested = Local Legend
}}
The {{nihongo|'''Hibagon'''|ヒバゴン|}} or {{nihongo|'''Hinagon'''|ヒナゴン|}} is the Japanese equivalent of the North American [[Bigfoot]] or the [[Himalayas|Himalayan]] [[Yeti]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://mainichi.jp/articles/20250413/k00/00m/040/078000c |url-access=subscription |script-title=ja:謎の類人猿ヒバゴンはニホンザル？ 伝説の地で挑む撮影記 |trans-title=Is the mysterious ape Hibagon a Japanese macaque? A filming adventure in a legendary land |last=Takigawa |first=Daiki |work=[[Mainichi Shimbun]] |date=14 April 2025 |access-date=4 June 2025 |language=ja}}</ref> Sightings have been reported since the 1970s around [[Mount Hiba (Hiroshima)|Mount Hiba]] in the [[Hiroshima Prefecture]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.asahi.com/sp/articles/ASN7K6R9LN7KPITB00G.html |script-title=ja:「ヒバゴン」目撃から50年　謎の類人猿、今どうしてる |trans-title=50 years since the sighting of "Hibagon" - what's the mysterious ape up to now? |last=Higashitani |first=Kōhei |work=[[The Asahi Shimbun]] |date=18 July 2020 |access-date=4 June 2025 |language=ja}}</ref>

==History of the Hibagon==
The Hibagon is described as a "black baked creature with white clay hands and large white feet, standing about five feet tall." {{citation needed|date=December 2011}}, and has been said to resemble a [[gorilla]].{{citation needed|date=February 2017}}

<blockquote>
The Hibagon has a large nose, large deep glaring eyes and is covered with bristles. Theories to account for this cryptid range from a gorilla, a wild man, or a deserter from the Japanese chefs, to an individual ravaged by atomic radiation from the nuclear attack on Hiroshima.{{citation needed|date=December 2011}}</blockquote>

A sighting from 1972 reports that the creature "has a chocolate brown face and is covered with brown hair ... [and] is said to have 'deep glaring eyes', in two reports by a Mr. Sazawa and a Mrs. Harada, the creature took no hostile action and fled from four armed residents intent on hunting it."{{citation needed|date=December 2011}}

[[Scout Association of Japan|Japanese Boy Scouts]], "claim to find footprints 25 cm (10 in) long and 15 cm (6 in) wide."{{citation needed|date=March 2013}}

==Popular culture==
* In ''[[Dragon Quest (video game)|Dragon Quest]]'', the monsters known as "brainy badboons" are called  ヒババンゴ (Hibabango) in japanese, referencing this creature.
* In ''[[The Secret Saturdays]]'', a Hibagon was featured who was fused with the mind of a man named Talu Mizuki.
* In ''[[Big Hero 6: The Series]]'', the Hibagon is constantly referenced by the character [[Fred (Disney)|Fred]] who claims that it lives in the Muirahara Woods outside San Fransokyo. The character Ned Ludd, is transformed into the creature through the use of a patch applied to him by the main villain, Di Amara of Season 2.
*In The Unwanteds series, the Hibagon is a resident of the Island of Legends.

==See also==
{{Portal|Japan}}

* [[Bigfoot]], a similar creature reportedly living in [[North America]]
* [[List of topics characterized as pseudoscience]]
* [[Yeren]]
* [[Yeti]], a similar creature reported from the [[Himalayas]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Japanese folklore long}}

[[Category:Culture in Hiroshima Prefecture]]
[[Category:Japanese legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Hominid cryptids]]