View source for Kappa (folklore)

{{Short description|Japanese mythical creature}}
{{Italic title|reason=[[:Category:Japanese words and phrases]]}}
{{Other uses|Kappa (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2025}}
[[File:Kyoka Hyaku-Monogatari Kappa.jpg|thumb|A ''kappa'' in [[ukiyo-e]] art.{{right|{{small|—''[[Kyōka Hyaku Monogatari]]'' (1853).}}}}]]

In [[Japanese folklore]] the {{nihongo|'''{{Transliteration|ja|kappa}}'''|{{lang|ja|[[wiktionary:河童|河童]]}}||"river-child"}} is a familiar type of water monster, considered one of three major [[yōkai]]{{Refn|Alongside the ''[[oni]]'' and ''[[tengu]]''.<ref name="kyogoku&tada2000-YokaiZukan"/><ref name="tada1990-Genso"/>}}

''Kappa'' are said to be inhabiting the [[pond]]s and [[river]]s of [[Japan]].{{sfnp|Foster|2015|p=157}} It is also known by various local names, including {{Nihongo||川太郎|'''kawatarō'''|"river-boy"}}.{{sfnp|Foster|2024|p=195}}

The {{Transliteration|ja|kappa}} had been dangerous mankillers that drowned people,<ref name="de_garis&sakai2009"/> also targeting horses and cattle to be dragged into water.<ref name="terashima1712"/><ref name="tsutsumi2024"/><ref name="Kappalegend"/> Later, they came to be depicted as mischievous beings which get punished (captured, having its arm severed, etc.), and in exchange of forgiveness, gratefully performed labor, or revealed a secret medicinal recipe ({{interlanguage link|kappa's wonder drug|ja|河童の妙薬|lt=''kappa''{{'}}s wonder drug}}).{{sfnp|Foster|2024|p=201}}

Accounts typically depict them as green, slimy (or scaly), human-like beings with webbed hands and feet and [[Turtle shell|turtle]]-like [[carapaces]] on their backs. A depression on the head, called a "dish" ({{Transliteration|ja|sara}}), retains water,<ref>{{harvp|Foster|2015|p=157}}; {{harvp|Foster|2024|p=195}}</ref>{{Refn|Cf. also de Garis & Sakai (2009),<ref name="de_garis&sakai2009"/> Papp (2010),<ref name="papp2010"/> and {{harvp|Hirota|2021|p=321}}.}} and if this receptacle is damaged or if its liquid is spilled or dried, a {{Transliteration|ja|kappa}} becomes severely weakened.<ref>{{harvp|Foster|1998|p=4}}; {{harvp|Foster|2015|p=157}}; {{harvp|Foster|2024|p=195}}</ref>

The {{Transliteration|ja|kappa}} favor [[cucumbers]] and love to engage in [[sumo wrestling|sumo-wrestling]].{{sfnp|Foster|2015|p=157}} They are often accused of assaulting humans in water and removing a mythical organ called the {{Transliteration|ja|shirikodama}} ({{lit}} "buttocks-wee-ball") from their victim's [[anus]].{{sfnp|Foster|2015|page=162}}

== Nomenclature ==
[[File:MET 10 211 1857 O1 sf.jpg|thumb|[[Netsuke]] of a ''kappa'']]
The name ''kappa'' is a contraction of the compound {{Transliteration|ja|kawawappa}} from ''kawa'' "river" and {{Transliteration|ja|wappa}} "child, boy",<ref name="DigitalDaijisen"/> or of {{Transliteration|ja|kawawarawa}}, from {{Transliteration|ja|warawa}} ({{=}}{{Transliteration|ja|warabe}}, "child").<ref name="NihonKokugoDaijiten"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|While ''kappa'' is standardly represented as {{lang|ja|河童}}, the form {{lang|ja|川童}} is used by [[Kunio Yanagita]] in {{interlanguage link|Yōkai dangi|ja|妖怪談義|lt=''Yōkai dangi''}}.<ref name="yanagita1977[1956]"/>}} Another translation of kappa is "water-sprite".<ref name="shamoon2013"/>

In earlier times, there was a clearer demarcation in terminology, where the creature tended to be known as ''kappa'' in the east{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Edo (now Tokyo) or [[Sendai Domain]] (Miyagi Prefecture)<ref name="HonzokomokuShakugi"/>}} and known rather as  '''{{Transliteration|ja|kawatarō}}''' in the west ([[Kyushu|Kyūshū]] and [[Kansai region]]{{r|ButsuruiShoko}}) from 18th century literature.{{sfnp|Foster|2024|pp=199–201}}{{Refn|name="terashima"|Terashima Ryōan (1712) ''Wakan sansai zue'' ("Sino-Japanese illustrations of the three realms") s.v. "Kawatarō 川太郎".<ref name="terashima1712"/><ref name="terashima-tr-shimada-etal1985"/> Partly quoted in English (the work designated as ''Three Realms'') in {{harvp|Foster|2015|pp=159–160}} and {{harvp|Foster|2024|p=198}}}}{{Refn|name="ButsuruiShoko"}}{{Refn|gropu="lower-alpha"|Yanagita Kunio theorized that people (in the West) began to shun the use of the name ''kawatarō'' to refer to the monster due to the appearance of the human character Kawatarō in the popular novel ''[[Tōkaidōchū Hizakurige|Tōkaidōchū hizakurige]]'' (volume 8,<ref name="NihonMeichoZenshu-vol22"/> [[Bunka]] 6/1809), because he was a real-life grandiose merchant of Osaka otherwise known as Kawachiya Tarobē (or Tarobei.<ref name="sadler1933"/>).<ref name="yanagita1959"/>}}

The ''kappa'' are also known regionally by at least eighty other names.<ref name="foster1998-ono-1994">{{harvp|Foster|1998|p=3}}, citing Ōno (1994), p. 14</ref> Among older literature, the {{interlanguage link|Butsurui Shōko|ja|物類称呼|lt=''Butsurui shōko''}} (1775) lists several local names such as '''{{transl|ja|gawara}}''' in [[Etchū Province]] (Toyama Prefecture).{{Refn|name="ButsuruiShoko"}}{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|p=27}} [[Ono Ranzan]]'s  ''Honzōkōmoku keimō''(1803) also listed about 20 local names.{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|p=28}}

Alternate names close to the standard include:{{efn|In the following parenthesized place names, the old province names are replaced by current prefecture names.}} {{nihongo||カワロウ/川童/かはらう|'''kawarō'''}}<ref name="terashima1712"/>{{Refn|name="ButsuruiShoko"}} or {{nihongo||川朗/かはらう|kawarō}};<ref name="ShogenJikoSetsuyoshu"/> '''{{Transliteration|ja|kawappa}}'''<ref name="foster1998-ono-1994"/> (Kyūshū , [[Niigata Prefecture|Niigata]]<!--越後--> incl. [[Sado Island]]<ref name="HonzokomokuShakugi"/>); '''{{Transliteration|ja|kawako}}''' (cf. infra.);<ref name="foster1998-ono-1994"/> ''kawatarō'';<ref name="foster1998-ono-1994"/> '''{{Transliteration|ja|gawappa}}''';<ref name="foster1998-ono-1994"/> '''{{Transliteration|ja|kawawappa}}''' ([[Yamanashi Prefecture|Yamanashi]]<!--甲斐--><ref name="ShogenJikoSetsuyoshu"/>); {{interlanguage link|garappa|ja|ガラッパ|lt=''garappa''}} ([[Kumamoto Prefecture|Kumamoto]], [[Miyazaki Prefecture|Miyazaki]], [[Kagoshima Prefecture|Kagoshima]] incl. [[Tanegashima]]);{{sfnp|Komatsu|2000|p=378}}{{Refn|Makanda 馬関田, [[Nishimorokata District, Miyazaki]];<ref>Naraki, Noriyuki 楢木範行 (1937) {{URL|1=https://lab.ndl.go.jp/dl/book/1222697?page=78 |2=''Hyūga Makanda no denshō'' 日向馬関田の伝承}}, p. 135, ''apud'' {{harvp|Konno|1981|p=51}}</ref> former {{interlanguage link|Sendai, Kagoshima|ja|川内市}} (now [[Satsumasendai, Kagoshima]]]{{sfnp|Maruyama|1976|p=281}} and in the neighboring area of [[Yatsushiro]] city or [[Ashikita District, Kumamoto]], etc.,{{sfnp|Kappa renpō kyōwakoku|1991|p=105}}}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|In Yatsushiro city, at the  mouth of the [[Kuma River (Japan)|Kuma River]] is the monument {{nihongo|Kappa torai no hi|河童渡来之碑|extra="mounument of the arrival of the kappa"}}, commonly known as {{nihongo|Garappa ishi|ガラッパ石|extra="garappa stone"}}.{{sfnp|Kappa renpō kyōwakoku|1991|p=68}} Yatsushiro city also holds the {{transl|ja|Oreoredēraita}}<!--オレオレデーライタ--> River Festival, and in the area, the creature is called {{transl|ja|garappa, kawappa, kawantaro<!--カワンタロ-->}}, etc.{{sfnp|Kappa renpō kyōwakoku|1991|p=105}} The monument is also tied to the legend of the {{nihongo|Kusenbō|九千坊}} (cf. {{section link||Kyūshū region}}.}} '''{{transl|ja|kawara}}''' (Fukui<!--越前-->, SW Hyōgo<!--播磨-->, Kagawa<!--讃岐--><ref name="HonzokomokuShakugi"/>); {{nihongo||川子大明神|'''Kawako daimyōjin'''}} (Shimane<!--出雲-->);<ref name="KasshiYawa-65kan"/><ref name="sasama2005"/> {{nihongo|カワコボシ/川小法師|'''kawakoboshi'''}} ({{interlanguage link|Yamada, Mie|ja|山田 (伊勢市)|lt=Yamada}} quarters in the city of [[Ise, Mie]]);<ref name="HonzokomokuShakugi"/> {{nihongo||カワラコゾウ/河原小僧|'''kawarakozō'''}} ({{interlanguage link|Shiroko, Mie|ja|白子 (鈴鹿市)|lt=Shiroko}} quarters in [[Suzuka, Mie]]<ref name="HonzokomokuShakugi"/>); {{nihongo||カワノトノ/<ref name="sasama2005"/> 川の殿|'''kawa no tono'''}} (Kyūshū, Kansai region, Sado Island<ref name="ButsuruiShoko-KojiRuien"/><ref name="NihonHogenDaijiten"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|In Kurume city, Fukuoka, styled '''{{transl|ja|kawatono}}''' ({{lang|ja|川殿}}).<ref name="NihonHogenDaijiten"/>}}); '''{{transl|ja|kawawarowa}}<!--カワワロウ-->''' ([[Fukuoka Prefecture|Fukuoka]]<!--筑前--><ref name="HonzokomokuShakugi"/>).

The form {{nihongo||カワコ/川子|kawako|extra={{lit}} "river child"}} occurs widely in the [[Chūgoku region]] and perimeter of the [[Seto Inland Sea]] (e.g., [[Kasaoka, Okayama]]<ref name="kasaoka-city1983"/>), but it is often heard pronounced as '''{{Transliteration|ja|kōgo}}'''.{{sfnp|Komatsu|2000|p=34}}{{Refn|Also listed by Foster<ref name="foster1998-ono-1994"/>}} The form ''kawako'' has also been used in [[Izumo Province]] ([[Shimane Prefecture]]) and recorded by [[Lafcadio Hearn]] who was based in that area.<ref name="hearn1894"/>

The form '''{{transl|ja|gatarō}}''' used in [[Fukusaki, Hyōgo|Fukusaki]] according to [[Kunio Yanagita]]'s memory from his [[birthplace]] (cf. {{section link||Gatarō of Fukusaki}}).<ref>Yanagita (1956) ''Yōkai dangi'': quoted in English in: {{cite book |last=Irokawa |first=Daikichi |author-link=Daikichi Irokawa |title=The Culture of the Meiji Period |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1988 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=goYOPty1L1oC&pg=PA21 |page=21 |isbn=978-0-691-00030-5}}</ref><ref name="yanagita1959"/> He also heard from an acquaintance that the local name was {{transl|ja|kamuro, kawakamuro}} in [[Akashi, Hyōgo|Akashi]] not far from hometown, and spent a lifetime trying to corroborate it, but to no avail.<ref name="yanagita1959"/><ref name="kobe_shimbunNEXT-2028-05-27"/>

In [[Tosa Province]] (Kōchi Prefecture), it has been called   ''gatarō'', '''{{transl|ja|kadarō}}''',{{efn|In the older hiragana represented as {{lang|ja|ぐはたらう, かだらう}}.}}{{Refn|name="ButsuruiShoko"|[[:ja:越谷吾山|Koshigaya Gozan]] (1775) ''Butsurui Shōko'' 物類称呼, Book 2, "Animals 動物".<ref name="ButsuruiShoko-KojiRuien"/>}} or '''{{transl|ja|kataro}}'''.<ref name="HonzokomokuShakugi"/>

The alternate name {{nihongo||水天宮|suitengū|extra={{lit}} "water-heavenly-palace"}}<ref name="tsutsumi2024"/>{{Refn|Foster gives {{Transliteration|ja|suitengu}}<ref name="foster1998-ono-1994"/> but the u needs be indicated as long vowel to avoid confusion the name means a type of watery ''[[tengu]]''.}} is localized around [[Kurume, Fukuoka]].{{sfnp|Ishikawa|1985|p=85}}

The ''kappa'' was also known by [[simian]]-sounding names such as '''{{transl|ja|enkō}}''' ([[Kōchi Prefecture|Kōchi]], [[Ehime Prefecture|Ehime]], SE [[Yamaguchi Prefecture]]{{efn|[[Suō Province]]}}<ref name="HonzokomokuShakugi"/><ref name="yanagita1942"/>) or var. '''{{transl|ja|enko}}''' ([[Matsuyama, Ehime]]<ref name="HonzokomokuShakugi"/> with either of these forms found also in  (Shimane, Tottori, and W Yamaguchi{{efn|[[Nagato Province]]}}),<ref name="yanagita1942"/>{{sfnp|Ishida|1966|p=157}} These name derive from {{nihongo|{{linktext|猿猴}}|enkō}} meaning "apes and monkeys", and in the modern age where these names are current, the local lore had reported these creature to be ape-like.<ref name="yanagita1942"/> Ironically it is also said that the ''kappa'' and the ape-kind are mortal enemies.<ref name="yanagita1942"/><ref>{{harvp|Ishida|1966|p=159}}; {{harvp|Ishida|2017|p=215}}</ref>

Some regions employ the term '''{{transl|ja|suiko}}'''  with widespread examples from [[Tōhoku region]] to [[Kyushu|Kyūshū]]. In the local [[water deity]] worship found in [[Aomori Prefecture]], the {{interlanguage link|Suiko-sama|ja|水虎様}} or "Exalted Water Tiger" is the deified form of the kappa.<ref name="murakami2000" /> In the [[Tsugaru dialect]], the pronunciation of this deity is corrupted to {{transl|ja|Osshiko-sama}}.<ref name="sakamoto1986"/> During the Edo Period, it was commonplace to use ''[[shuihu|suiko]]'' (literally "water tiger", a semi-aquatic mythical creature in Chinese lore) as a [[Stilted speech|stilted]] [[Chinese language|sinitic]] translation for ''kappa'' (cf. {{section link||''Suiko'' as Chinese name}} below).

In Ehime Prefecture, the ''kappa'' is sometimes called  {{Transliteration|ja|kawauso}} (var. {{Transliteration|ja|kawaso}}), which is usually the term for 'otter'.{{sfnp|Yamaguchi N.|2010|p=186}}<ref name="foster1998-ono-1994"/>{{sfnp|Foster|2024|p=197}} It is also called ''kawauso'' as well as ''kawako'' in a version of the tale from Shimane Prefecture.{{sfnp|Ishikawa|1985|p=106}}

In some areas, the ''kappa'' is called by the same name as the [[soft-shell turtle]] (which in standard Japanese is called {{transl|ja|suppon}}), namely: '''{{transl|ja|game}}''' ([[Toyama Prefecture|Toyama]], [[Ishikawa Prefecture|Ishikawa]], Fukuoka);{{sfnp|Aramata|2019|p=146}}<ref>{{harvp|Ishida|2017|p=209}}: Ecchū Province, i.e. Toyama Prefecture</ref>{{sfnp|Kyōgoku|Tada|2000|p=9}} '''{{transl|ja|dochigame}}''' (Gifu,{{sfnp|Kyōgoku|Tada|2000|p=9}} [[Hokuriku region]]{{sfnp|Yamaguchi N.|2010|p=186}}); '''{{transl|ja|dangame}}'''<ref name="foster1998-ono-1994"/>{{sfnp|Foster|2024|p=196}} (Okayama).{{sfnp|Kyōgoku|Tada|2000|p=9}}{{sfnp|Ishida|2017|p=209}} Thus in these places, the terrapin-based names are a giveaway that the ''kappa'' is locally considered to be very turtle-like.{{sfnp|Ishida|2017|p=209}}

The terms '''{{transl|ja|dochirobe}}''', ''game'', and '''{{transl|ja|dochi}}''' (var. '''{{transl|ja|dotsuchi}}''') are used interchangeably in the area of Gifu, Toyama, and Ishikawa Prefectures.{{sfnp|Kappa renpō kyōwakoku|1991|p=69}}{{sfnp|Martial|1999|p=23}} This ''dochirobe'' (etc.) is reputedly a red-bellied creature with lush flowing tail,{{sfnp|Ishikawa|1985|p=60}} but when it attains 1000 years of age transforms into a full-fledged ''kappa'',{{sfnp|Martial|1999|p=23}} known locally as '''{{transl|ja|Kārabōzu}}''',{{efn|{{langx|ja|カーラボーズ}}. This appears to be a corruption of {{transl|ja|Kawara-bōzu}} or "riverbank boy/boy monk/baldie".}} whose head resembles the reddish apish creature with a ''[[shōjō]]''-like face and a saucer atop its head to hold water, but otherwise more or less human-shaped.{{Refn|[[:ja:高崎正秀|Takasaki, Masahide]], folklore of [[Toyama (city)]] {{harvp|Takasaki et al.|1928}} p. 185. Bibliographical details via {{URL|1=https://www.nichibun.ac.jp/YoukaiCard/2240171.html|2=Data ID 2240171}}, [[:ja:怪異・妖怪伝承データベース|The Database of Folktales of Mysterious Phenomena and Yōkai]]@[[International Research Center for Japanese Studies]].}}{{sfnp|Ishikawa|1985|p=60}} In Gifu Prefecture, their '''{{transl|ja|kawaranbe}}''' (genuine ''kappa'') is distinguished from the ''dochi'' which is considered an almost-''kappa''.{{sfnp|Ishida|2017|p=209}} Another variant name of this group is the aforementioned ''dochigame'' (Cf. also {{transl|ja|medochi}} under {{section link||Similar creatures}}).

The kappa is also called {{transl|ja|komahiki}}, meaning "steed-puller", attested locally around the [[Matsumae Domain|Matsumae region]],<ref name="sasama2005"/><ref name="NihonShinbutsu-komahiki"/> from the ''kappa''{{'}}s reputed practice of trying to drag horses into water.<ref name="sasama2005"/><ref name=foster1998-ono-1994/>

===Similar creatures===
Akin to the ''kappa'' are the local versions called the ''[[hyōsube]]'' in southern Kyūshū (and Saga Prefecture further north<ref name="aramata-map-hyosube"/>),<ref>{{harvp|Orikuchi|1966|p=317}}; {{harvp|Orikuchi|2003|p=252}}</ref><ref name="sasatani1958"/> as well as the {{interlanguage link|medochi|ja|メドチ|lt=''medochi''}} of northern Tōhoku region.{{sfnp|Chiba|1988|p=21}} The name {{transl|ja|medochi}} and variants ({{transl|ja|midzushi, shintsuchi, mintsuchi, dochi}}) are grouped together as names derving from ''[[mizuchi]]'', a mythical water-serpent or dragon.<ref name="minakata1917"/><ref>{{harvp|Orikuchi|1966|pp=315–316}}; {{harvp|Orikuchi|2003|p=251}}</ref>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|{{harvp|Foster|1998|p=2}}, {{harvp|Foster|2024|pp=159–160}} and {{harvp|Foster|2024|pp=197–198}} quote from the account of ''mizuchi'' in the ''[[Nihon Shoki|Nihon shoki]]'' and discusses it as a primordial precursor of the ''kappa'' or a "pre-kappa".}} Of these, the subtype ''dochi'' (Gifu Prefecture, etc.、{{SfnRef|Ishida|2017|p=209}}) was already discussed above.

There are also the [[Wakayama Prefecture]] version called {{interlanguage link|kashanbo|ja|カシャンボ|lt=''kashanbo''}}<ref name="aramata-map-kashanbo"/> and the [[Ibaraki Prefecture]] version {{interlanguage link|neneko|ja|禰々子|lt=''neneko''}}.<ref name="aramata-map-neneko"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|{{interlanguage link|Akamatsu Sōtan|ja|赤松宗旦}} (d. 1862)'s {{interlanguage link|Tonegawa Zushi|ja|利根川図志|lt=''Tonegawa zushi''}} ("gazetteer of the Tone River", pub. 1855), Book 1 gives an illustrated account of the {{transl|ja|neneko}}, which Teiri Nakamura considers to be derivative, i.e., a terminal development (after multiple copying) of the ''kappa'' form which he labels A-type Fig.(u) in the work ''Kappa kikiawase''.{{sfnp|Nakamura|1996|p=360}} The original illustrations of  ''Kappa kikiawase'' are not extant, but their copies are retained in ''Suiko kōryaku'' (Cf. {{section link||Iconography}} below).}}

A {{interlanguage link|seko (folklore)|ja|セコ|lt=''seko''}} is the winter-time transformation of the ''kappa'' according to the folklore of Kyūshū, where it is said that the creatures remove themselves into the mountains during the cold climate and returning to the rivers in the spring (Cf. {{section link||Wintering in the mountains}}). The {{interlanguage link|kenmun|ja|ケンムン|lt=''kenmun''}} ({{transl|ja|kenmon}})  of the [[Amami Islands]]{{sfnp|Shiina|2013|p=77}} also exhibits this wintering behavior, and in the illustrated commentary of the creature in the {{interlanguage link|Nantō Zatsuwa|ja|南島雑話|lt=''Nantō zatsuwa''}}, it is equated to the {{transl|ja|kawatarō}} and {{transl|ja|yamawaro}} ("mountain boy").{{efn|This work labels the creature in ''kanji'' as "{{lang|zh|水蝹}}" (Chinese mythical creature, discussed earlier), but depending on the manuscript, its reading in fine print (''furigana'') is given as {{transl|ja|kenmon}}.<ref name="shimono2005"/>}}{{Refn|''{{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=PJwyAQAAIAAJ&q=けんもん|2=Nantō zatsuwa}}'', in: Tanigawa (1988). ''Nihon shomin seikatsu-shi shiryō shūsei'' 日本庶民生活史料集成, '''1''': 6, and Vol. '''20'''(Supplement) where Torao Haraguchi<!--原口虎雄--> of Kagoshima University supplies a summary.{{sfnp|Tanigawa|1988|p=260}}}}

In [[Shimominochi District, Nagano]], the local version of ''kappa'' is called {{transl|ja|sēshin}} or {{transl|ja|sējin}} which is apparently a corruption of {{transl|ja|suijin}} ("water deity").{{sfnp|Ishikawa|1985|p=51}}{{sfnp|Komatsu|2000|p=378}}

==Appearance and traits==
{{For|Past image representations and their history|#Iconography}}
[[File:8.Kappa.jpg|thumb|Kappa (かはつは) from ''[[Bakemono no e]]'' ({{lang|ja|化物之繪}}, c. 1700), Harry F. Bruning Collection of Japanese Books and Manuscripts, [[L. Tom Perry Special Collections Library|L. Tom Perry Special Collections]], [[Harold B. Lee Library]], [[Brigham Young University]].|alt=]]
[[File:Kitagawa Utamaro 喜多川歌麿の春画 no.944.jpg|thumb|260px|right|Two scaly-skinned ''kappa'' violate an ''[[Ama (diving)|ama]]'' diver　underwater as her companion looks on from above.{{right|{{small|—Unsigned ''[[shunga]]'' erotic art "Abalone divers ({{transl|ja|awabi-tori}})" (1788) of the ''[[Utamakura (Utamaro)|Utamakura]]'' series, attrib. to [[Utamaro]], pub. [[Tsutaya Jūzaburō]]}}<ref name="british_museum-utamakura"/><ref name="asano&clark1995"/>}}]]

The currently popularized image of the ''kappa'' describes it as roughly humanoid in form and about the size of a child.<ref name="tsutsumi2024"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|{{harvp|Kyōgoku|Tada|2008}} writes "height of about a 2, 3-year old child<!--二、三歳くらいの児童の背丈-->”as if it is toddler sized,<ref name="kyogoku&tada2008"/> but the 18th century ''[[Wakan Sansai Zue|Wakan sansai zue]]'' stated it the size of "about a 10 year-old",{{Refn|name="terashima"}}{{sfnp|Shiina|2013|p=76}} while ''Butsurui koshō'' gave it as about a 4, 5 year old.<ref name="ButsuruiShoko-KojiRuien"/>}}

They are typically greenish in color{{sfnp|Foster|2015|p=88}}{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|p=23}}<ref name="kyogoku&tada2008"/> (or yellow-blue/yellow-green{{sfnp|Foster|1998|p=4}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The original source {{nihongo||青黄色|ao-kiiro}},<ref name="suzuki_bontaro1935"/> and this could been yellow-blue, but perhaps more likely yellow-green.}} or even red in some locales ([[Tōno, Iwate]]{{sfnp|Shiina|2013|p=77}}{{sfnp|Tsutsumi|2024|p=33}}<!--or Okinawa-->).

They often have a pointed{{sfnp|Ōshima|1988|p=75}} or beaked mouth.<ref name="okuno1988"/>{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|p=23}}<ref>{{harvp|Foster|1998|p=4 and Fig. 2 showing manga artist [[Shigeru Mizuki]]'s version. {{harvp|Foster|2024|p=159}} and {{harvp|Foster|2024|p=197}} discusses how the "beak" and the stock image of the ''kappa'' in Japan has become familiar to students in Taiwan University, via anime, etc.</ref> They are also usually equipped with webbed hands and feet, and bears a [[Turtle shell|turtle]]-like [[carapace]] on their back.{{sfnp|Foster|2015|p=88}}

=== Head dish ===
{{See also|#Bowl or hat origins of dish}}
They have an indentation (so-called "dish" or "saucer") atop their head to retain water{{Refn|name="terashima"}}<ref name="okuno1988"/><ref name="tsutsumi2024"/>{{sfnp|Foster|2024|pp=195–196}} even when they venture on land, and when the water is full, they exhibit mighty strength (at sumo wrestling, etc.),{{Refn|''Butsurui shōko'' (1775):“其かたち、四、五歳ばかりの[童]（わらは）のごとく、[頭]（かしら）の毛赤うして、頂（いただき）に凹（くぼ）なる皿有り。水を[貯]（たくは）ふる時は力はなはだつよし。性相撲を好み..”<ref name="ButsuruiShoko-KojiRuien"/>}} but if the water spills, the kappa is weakened, or it may even die.<ref>{{harvp|Foster|1998|p=4}}; {{harvp|Foster|2024|pp=195–196}}</ref>{{sfnp|Ishikawa|1985|p=74}} From around their bald depression, strands of long hair hang down.<ref name="okuno1988"/>

{{nihongo||老媼茶話|Rōō sawa|extra="Old Women's	tea-talk", [[Kanpō]] 2/1742}} is one early work that refers to the strategy of upsetting the water in the dish in order to weaken the ''kappa'' to facilitate its capture.{{sfnp|Yanagita|1942|p=63}}

=== Sliminess and odor ===
Kappa are said to be slick or slimy,<ref name="kyogoku&tada2008"/>{{sfnp|Foster|2015|p=88}} (though possibly scaly<ref name="frederic2002"/><ref name="Volker"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Scaliness is dated, as turtle-frog-like depiction eventually became prevalent.{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|pp=39–41}}}}) and smell gamy or fishy.{{sfnp|Foster|1998|p=4}}{{Refn|Lore of Tokyo from the shōwa era gives {{nihongo||生臭い|namagusai|extra="gamy"}}.<ref name="suzuki_bontaro1935"/>}}

Their gaminess is referred to in {{interlanguage link|Yamato Honzō|ja|大和本草|lt=''Yamato honzō''}} (pub. 1709), which states that "the gaminess<!--腥（なまぐさ）臭--> saturates the nose, and trying to stab it with a ''[[wakizashi]]'' fails to hit, and since the body is covered in slime, it is difficult to capture".<ref name="kaibara1709"/> But even though sword cuts fail to deliver wounds to it, a sharpened hemp-shaft will penetrate it, according to the {{interlanguage link|Wakun no Shiori|ja|和訓栞|lt=''Wakun no shiori''}} dictionary (1778–1887).{{sfnp|Mozume|1916|p=310}}
{{Refn|name="terashima"}}
=== Joined arms ===
According to some accounts, a ''kappa's'' arms are connected to each other through the torso and can slide from one side to the other. That is to say, if one tugs on one arm, the other arm begins to shrink, and even come loose and fall straight out.{{Refn|According to the ''[[Wakan Sansai Zue|Wakan sansai zue]]'' ("Sino-Japanese illustrations of the three realms", 1712),<ref name="terashima1712"/>{{sfnp|Shiina|2013|p=76}} also cited by {{harvp|Foster|1998|p=6}}}}<ref name="aramata1988"/><ref name="kyogoku&tada2008"/>

It has been conjectured that this is an introduced piece of lore taken from fabulous Chinese descriptions concerning the [[gibbon]].<ref name="aramata1988"/>{{sfnp|Aramata|2019|p=146}}{{Refn|"援、テナガザル、エンコウ（猿猴）を「通臂」とする" in ''Jūshū Honzō kōmoku keimō'' 重修本草綱目啓蒙 35, Supplement to Apes and Prodigies 寓類怪類附録. quoted via {{URL|1=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/897895/1/26|2=''Koji ruien''}}.}}

=== Apish subtypes ===
As aforementioned, the ape-like form has survived in folklore into the modern age in the Chūgoku and Shikoku regions where the ''enkō'' nickname has remained current.<ref name="yanagita1942"/> The ''enkō''-type ''kappa'' is based on ape, but endowed with river-dwelling characteristics; this relationship is somewhat analogous to the Kyūshū region lore of the mountain spirit (''[[yamawaro]]'') becoming the river-dwelling ''kappa'', called either {{transl|ja|kawawaro}} or {{transl|ja|hyōsubo}} depending on zone (as discussed further under {{section link||Wintering in the mountains}}).<ref name="miyamoto_tsuneichi1956"/>

==Behavior==
[[File:Takagi Toranosuke capturing a kappa underwater in the Tamura river.jpg|thumb|Capturing a ''kappa'' alive. [[Utagawa Kuniyoshi]]]]
''Kappa'' are regarded as dwelling in some body of water, a river, pond, swamp, pool,<ref>{{harvp|Foster|1998|p=3}}; {{harvp|Foster|2015|p=157}}; {{harvp|Foster|2024|p=195}}</ref>{{sfnp|Yamaguchi N.|2010|p=222}}<ref name="tsutsumi2024"/> sometimes even salt water.{{Refn|Nagasaki Prefecture. The ''kappa'' wife of [[Iki Island]],<ref>{{harvp|Foster|1998|p=3}} citing {{harvp|Orikuchi|1966}} [1955] ''Works'', '''3''': 290.</ref> The ''kappa'' maids of [[Hirado, Nagasaki|Hirado]].{{sfnp|Orikuchi|1966|pp=290, 313}} The sea ''kappa'' of [[Tsushima Island]] port.{{sfnp|Tsutsumi|2024|p=33}}}}{{Refn|Ibaraki Prefecture. The see ''kappa'' of Hitachi Province said to be black.{{sfnp|Yanagita|1942|p=45}} The kappa allegedly caught in Mito Bay in 1801 (cf. {{section link||Ibaraki Prefecture}}).{{sfnp|Ishida|2017|p=209}}}}{{Refn|[[Hakata Bay]].<ref name="fukuoka1"/><ref name="fukuoka2"/>}}

{{anchors|As a menace}}Though sometimes menacing, they may also behave amicably towards humans.<ref name="frederic2002"/> Their actions range from comparatively minor misdemeanors, such as looking up women's [[kimono]] if they venture too near to water, to outright malevolence, such as drowning people and animals, kidnapping children, raping women and at times eating human flesh.<ref name="ashkenazi2003"/>

As for the menacing part,  ''kappa'' have been go-to monster to be blamed for any drownings, and were often said to try to lure people into water and pull them in with their great skill at [[wrestling]].<ref name="ashkenazi2003"/> They are sometimes said to take their victims for the purpose of drinking their blood, eating their livers, or gaining power by taking their {{nihongo|''shirikodama''|尻子玉|}}, a mythical ball said to contain the soul, which is located inside the anus.<ref name="ashkenazi2003"/><ref name="nara2007"/> ''Kappa'' have been used to warn children of the dangers lurking in rivers and lakes.<ref name="Hanami"/><ref name="ashkenazi2003"/>

The more sinister view of them tended to be found in older literature, e.g. [[Kaibara Ekken]] (1709),{{Refn|name="kaibara"|[[Kaibara Ekken]] (1709). {{interlanguage link|Yamato Honzō|ja|大和本草|lt=''Yamato Honzō''}}<ref name="kaibara1709"/>{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|p=27}}}} since gradually over the Edo Period, a more comical image of the ''kappa'' had developed.{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|pp=40–42}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The argument that bungling mischief-makers don't pose a credible threat will be discussed shortly, below.}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Whereas {{harvp|Foster|1998|pp=15–16}} writes of "grotesque and malicious creature of [genuine] folklore", so that his position here is that the mischief-makers of folklore are not completely benign; he argues that ''kawaii'' (cuteness) only came with the fictive folklore developed by manga artists and others, and it is only these later popularized or commercialized versions that are left with only their "benign characteristics".}} According to these older writings, humans who survived the ''kappa'' could still sustain some sort of a mental aftereffect like [[stupor]] or [[insanity]].{{Refn|name="kaibara"}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Ekiken here prescribes grinding the bark of the ''[[shikimi]]'' plant's bark into an incense, then ingesting the ground or ashes mixed in water, but this plant is known to be toxic, especially when the seeds were passed off as [[star anise]] spice.}}

Much of the known modern folklore concerning the ''kappa'' involves them bungling in their mischief and being punished,{{sfnp|Tsutsumi|2024|p=33}}{{sfnp|Foster|1998|p=8}} e.g., attempting a {{section link||horse-pulling}} or stroking the backside of someone in the toilet, and getting its hand chopped off,{{sfnp|Nakamura|1996|p=52}} or being captured. In return for forgiveness, they typically disclosed the recipe to the {{interlanguage link|kappa's wonder drug|ja|河童の妙薬|lt=''kappa''{{'}}s wonder drug}},<ref name="foster-medicine">{{harvp|Foster|1998|p=8}};  {{harvp|Foster|2015|p=161}}; {{harvp|Foster|2024|pp=201–202}}</ref>{{sfnp|Tsutsumi|2024|p=33}}{{sfnp|Nakamura|1996|p=52}} or make apologetic vows of good behavior,{{sfnp|Nakamura|1996|p=49}} submit a letter of apology (written oath<ref name="hearn1894"/>),<ref name="foster-medicine"/>{{sfnp|Tsutsumi|2024|p=33}} bring gifts of fish,<ref>{{harvp|Nakamura|1996|p=71}}: "Fish endowment 魚類の贈与" type.</ref> or help out with work in the fields<ref name="foster-medicine"/> ({{section link||Providing labor}}), etc. (See further under {{section link||Grateful ''kappa''}} below).

Although the cliché is for the ''kappa'' to beg the return of its lost hand,{{sfnp|Nakamura|1996|p=50}} there are "specimens" everywhere in Japan purporting to be the mummified hands of the ''kappa'', including those said to have been cut off by someone long ago (cf. {{section link||Mummies}}).{{sfnp|Yamaguchi N.|2010|pp=204–207}}{{Refn|Also there are perhaps three or so purported mummies of the whole ''kappa''.{{sfnp|Yamaguchi N.|2010|pp=196–203}}}}

=== Grateful ''kappa'' {{anchors|Good deeds}}===
Once befriended, ''kappa'' may perform any number of tasks for human beings.
==== Medicine ====
<!--{{main|:ja:河童の妙薬}}} (''kappa''{{'s}} wonder drug-->
Typically the ''kappa'' has its arm sliced off (by a samurai, etc.) and delivers up a wonder medicine to treat sword injuries.{{sfnp|Tsutsumi|2024|p=33}}{{sfnp|Nakamura|1996|p=52, 172}}<ref name="tanaka_iwao1964"/> It may be some other treatment, e.g. for {{illm|wind stroke|ja|中風}} (debility, etc. after [[stroke]]) ([[Ina, Nagano]]),<ref name="miyashita1967"/> or for {{illm|gan (Chinese pathology)|ja|疳の虫|lt=''kan no mushi''}} ([[baby colic]]).<ref name="tanaka_iwao1964"/>

Tales about obtaining secret medicine from the ''kappa'' is ubiquitous throughout Japan.{{sfnp|Nakamura|1996|p=52}}<ref name="tanaka_iwao1964"/>{{Refn|Search query at [[:ja:怪異・妖怪伝承データベース|The Database of Folktales of Mysterious Phenomena and Yōkai]]@[[International Research Center for Japanese Studies]] and the "related data" apparatus can be used to find matching data, e.g., case of Futagochō 二子町, [[Kitakami, Iwate]]<ref name="miyagi-ken1956-minzoku3"/> which a certain blog missed in finding nearly 70 cases in 24 Prefectures.<ref name="saigetsudo2011"/>}}

{{anchors|#seiban_pic}}[[File:Sayo District Kappa.jpg|thumb|The ''kappa'' who bleeding from its arm-stump. ''Seiban Kaidan'' (1754)]]
There are old families purporting to have the secret medicine or its recipe learned from a ''kappa'' by an ancestor throughout the country,{{sfnp|Konno|1981|p=52}} e.g., the {{nihongo|Kashima|賀島}} family of {{illm|Tomioka, Tokushima|ja|富岡町 (阿南市)|lt=Tomioka}} town, [[Anan, Tokushima]].{{Refn|This family has the black iron-dust like medicine filled in a jar, labeled {{nihongo||即功散|Sokkōsan|extra={{lit}} "Immediate effect [medicinal] powder"}}.{{sfnp|Yamaguchi N.|2010|p=131}}<ref name="higashi2000"/> Photo of the medicine in jar in Miyamto (2013).<ref name="miyamoto_yukie2013"/> The same family also owns a purported skull of the ''[[gyūki]]''.{{sfnp|Yamaguchi N.|2010|p=131}}<ref name="higashi2000"/>}} Or tell of [[Traditional bone-setting|bone-setting]] techniques,{{sfnp|Foster|1998|p=8}}<ref name="ashkenazi2003"/> or other treatment methods learned  from the ''kappa''.{{sfnp|Tanaka I.|1964|pp=34–37}}

An old example is found in {{nihongo|Haruna Tadanari|春名忠成}}'s {{nihongo||西播怪談実記|Seiban Kaidan Jikki|extra="True Records of Kaidan in the Western Parts of Harima Province". [[Hōreki]] 4/1754}}, which relates that in [[Sayō, Hyōgo|Sayō District]] in western Harima Province,the ''kappa'', here called a {{nihongo||河虎|kawatora|extra="river tiger"}}, fails his attempt at horse-pulling, receives a sword-cut losing his right arm from a samurai (wrong arm shown severed in illustration,{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|p=33}} cf. fig. right), begs forgiveness, promises to cease with his misdeeds, and relinquishes the secret craft of the special bone-setting medicine, in ordered to have its severed arm restored.<ref name="yamazaki1928"/>{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|pp=33–34}}

Other regional examples are found from {{section link||Fukuoka Prefecture}}{{Refn|In ''Hakata saiken'', the tale concerning the harassed wife of Takatori Unshōan{{sfnp|Yanagita|1910|pp=52–53}}<ref name="krauss2015"/>}} or {{section link||Ibaraki Prefecture}}.{{Refn| the Iwase panacea balm.<ref name="saitama_kenritsu1993"/>}}

==== Writ of Apology ====
A captured ''kappa'' barters his release by offering a solemn pledge to never cause harm again (to the livestock, etc.), in folk legends all over Japan.{{sfnp|Yanagita|1963|p=27}}<ref name="foster-medicine"/> Typically the creature will submit a letter or writ of apology{{sfnp|Tsutsumi|2024|p=33}} (a {{illm|shōmon|ja|証文|lt=''shōmon''}}<ref name="takagi1913"/> or written oath<ref name="hearn1894"/>) and a number of such alleged documents as relics are preserved by old families and temples throughout Japan.{{sfnp|Konno|1981|p=52}}{{sfnp|Tsutsumi|2024|p=33}}

The ''kappa'' may also ensure water safety, i.e., protection from drownings (e.g. {{section link||Ibaraki Prefecture}}){{Refn|The''kappa'' pine tale.<ref name="akagi1991"/>}} {{section link||Fukuoka Prefecture}}.{{Refn|The writ at Sengan-ji, in Fukuoka city.<ref name="fukuoka1"/>}} 

==== Fish ====
The grateful creature may also bring back gifts of fish, often on top of the pledge of good behavior.{{sfnp|Foster|1998|p=8}}

{{section link||Fukuoka Prefecture}} offers a tale from Hakata Bay,<ref name="fukuoka2"/> as well as an old literary example from  ''Hakata saiken'' where the ''kappa'' brings  [[catfish]]. Foster gives an example from Ōita Prefecture where the ''kappa'' ceases to bring his fish gifts after the boy forgetfully leaves an iron knife around.<ref>{{harvp|Foster|1998|p=8}} citing {{harvp|Chiba|1988|pp=28–29}}</ref> Similarly the fish-giving stops after a fish is left on a deer [[antler]] hook (''kappa'' also hates antlers) in the {{section link||Fukui Prefecture}} example{{Refn|[[Mihama, Fukui|Mihama]] town, [[Mikata District, Fukui]]. Yoshioka family's written oath.{{sfnp|Ishikawa|1985|p=105}}}} as well as the tale attached to the {{illm|kappa komainu (Ehime)|ja|かっぱの狛犬|lt=''kappa komainu''}} in the Wakamiya Shrine of [[Akehama, Ehime]] (now part of [[Seiyo, Ehime|Seiyo]] city).<ref name="NihonSekibutsuZuten1995"/>

Further examples are from {{section link||Yamagata Prefecture}}.{{Refn|The physician Essai 悦斎<ref name="yamazaki1928"/><ref name="hinohara2014"/>}} Gifu Prefecture, [[Hida (region)|Hida Region]].{{Refn|Horse-pulling fails, delivers river fish.{{sfnp|Fujisawa|1959|p=333}}}}

Needless to say it is reputedly highly skilled at catching fish.{{sfnp|Nakamura|1995|p=110}}{{Refn|As an old attestation, the {{interlanguage link|Kasshi Yawa|ja|甲子夜話|lt=''Kasshi yawa''}} writes that an informant who was a duck-catcher by trade (probably from the [[Hirado Domain]] area) claimed it catches fish and shellfish by the water's edge.<ref name="KasshiYawa-65kan"/>}}{{Refn|Nakamura also writes "the fact it must be adept at river-fishing.. is deducible from the grateful [animal] motif of bringing river fish<!--川漁の上手であることは、.. 川魚持参の恩返しモチーフ推測できる-->".<ref>{{harvp|Nakamura|1995|p=111}}; {{harvp|Nakamura|1996|p=269}}</ref>}}

==== Providing labor ====
In other legends, the ''kappa'' has helped out with [[public works]], e.g., with the swamp[[land reclamation]] project around [[Kappa-dera|Sōgen-ji]] temple, cf. {{section link||Tokyo}}.<ref name="tsutsumi2024"/>

There is also a tale of the {{transl|ja|kappa muko-iri}} ("becoming bridegroom") theme (Ikeda-[[Aarne-Thompson]] motif 312B), where a farmer offers his daughter's hand in marriage to whoever successfully [[irrigation|irrigates]] his dried up fields.<ref name="foster-medicine"/> And the ''kappa'' also helps out with more general chores in the fields,<ref name="foster-medicine"/> as in the tale in {{section link||Shimane Prefecture}}.<!--田畑の仕事--><ref name="takagi1913"/><!--野良仕事--><ref name="araki1982"/>

===Sumo-wrestling===
{{anchor|kuniyoshi_keyamura_BritMus}}[[File:Print (BM 2008,3037.21220).jpg|thumb|left|{{interlanguage link|Keyamura Rokusuke|ja|毛谷村六助}} and ''kappa''{{right|{{small|―[[Utagawa Kuniyoshi]], ''Honchō kendō ryakuden: Keyamura Rokusuke''(1843–1847). Held by [[British Museum]].}}}}]]
The ''kappa'' is especially known for its love of sumo-wrestling.<ref name="ButsuruiShoko-KojiRuien"/>{{Refn|Foster (2008) citing {{harvp|Ishikawa|1985|pp=163–176}} and {{harvp|Iida|1993|pp=153–160}}<ref name="foster2008"/> {{harvp|Foster|2015|p=157}}, {{harvp|Foster|2024|pp=195–196}}.}}

One tactic for defeating the ''kappa'' at wrestling is to trick it into taking a bow, making its head dish water spill, in order to weaken it before the bout.{{sfnp|Foster|2024|pp=195–196}}

Another tactic told locally in certain places is that the  ''kappa'' can be beat in sumo wrestling if the opponent prepares himself by eating rice offered to the Buddhist altar.{{Refn|One example gives the informant as an elderly woman from Iwagi District, Hiroshima {{sic}} but only [[Iwagi, Ehime]] exists that borders [[Innoshima, Hiroshima]].<ref name="yamazaki_yoshikuni1931"/>}}

===Cucumber===
Folk beliefs claim the [[cucumber]] as their traditional favorite meal.<ref name="ashkenazi2003"/>{{sfnp|Foster|2024|p=201}}{{sfnp|Takeda|1988|p=12}} At festivals, offerings of cucumber are frequently made to the ''kappa''.{{sfnp|Foster|1998|p=5}} Sometimes the ''kappa'' is said to have other favorite foods, such as  [[eggplant]], ''[[soba]]'' ([[buckwheat]] noodles), ''[[adzuki bean]]'', or ''[[kabocha]]'' (Japanese pumpkin).<ref>{{harvp|Foster|1998|p=5}} also gives ''[[nattō]]'' ({{lang|ja|納豆}}, fermented soybeans), citing {{harvp|Takeda|1988|p=12}}, but the latter does not list it and has ''adzuki'' ({{lang|ja|小豆}}) and [[maize]](''tōmorokoshi'') instead. There follows a list of what it hates, including ''adzuki'' rice, Buddhist altar offered rice, and other rice dishes.</ref> Already in the ''Wakan sansai zue'' (1712) it is stated that ''kawatarō'' "steals squashes, eggplants, and cereals from the fields<!--瓜・茄・圃穀-->",{{Refn|name="terashima"}}{{sfnp|Shiina|2013|p=76}} while the ''Honzō kōmoku shakugi'' records its favorite foods as cucumber{{efn|Here written {{lang|ja|黄瓜}}, {{lit}} "yellow squash" rather than the now standard {{lang|ja|胡瓜}}, {{lit}}  "Persian squash".}} and {{illm|Saijō-gaki|ja|西条柿}} ([[Variety (botany)|variety]] of [[persimmon]]).<ref name="HonzokomokuShakugi"/>

During the observance of [[Obon]], the [[Obon#Shōryō Uma and Ushi Uma|{{transl|ja|shōryō uma}}]] ("spirit horse") and "spirit cattle" crafted from cucumbers and eggplants are placed on altars for appeasing ancestral spirits. In most places (outside of Kantō Region) these vegetable effigies end up being sent afloat on the river or at sea.{{sfnp|Gorai|Sakurai|Ōshima|Miyata|1979|p=127}} Whereas in Edo, superstitious folk used to send buy cucumbers and send them down the river in order to appease the ''kappa'', so as to avoid drownings or water accidents.<ref name="sasama2003"/> Within Tokyo, there still remained in some places the custom of writing names of family members on the cucumbers being floated to beg especially their children from getting their ''shirikodama'' extracted.<ref name="iwashina1953"/>

In some regions, it was customary to eat cucumbers before swimming as protection, but in others it was believed that this act would guarantee an attack.{{sfnp|Foster|1998|p=5}}

The origin of cucumber preference according to one explanation is that the ''kappa'' is a debased form of the water god,{{Refn|name="ishida-apud-nipponica"|{{harvp|Ishida|1966}} [1948]<ref name="Nipponica-KappaKomabikiKo"/>}} and the first harvest of the cucumber was always considered an indispensable offering to the water god.{{sfnp|Ishikawa|1985|pp=231–237}} The tradition has continued into the modern day that the first harvest must first be offered on 1 June or 15 June at the altars and coves for the ''kappa'' before humans are allowed to eat it, and some regions consider it as a gift to the Suijin water god.{{sfnp|Konno|1981|p=54}}

===Shirikodama===
[[File:Masayoshi(1788)-Yōkai chakutōchō-fol04a-kawataro.jpg|thumb|"Kawatarō extracts the shirikodama" {{right|{{small|—Illustrated by {{interlanguage link|Kitao Masayoshi|ja|北尾政美}}, ''Bakemonno chakutōchō''(1788)}}}}]]
The image of the ''kappa'' extracting the {{nihongo||尻子玉/尻小玉|shirikodama|extra={{lit}} "buttocks-wee-ball"}} is a standard motif also.<ref name="okuno1988"/>{{Refn|Glossed as "a ball once thought to be at the mouth of the anus", {{harvp|Foster|1998|pp=6–7}}, citing Kindaichi(1964), ''New selected Japanese language dictionary'' 6th ed., p. 564.}} This ''shirikodama'' is a fictive organ, though the folklore claims that a person bereft of it becomes {{transl|ja|funuke}} ({{lit.}} "organ-less", meaning stupefied or utterly unmotivated){{sfnp|Ishikawa|1985|pp=69, 120, 129}} and the person may even die.{{sfnp|Ishikawa|1985|p=129}}{{sfnp|Foster|1998|p=7}}

It is also said the ''kappa'' eats this ''shirikodama'', being its favorite food alongside cucumbers.{{sfnp|Ishikawa|1985|pp=129–131}}{{sfnp|Aramata|2019|p=146}}

The {{nihongo||夭怪着到牒|Bakemonno chakutōchō|extra="Monster Catalogue". pub. [[Tenmei]] 8/1788}} depicts the scene of "Kawatarō extracts the shirikodama"{{efn|{{lang|ja|河太郎尻子玉を抜く}}.}} (Fig. right),{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|p=35}} and according to the accompanying text, the ''kappa'' drags humans into water and devour their innards, and the victims are unable to ascend to heaven, becoming wandering ghosts that cannibalize each other.<ref>{{cite book|author=Anonymous |others=Illustrated by [[:ja:北尾政美|Kitao Masayoshi]] |title=Bakemonno chakutōchō, 2-kan |script-title=ja:夭怪着到牒 2巻 |publisher=<!--s.n.--> |date=1788<!--天明8--> |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/8929732/1/5 |at=fol. 4r}}</ref><ref name="kabat1999"/> It is unusual to find such explicit depiction of the extraction scene.<!--本図のようにその光景が露骨に描かれるものは珍しい--><ref name="kabat1999"/>

In ''[[Hokusai Manga|Hokusai manga]]'' (Volume 12,<ref name="HokusaiManga12"/>), there is an image of "The method of fishing a ''kappa''",{{efn|{{lang|ja|河童を鉤（つ）ルの法}}.}} where a man is squatting atop something like a [[Swing (seat)|swing]] sticking out his butt to lure out the ''kappa'' which is seen emerging from water.<ref name="kagawa2022"/>

This superstition of a butt-ball organ may derive from the fact that drowned cadavers often have an "open anus" due to distended [[sphincter]] muscles.<ref>{{harvp|Foster|1998|p=7}} citing {{harvp|Ishikawa|1985|p=120}}; {{harvp|Foster|2024|p=202}}</ref>{{sfnp|Aramata|2019|p=147}} A similar observation has been made by [[Minakata Kumagusu]].<ref name="minakata1917"/>{{Refn|He notes that according to folk tradition, a "water snake" is held responsible for drownings, just like a ''kappa'' (attested in the old essay, ''Zen'an zuihitsu''), while the mythical {{transl|ja|kawahebi}} ({{lit}} "river-snake") of Echigo (Niigata Prefecture) and the {{transl|ja|kawahebi}} ({{lit}} "flying-snake"[?]) of Dewa ([[Yamagata Prefecture]]) devours human innards from the anus (attested in {{nihongo||さへづり草|Saezuri gusa}}). Minakata conjectures that in reality, some sort of snake or fish could conceivably enter a drowned victim's anus and start feeding, and if such disturbed remains are found, it could be attributed to the doings of a ''kappa'' monster.<ref name="minakata1917"/>}}

===Horse-pulling===
{{external media| float = right| width = 240px| image1=https://books.google.com/books/content?id=GqsMAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA350-IA1&img=1&zoom=3&sig=ACfU3U1T1wneRoJ-aEqlFmwJIDP09atJJg&ci=79%2C140%2C762%2C1147&edge=0 "The kappa and his victim", painting by [[Evelyn Paul]] (1912)<ref name="davis1912"/>}}
One characteristic is their habit of trying to pull or drag horses and cattle into water.<ref>{{harvp|Foster|1998|pp=1, 8}}; {{harvp|Foster|2015|p=157}}; {{harvp|Foster|2024|p=195}}</ref><ref name="tsutsumi2024"/>{{sfnp|Kappa renpō kyōwakoku|1991|p=96}} The tale from Nishikawatsu,<ref name="takagi1913"/><ref name="araki1982"/> ({{section link||Shimane Prefecture}}) was given in an abridged version as a tale from "Kawachi" village in [[Izumo Province]] by [[Lafcadio Hearn]] (1894).<ref name="hearn1894"/><ref name="davis1912" >{{cite book|last=Davis |first=F. Hadland |author-link=<!--F. Hadland Davis--> |others=Illustrated by [[Evelyn Paul]] |chapter=XXIX:Supernatural Beings § The Kappa |title=Myths and Legends of Japan |place=New York |year=1912 |publisher=T.Y. Crowell Co. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GqsMAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA350 |pages=350–351 |archive-url=https://archive.org/stream/mythslegendsofja00davirich#page/350/mode/2up |archive-date=15 August 2007}}</ref>

Legend or folktale exhibiting this motif is ubiquitous<ref name="Kappalegend">{{harvp|Ishida|Yoshida|1950|pp=1–2, 114–115}}</ref> and found from the [[Tōhoku region]] ([[Iwashiro Province]], [[Rikuchū Province]]), [[Kantō region]] ([[Hitachi Province]], [[Musashi Province]], [[Sagami Province]]), [[Chūbu region]] ([[Echigo Province]], [[Suruga Province]], [[Mikawa Province]], [[Kai Province]], [[Shinano Province]], [[Hida Province]], [[Mino Province]], [[Noto Province]]）, in [[Yamashiro Province]] (Kyoto), [[Harima Province]] (Hyōgo Prefecture), [[Chūbu region]] (Izumo, [[Nagato Province]]), Shikoku ([[Awa Province (Tokushima)|Awa Province]], [[Tosa Province]]), [[Hizen Province]] (Saga and Nagasaki prefectures), etc.{{sfnp|Ishida|2017|p=31}}

As in the Izumo version, many versions call for the ''kappa'' to be dragged by the horse to the stable where it is most vulnerable, and it is there it is forced to submit a {{section link||Writ of apology}} not to misbehave.{{sfnp|Foster|1998|p=8, 10}}

Already the ''Wakan sansai zue'' (1712) has recorded the folklore that the ''kawatarō'' makes use of his stretchable arm to draw in cattle and horses, sucking all blood from the [[Rump (animal)|rumps]].{{Refn|name="terashima"}}{{sfnp|Shiina|2013|p=76}}

===Weaknesses===
The ''kappa'' reputedly abhors [[iron]] and [[deer]] [[antler]].<ref name="yanagita1914"/><ref name="gunji1995"/> The {{illm|Wakun no Shiori|ja|和訓栞|lt=''Wakun no shiori''}} (compiled from Edo to Meiji) writes that it hates deer antlers and [[cowpea]] (''sasage''). And if bladed weapons do not cut them, hemp stalks can pierce them, as aforementioned.{{sfnp|Mozume|1916|p=310}} The hemp stalk leaned against the door is effective at keeping the ''kappa'' away from visiting homes, according to the lore of {{section link||Shiga Prefecture}}.<ref name="KansoJigo"/>

The apes being their mortal enemies was also mentioned above.<ref name="yanagita1942"/>{{sfnp|Ishida|2017|p=215}}

===Defeating the kappa===
It was believed that there were a few means of escape if one was confronted with a ''kappa''. ''Kappa'' are obsessed with politeness, so if a person makes a deep bow, it will return the gesture. This results in the kappa spilling the water held in the "dish" (''sara'') on its head, rendering it unable to leave the bowing position until the plate is refilled with water from the river in which it lives. If a person refills it, the ''kappa'' will serve that person for all eternity.<ref name="ashkenazi2003"/> A similar weakness of the ''kappa'' involves its arms, which can easily be pulled from its body. If an arm is detached, the ''kappa'' will perform favors or share knowledge in exchange for its return.{{sfnp|Foster|1998|p=8}}

Another method involves ''[[shogi]]'' or ''[[sumo]]'' wrestling: a ''kappa'' sometimes challenges a human being to wrestle or engage in other tests of skill.<ref name="foster2008"/> This tendency is easily used to encourage the ''kappa'' to spill the water from its ''sara''. One notable example of this method is the folktale of a farmer who promises his daughter's hand in marriage to a ''kappa'' in return for the creature irrigating his land. The farmer's daughter challenges the ''kappa'' to submerge several gourds in water. When the ''kappa'' fails in its task, it retreats, saving the farmer's daughter from the marriage.{{sfnp|Foster|1998|p=5}} ''Kappa'' have also been driven away by their aversion to iron, sesame, or ginger.<ref>{{harvp|Foster|1998|p=6}}, citing Ōno (1994), p. 42</ref>

===Wintering in the mountains===
<!--{{main|seko (folklore)}}-->
In certain parts of the Japan, the appearance of the ''kappa'' in rivers is considered seasonal, as they are partly mountain-dwelling.{{sfnp|Konno|1981|p=325}}<ref name="papp2010"/> In late autumn or winter, they travel up the mountain and confine themselves there until later spring or early summer when they descend to the rivers.{{sfnp|Konno|1981|pp=62–65}} Their river-dwelling forms are referred to as {{transl|ja|seko/sekoko, sekonbo, karuko, kari/kariru}} or {{transl|ja|kobo}}.{{sfnp|Konno|1981|p=72}}

The name {{interlanguage link|seko (folklore)|ja|セコ|lt=''seko''}} is used in the [[Ōita Prefecture|Ōita]], Kumamoto, Miyazaki, and [[Nagasaki Prefecture|Nagasaki]] prefectures,{{sfnp|Konno|1981|p=72}}{{sfnp|Tanigawa|1988|p=496}} and ''seko'' (var. ''sekoko'') supposedly derives from the notion they shout out loud like {{interlanguage link|seko (hunter)|ja|勢子|lt=''seko''}}, or men who make loud noises to scare the game during the hunt.{{sfnp|Konno|1981|p=73}} In some parts of Kyūshū the ''kappa'' is called {{transl|ja|hyōsubo}}, and here also, the creature is said to become a ''[[yamawaro]]'' upon entering the mountain.<ref name="miyamoto_tsuneichi1956"/> Great hordes of these ''yamawaro'' are said to come down from the mountains, walking from rooftop to rooftop above the village homes to reach their rivers and become {{interlanguage link|garappa|ja|ガラッパ|lt=''garappa''}}, according to the lore around Kumamoto Prefecture.{{sfnp|Konno|1981|p=72}}

In [[Yoshino District, Nara]], it is said that the '''{{transl|ja|gantaro}}'''<!--ガンタロ--> enters the mountains to become {{transl|ja|yamataro}}<!--ヤマタロ-->.{{sfnp|Konno|1981|p=72}} In Wakayama, they become {{interlanguage link|kashanbo|ja|カシャンボ|lt=''keshanbo''}}.<ref name="yamaguchi2014"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The Wakayama dialect form is earlier given as {{transl|ja|kashanbo}}<!--カシャンボ-->, as explained in {{section link||Conflation with ''kasha''}}}}

==Iconography==

=== Broad classification ===
The 1820 work ''Suiko kōryaku'', etc., (explained further below) contain illustrated explanation of ''kappa'' broadly categorizable into two types: the types \carrying a turtle-like shell which are hairless, and the furry types that are shell-less.<ref name="fujisawa1959"/>

[[Natsuhiko Kyogoku|Kyōgoku]] and {{interlanguage link|Katsumi Tada|ja|多田克己|lt=Tada}} (2008), writing that a single standard image of the ''kappa'' was formative during the Edo Period, similarly divides the pictorial representations of the period into 3 categories, namely the  "Ape or manlike type", "''Suiko'' type" (scaly), "Terrapin or turtle type".<ref name="kyogoku&tada2008"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|In their earlier collaboration, Kyōgoku & Tada (2000) came up with more elaborte classification system, with many categories such as "apeman type", "kasha type", "mountain cat type", "sea otter type".<ref name="kyogoku&tada2000-YokaiZukan"/> It appears they consolidtated these in 2008 into the furry, scaly, and herp types.}}

The "Ape or manlike type" had its whole body covered in dense fur, said to be ape-like or even otter-like, and included wildcat-like examples as well ({{section link||Wildcat type as migratory legend}}). It tended to have hair in the {{transl|ja|zanbara}} style, i.e., long and loosely hanging around the head.<ref name="kyogoku&tada2008"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Kyōgoku and Tada also conclude this furry type general does not carry a turtle shell.<ref name="kyogoku&tada2000-YokaiZukan"/><ref name="kyogoku&tada2008"/>}}

The "Terrapin or turtle type" consisted of ''kappa'' depicted with "a pointed-mouthed face, bearing a turtle-shell on its back".
<ref name="kyogoku&tada2008"/><ref name="kagawa2022"/>

The "''Suiko'' type" was the name the two authors use to categorized the hairless but scale-covered type ''kappa''.<ref name="kyogoku&tada2008"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Note that the ''suiko'' ("water tiger") as described in the ''Wakan sansai zue'' has some fur and tiger-claw around the knees.<ref name="terashima1712"/><ref name="ozawa-suiko">{{harvp|Ozawa|2011|p=31–32}}, Fig. 2</ref> But its original source was the ''[[shuihu]]'' ("water tiger") described in  from the Chinese pharmacopeia ''[[Bencao Gangmu|Bencao gangmu]]'', which according to the latest English translation, describes it as having tiger-like fur on the head and knees.<ref name="BencaoGangmu-tr-unschuld2021"/>}}

The progress of how the furry type became supplanted by the smooth turtle-type shall be discussed below under {{section link||Chronology}}, as well as the introduction of frog-like aspects stressed by scholar Ozawa Hana.{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|pp=39–42}}

=== Chronology ===
[[File:Kappa-Wakan-Sansaizue-cropped.jpg|thumb|left|''Kawatarō'' (aka ''kappa'') from ''[[Wakan Sansai Zue|Wakan sansai zue]]'' (pub. 1712)]]
[[File:WUL-he13 01452 根南志具佐 5-fol04r-kappa.jpg|thumb|160px|left|A standing ''kappa'', from [[Hiraga Gennai]]'s ''Nenashi-gusa'', Book 5, (pub. Hōreki 13/1763)<ref>{{harvp|Yoshida|2020|pp=1314}} and English abstract</ref>]]
The image of the ''kappa'' before the 18th century appears to have favored the ape-type{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|p=32}} (furry, mammalian type), and non-[[Herpetology|herp]] types.{{sfnp|Kagawa|2014|pp=55–60}} For instance in the ''[[Kagakushū]]''<!--[下学集--> ("Collection of Low/Mundane Studies", prefaced 1444, with later copies), it is claimed that the otter grown old becomes a {{transl|ja|kawarō}} (''kappa''),{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|p=27}} and in the ''[[Nippo Jisho]]'' (Japanese-Portuguese dictionary by the Jesuits, 1603) the entry for {{lang|pt|Cauarǒ}} defines it as an ape-like creature.{{Refn|{{langx|pt|{{linktext|bugio}}}} for "ape".<ref name="NippoJisho"/>}}{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|pp=26–27}}

The ''Wakan sansai zue'' (1712) carried a woodcut of the {{transl|ja|kawatarō}} depicted as a furry, apelike creature (cf. fig. left).{{Refn|Terashima Ryōan, woodcut.<ref name="terashima1712"/><ref>{{harvp|Foster|1998|p=7}}, Fig. 3</ref><ref>{{harvp|Ozawa|2011|p=31}}, Fig. 1</ref>}}{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|p=32}}<ref name="kagawa2022"/> {{nihongo|Hirase Tessai|平瀬徹斎}}'s {{nihongo||日本山海名物図会|Nippon sankai meibutsu zue|extra="Illustrated Famous Products of the Mountains and Seas of Japan", pub. Hōreki 4/1754}}, the sumo-wrestling ''kappa'' appears ape-like.{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|p=32}}

In the {{nihongo||西播怪談実記|Seiban Kaidan Jikki|extra="True Records of Kaidan in the Western Parts of Harima Province". 1754}}, the ''kappa'' (here referred to as {{nihongo||河虎|kawatora|extra="river-tiger"}}), which had its arm sliced off, is depicted in the so-called ape type style, its entire body covered with hair (cf. [[#seiban_pic|fig]] in {{section link||Medicine}}).{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|pp=33–34}} There depression and the dish-like element on its head have already appeared in the artwork by this time.{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|pp=33–34}}

[[File:Kappa jap myth.jpg|thumb|Kappa.—From ''[[Gazu Hyakki Yagyō]]'' ("The Illustrated Night Parade of a Hundred Demons") by [[Toriyama Sekien]]]]
The forgoing examples were written in western regions (Nagasaki,{{efn|The Jesuits' Japanese-Portuguese dictionary.}} Osaka,{{efn|Ryōan who worote ''Wakan sansai zue'' and Tessai were both Osaka men.}} etc.). However, the ape (Japanese macaque) was relatively unfamiliar to the people of Edo which had few forested mountains,{{sfnp|Kagawa|2014|pp=60–69}} and the image of a more turtle-like or frog-like ''kappa'' began to be favored, starting in the mid-18th century.<ref>{{harvp|Ozawa|2011|p=36}} ''apud'' {{harvp|Yoshida|2020|p=14}} where it is annotated to avoid confusion to read mid-18th century rather than mid-Edo Period.</ref><ref name="kagawa2022"/>{{sfnp|Kagawa|2014|pp=60–69}}

An early (c. 1763) example of this (turtle or froglike) depiction{{sfnp|Yoshida|2020|p=14}}<!--given by Yoshida 2020-=> concerns a rumor that the ''kappa'' appeared in the vicinity of [[Meguro]], Edo in Hōreki 12/1762{{efn|Yoshida remarks it is not clear whether this is genuine rumor or a piece of fiction that possibly only a small group of insiders may recognize, since the researcher cannot find other attestations.}} is discussed with accompanying illustration in {{nihongo|Gotō Rishun|後藤梨春}}'s {{nihongo||随観写真|Zuikan shashin|extra=preface dated 1757, expanded c. 1763}}, and the similarly posed and detailed standing ''kappa'' figure illustrated in [[Hiraga Gennai]]'s {{nihongo||根南志具佐|Nenashi gusa|extra=pub. 1763}} (cf. fig. left), as pointed out by researcher Tsukasa Yoshida. Although it is difficult to definitively date these illustrations, Yoshida concludes Rishun's drawing was probably copied by Gennai, with certain differences such as the crossed arms changed to arms stretched sideways as if to block. The two authors socialized closely, and were both learned herb medicine from the same master.<ref>{{harvp|Yoshida|2020|pp=13–14}} and English abstract</ref>

Another prime example of the turtle-froglike ''kappa''<!--given by Ozawa 2011-=> is that represented by [[Toriyama Sekien]]'s  ''[[Gazu Hyakki Yagyō]]'' ([[An'ei]]7/1778).{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|p=34}} Sekien here depicted a scale-covered creature with (stripe) marks,{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Note that Sekien also agrees with the considering the ''suiko'' as a different creatures, and has a separate drawing for that yōkai.{{sfnp|Iwai|2000a|p=14}}<ref name="ozawa-suiko"/>}} and blobby flaccidity.{{efn|Ozawa uses the adjective {{transl|ja|buyobuyo}} for "blobby", probably meaning somewhat swelled-looking limbs like a frog or an infant with baby fat, depicted using the contour lines.}}{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|p=34}} While in the {{nihongo||夭怪着到牒|Bakemono chakutōchō Jikki|extra="Monster Catalogue". 1788}}, the markings using fined dots represents spotted patterns like those of frogs or turtles, according to Hana Ozawa's paper.{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|p=35}}

In the early 19th century, {{nihongo||河童聞合|Kappa kikiawase|extra={{lit}} "collected hearings" or "inquiries on the ''kappa''", ≥1805}} was created by at the behest of the ''[[daikan]]'' magistrate{{efn|Named {{nihongo|Hakura Yasuhira|羽倉秘救|extra=1747–1808}}.}} of the {{interlanguage link|Hita Domain|ja|日田藩}}, the task being assigned to a [[Confucianism|Confucian]] scholar Hirose Saburōemon{{efn|Also known by his Haiku name as  {{nihongo|Hirose Tōshū|広瀬桃秋}}; he was the 5th head of the family of the {{interlanguage link|Hirose clan|ja|広瀬氏}}.}}{{sfnp|Nakamura|1996|pp=140–141}} The inquiries resulted in 6 eyewitness cases, from Bungo and [[Chikugo Province]]s (with 4 cases involving sumo wrestling challenge).{{sfnp|Nakamura|1996|p=198}} This work's color illustrations did not survive, but are known to have existed,{{Refn|The inquiries for the ''Kappa kikiawase'' was conducted in 1805, so the report was completed probably in the Bunka era (≤1818).{{sfnp|Nakamura|1995|pp=88, 119, 135}} The assignment included the order to submit color<!--彩色--> illustrations depicting the ''kappa'' as described by informants.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{harvp|Nakamura|1995|p=89}}; {{harvp|Nakamura|1996|pp=199–200}}</ref>}} and from copies made, these were all of the hairy ape-type (as explained below).

When afterwards {{interlanguage link|Koga Dōan|ja|古賀侗庵}} ed. {{nihongo||水虎考略|Suiko kōryaku|extra={{lit}}  "A brief consideration of ''kappa''",  [[Bunsei]] 3/1820}} appeared,{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Regarding the confusing practice of referring to the ''kappa'' by the Chinese-imported term ''suiko'' (water-tiger), cf. {{section link||水虎と漢訳}} subsection below.}}{{Refn|Though technically, even before this earliest 1820 version of ''Suiko kōryaku'', the {{nihongo||水虎説|Suiko setsu|extra="Discourse on the Suiko", c.1820}} had already appeared.{{sfnp|Nakamura|1996|p=320}} The ''Suiko kōryaku'' represents a whole family of codices, with copies dated to [[Tenpō]] 7/1836, etc.}} it offered a collection of 12 ''kappa'' anecdotes, of which 6 were a rehash from the Hita Domain report, so that the 6 accompanying illustrations have been judged to be facsimile copies of the original color-painted drawings.<ref>{{harvp|Nakamura|1995|p=88}}; {{harvp|Nakamura|1996|pp=226–228}} ''apud'' {{harvp|Ozawa|2011|p=37}}</ref> These 6 are all ''kappa'' of the ape-type (covered with fur), with a dish on its head, somewhat like a [[tonsure]], but with untidy strands of hair hanging loose on the side.{{efn|The hairdo term used here by Ozawa is {{nihongo||ザンバラ髪|zanbara-gami}}.}} One  ''kappa'' figure is shown wearing a [[sumo wrestler]]'s [[loincloth]] (''[[mawashi]]'').{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|p=37}} On the page opposite to it, there is a detailed drawing of a webbed foot,<ref>The foot in detail can be confirmed to have webbing between the digits in the {{URL|1=https://kokusho.nijl.ac.jp/biblio/100247795/7?ln=ja|2=digitized microfilm copy}} @ [[National Archives of Japan]].</ref> so that might count as technically as the 7th drawing copied.{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|p=37}} The other half of the ''kappa'' illustrated in ''Suiko kōryaku'' are 6 illustrations of the "softshell turtle-type".{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|pp=37–38}}

Another turning point in pictorial representation occurred when naturalist [[Kurimoto Masayoshi|Kurimoto Tanshū]] (d. 1834) published his depictions of the ''kappa'' in  his work {{nihongo||千蟲譜|Senchūfu|extra={{lit}} "Album of a thousand vermin", preface dated Bunka 8/1811}}, which showed the creature with a tapered mouth, probably based on a life drawing from a real softshell turtle.{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|pp=36–37}} Tanshū also authored the {{nihongo||水虎考|Suiko kō|extra="Consideration on the ''kappa''"}} (date unknown, a Tenpō 13/1843 copy is extant).<ref>{{cite book|author=Kurimoto Tanshū |author-link=Kurimoto Masayoshi |title=Suiko kō |script-title=ja:水虎考 |date=1843 |url=https://digital.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/werkansicht?PPN=PPN3355198420&PHYSID=PHYS_0001&DMDID= }}, from the [[Berlin State Library]] (Stabi) digitized collection.</ref><ref name="fukushima1978"/>

[[File:Illustrated Guide to 12 Types of Kappa.jpg|thumb|''Suiko jūnihin no zu'' illustrating twelve kinds of kappa]]
The {{nihongo||水虎十二品之図|Suiko jūnihin no zu|extra="Illustration of 12 types of suiko [kappa]", first pub. c. 1850?}} (cf. Fig. right) also contains  softshell turtle-like depictions of ''kappa''<ref name="yano2009"/>{{Refn|name="harada-on-hita"|Novelist {{interlanguage link|Taneo Harada|ja|原田種夫}} complains of the discussion in ''Suiko kōryaku'', but further can be quoted as writing: "especially the illustration of the ''kappa'' captured at Hita, Bungo (now [[Hita, Ōita]]), in the Kan'ei era, in the ''Illustration of 12 types of suiko'' is completely devoid of realism in its depiction, and is but a cartoon".<ref name="harada1941"/>}} as well as some ape-types. This single-sheet work was authored by [[Kishū Domain]] physician and naturalist {{interlanguage link|Sakamoto Hōnen|ja|坂本浩然}} and illustrated by his brother Juntaku, also a physician.<ref name="Suiko12Hin"/><ref name="fujisawa1959"/><ref name="kokkai2005"/> Being of later vintage, there are some modifications made with additional material, but this is still considered a derivative work descended from the 12-kappa ''Suiko kōryaku'' family of codices.{{sfnp|Nakamura|1996|pp=374–375}}

[[File:Hokusai kappa.jpg|thumb|{{Anchor|hokusai_pic}}A kappa by [[Katsushika Hokusai]]{{right|{{small|—''[[Hokusai Manga]]'', Volume 3, p. 72<ref>{{Cite web|date=2016 |title=Hokusai manga: Shinra banshō no sketch |script-title=ja:北斎漫画～森羅万象のスケッチ |url=http://www.ukiyoe-ota-muse.jp/exhibition/2016-hokusai-manga |publisher=[[Ukiyo-e Ōta Memorial Museum of Art|Ōta Memorial Museum of Art]]<!--太田記念美術館--> |website=Official website |access-date=12 August 2019 |language=ja}}</ref>}}}}]]
A ''kappa'' by [[Katsushika Hokusai]] in ''[[Hokusai Manga]]'', Volume 3<ref name="HokusaiManga03"/> is posed in a squatting position{{Refn|{{transl|ja|taiiku-suwari}} ([[:ja:|体育座り]], "gym sitting") position, to use a Japanese term<ref name="ota_memorial2020"/><ref name="AbukumaJiho2023-10-03"/>}} (cf. [[#hokusai_pic|Fig. above]]), depicted with a beak-like mouth and carapace,<ref name="kagawa2022"/> and may arguably be considered a turtle-type example.<ref name="kagawa2022"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Though being covered with fine scales<ref name="takashina&haga1976"/> is not exactly like a lifelike turtle.}} There is another depiction of ''kappa'' in ''Hokusai Manga'', under Volume 12,<ref name="HokusaiManga12"/> which is clearly based on a soft-shell turtle.<ref name="kagawa2022"/>

A disciple named {{interlanguage link|Katsushika Hokuga|ja|葛飾北雅}} also drew {{transl|ja|Kappa zu}} depicting a ''kappa'' riding a giant cucumber, and it is of the tapered-mouth type. It wears a ''mino'' cape around its waist.{{Refn|In the collection of [[:ja:湯本豪一|Yumoto, Kōichi]], ([[:ja:湯本豪一記念日本妖怪博物館|Miyoshi Museum]])<ref name="yumoto2023"/>}}

[[File:Kuniyoshi-HonchoKendoRyakuden-Keyamura no Rokusuke(Waseda).jpg|thumb|left|Keyamura no Rokusuke and ''kappa''.{{right|{{small|―Utagwa Kuniyoshi, ''Honchō kendō ryakuden'' series (c. 18431–1847). Held by [[Waseda University]].}}}}]]
[[File:YoshitoshiKappaControl.jpg|thumb|Counterattacking a ''kappa'' with flatulence. By [[Tsukioka Yoshitoshi]].]]

By the mid-19th century, frog-like features started to creep in more on the ''kappa''{{'}}s image. In [[Kunisada|Utagawa Toyokuni III]]'s {{nihongo||大日本六十余州之内・上総　白藤源太|Dai-Nihon rokujū yoshū no uchi Kazusa: Shirafuji Genta|extra="Sixty-odd provinces of great Japan, of which Kazusa Province: Shirafuji Genta", Tenpō 14/1843–[[Kōka]] 4/1847}}, the ''kappa'' has the turtle's shell and rather turtle-like sharp claws, but has a mouth-shape and patterning rather like a frog. And in the contemporaneous series by [[Utagawa Kuniyoshi]], {{nihongo||本朝剣道略伝|Honchō kendō ryakuden |extra="Abridged Stories of Our Countrys Swordsmanship", c. 1843–1847<!--also-->}}, the 
album on {{interlanguage link|Keyamura Rokusuke|ja|毛谷村六助}} features a ''kappa'' without even a turtle-shell, furthering its likeness to a frog (cf. fig. left and [[#kuniyoshi_keyamura_BritMus|fig. above]]).{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|pp=38–39}}

Then a more "comical and affectionate" image of the kappa was formed by ''ukiyo-e'' artists.{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|p=40}} A prime example of this was a piece by [[Tsukioka Yoshitoshi]] called {{nihongo|Tōkyō kaika kyōga meisho: Fukagawa Kiba. Kappa shūki ni hekieki|東京開化狂画名所・深川木場川童臭気に辟易|extra="''kappa'' flabbergasted by stench"}} ([[Meiji era|Meiji]] 14/1881, cf. Fig. right), showing two ''kappa'' being farted on by a human, and one ''kappa'' turning yellow.{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|p=40}}

Later in the modern age, [[Nihonga]] artist {{interlanguage link|Ogawa Usen|ja|小川芋銭}} (1868-1938) favored the ''kappa'' theme and drew many, earning him the moniker {{transl|ja|Kappa no Usen}}. Late in his life he published the collection ''Kappa hyakuzu'' (1938),{{sfnp|Tsutsumi|2024|p=34}} developing a vivacious image of the ''kappa''.{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|p=40}}

The humorous ''kappa'' given birth in the Edo Period was carried on by later generations.{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|p=40}} In the [[Shōwa era]], manga artist {{interlanguage link|Kon Shimizu|ja|清水崑}} serialized ''Kappa kawatarō''<!--かっぱ川太郎--> which ran in ''Shōgakusei Asahi'' magazine, 1951–1952, and {{interlanguage link|Kappa Tengoku|ja|かっぱ天国|lt=''Kappa Tengoku''}} that ran in the ''[[Shūkan Asahi]]'' weekly, 1953–1958,{{sfnp|Foster|1998|pp=13–14}}{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|p=40}} through which a cute and comical image of the ''kappa'' penetrated to the masses.<ref name="kagawa2022"/> At the same time Usen's work is seen to have humanized the image of the ''kappa'', as he drew them engaging in a whole array of human activities.{{sfnp|Foster|1998|p=13}}

Thus, while the turtle-shell persists, the heavily frog-like form has established itself as the standard ''kappa'' image.{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|p=41–42}}

== {{anchor|Regional variations}}Local legends ==
The ''kappa'' is among the best-known ''yōkai'' in Japan.<ref name="kyogoku&tada2000-YokaiZukan"/> It is known by various names according to region and local folklore.<ref name=foster1998-ono-1994/><ref name="tada1990-Genso"/>

All over Japan there remains the practice of making offerings (often cucumbers) at shrines to placate the ''kappa''.{{sfnp|Foster|2024|p=196}} There are places that identify and enshrine the ''kappa'' as ''suijin'' ("water deity").{{sfnp|Foster|2024|p=196}} In fact, the ''kappa'' may have descended from the worship of such ''suijin'' deity{{sfnp|Foster|1998|p=9}} (as already discussed under {{section link||Origins}}).

While it is by no means unusual for harvest rituals to occur in the spring and autumnal [[equinox]]es, scholars have tied the timing to the welcoming back and ushering out of the ''kappa'' that spends half the year in the rivers but goes away into the mountains for the remainde r (as already discussed under {{section link||Wintering in the mountains}}).<ref>{{harvp|Foster|1998|p=5}}, citing {{harvp|Takeda|1988|p=13}}.</ref>

The tendency to identify the ''kappa'' as the principal enshrined being at ''suijin'' festivals appears more prevalent in Western Japan, while  at the {{nihongo|Kahaku Shrine|河伯神社}} of [[Nankoku, Kōchi]] enshrines a ''kappa'' by the name of ''enkō''.<ref name="gorai-etal1979"/> In such [[Shinto|Shintō]] framework, the ''kappa'' may be considered to be an avatar ({{Transliteration|ja|keshin}} {{lang|ja|化身}}) of the water deity.<ref name="frederic2002-suijin">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Frédéric |first=Louis |title=Suijin |encyclopedia=Japan Encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p2QnPijAEmEC&pg=PA910 |publisher=President and Fellows of Harvard College |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-674-00770-3|page=910}}</ref>

=== Kyūshū region ===
In [[Kyūshū]] there is a legend concerning {{nihongo|Kusenbō|九千坊}}, the name of a ''kappa'' boss.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hondō |first=Kiyoshi |author-link=<!--本堂清--> |title=Kappa monogatari | script-title=ja:河童物語 |publisher=Hihyōsha<!--批評社--> |date=2015 |url=<!--Non Previewable https://books.google.com/books?id=-ReIjgEACAAJ--> |pages=18,36 |isbn=<!--4826506309, -->978-4-82-650630-4}}</ref> Kusenbō (whose name means "Nine-thousand fellow") had 9000 underling ''kappa'', and was based in the [[Kuma River (Japan)|Kuma]] and [[Chikugo River]] holding dominion over all of [[Saikaidō]] (Kyūshū). Legend has it that the warlord [[Katō Kiyomasa]] angered by the Kusenbō gang's misdeeds gathered all the apes he could from Kyūshū to help subdue them.{{Refn|Recorded in {{nihongo||本朝俗諺志|Honchō zokugenshi|extra="(Records on Popular Japanese Proverbs", pub. 1746}}<ref name="kato1919"/> by {{illm|Kikuoka Senryō|ja|菊岡沾涼}}.}}{{sfnp|Ishikawa|1985|pp=83–84}}{{sfnp|Kappa renpō kyōwakoku|1991|pp=79–80, 170}} Another legend has it that the gang lost the war over the [[Tone River]] against the local gang under ''neneko''.{{sfnp|Yamaguchi|2014|p=89}}

For the Kumamoto Prefecture lore about the ''kappa'' descending in hordes after winter cf. also {{section link||Wintering in the mountains}} above.

==== Fukuoka Prefecture ====
The decisive sea battle in the [[Genpei War|War between the Genji and Heike]] was the [[Battle of Dan-no-ura]] that took place in the straight between today's Yamaguchi Prefecture and [[Fukuoka Prefecture]]. There is legend in Yamaguchi about that the Heike men turned into [[Heike crab]]s while the women-folk escaped to Fukuoka. One such legendary escapee is the {{nihongo|Amagozen|海御前/尼御前}} (the historical {{illm|Azechi no tsubone Ise|ja|按察使局伊勢}}).<ref name="aramata-map-heikegani"/>

{{nihongo|Chiyo Amagozen|千代尼御前}} allegedly survived and came to Chikugo Province, or so claims writings such as the {{nihongo||筑後楽由来|Chikugo-gaku yurai|extra="Derivation of the Chikugo music"}} and {{nihongo||水天宮縁起|Suitengū engi|extra="Origin of the Suitengū shrine"}}; she is supposedly enshrined at the Amagozen-sha shrine in {{nihongo|Senoshita-machi|瀬下町}} town in [[Kurume, Fukuoka]], which has been argued to be the origin of the [[Suitengū]] worship. She is also said to have become the wife of the water deity of the {{illm|Kose River|ja|巨瀬川}}, while it is said that the Heike who defeated by [[Ogata no Saburo Koreyoshi|Ogata Koreyoshi]] transformed into ''[[Hebo|kahaku]]'' river spirits of the Kose River{{efn|Written var. {{lang|ja|巨勢川}} for {{lang|ja|巨瀬川}}.}} (accord. {{nihongo||音楽縁起|Ongaku engi}}), thus providing rich material for ''kappa'' studies.<ref>{{harvp|Nakamura|1995|pp=121–124}}; {{harvp|Nakamura|1996|pp=291–294}}</ref>{{sfnp|Yamamoto|1996|p=152}}

{{transl|ja|Chikugogaku yurai}} is the document explaining the origins of {{transl|ja|Chikugo-gaku}}, commonly called {{transl|ja|Kappa-gaku}},{{sfnp|Yamamoto|1996|p=153}}{{efn|Teiri Nakamura uses ''Chikugo-gaku'' straight from the document, but this name is not seen to be in current use, while Kappa-gaku is well-attested,{{sfnp|Yamamoto|1996|pp=150–151}} even though its adoptive use may be modern, with 1955 being the earliest example known to Yamauchi.{{sfnp|Yamamoto|1996|p=153}}}} explains that the ghosts of the dead and fugitives attached to the losing Heike clan turned into ''kappa'' (or ''[[Hebo|kahaku]]''), and the music was devised in order to assuage these hapless spirits.{{sfnp|Yamamoto|1996|pp=143–145}}{{sfnp|Nakamura|1996|pp=294, 299}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Nakamura uses ''Chikugo-gaku yurai'' as a generic name for several copies which he says are of identical wording,{{sfnp|Nakamura|1996|p=294}} while Yamamoto gives and orderly list of varying titles, shrine, and music style.{{sfnp|Yamamoto|1996|pp=140–141}}}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Within the origin documents are liturgical texts by such titles as {{nihongo||平家河伯変身祭文|Heike kahaku henshin saimon|extra="Liturgy of Heike transforming to kahaku",{{sfnp|Yamamoto|1996|pp=140–141}} which most commentators equate with ''kappa''{{sfnp|Yamamoto|1996|p=143}} though Yamauchi thinks ''kahaku'' was the more primitive legend, and certain distinction are discernible.{{sfnp|Yamamoto|1996|p=142}}}} while the place of origin of the music was a (fictive{{sfnp|Nakamura|1996|p=293}}) village called {{nihongo|Chiyo Nakamura|千代中村}} in Chikugo.{{sfnp|Yamamoto|1996|p=150}}

Even though ''Kappa-gaku'' is still performed at certain spots within Chikugo (Fukuoka Prefecture), e.g. at the {{illm|Kitano Tenmangū (Kurume)|ja|北野天満宮 (久留米市)|lt=Kitano Tenmangū of Kurume}},{{efn|[[Kitano Tenmangū]] usually refers to the shrine in Kyōto dedicated to Sugawara Michizane aka Tenjin-sama. The one in Kurume is more minor than another local one, the [[Dazaifu Tenmangū]] at the place of his exile.}} there are far more places where ''Kappa-gaku'' is kept alive in [[Buzen Province|Buzen]] or [[Bungo Province|Bungo]] (Eastern Fukuoka and Ōita Prefecture).<ref name="honda1997"/>{{sfnp|Yamamoto|1996|pp=140–141}} (cf. {{section link||Ōita Prefecture}} below).

A water festival is held each year in August at the Suitengū in Kurume. While ''suitengū'' is a local name for ''kappa'',<ref name="tsutsumi2024"/> used by residents of Chikugo Province according to a 19th century text,<ref name="KasshiYawa-65kan"/> it appears that Suitengū came to be regarded as a higher-tiered water deity, with ''kappa'' reduced to the god's minion servant.{{sfnp|Ishikawa|1985|p=85}} According to one tale, a ''kappa'' in mortal fear of the Suitengū god came drifting down to {{illm|Inunaki River (Fukoka)|ja|犬鳴川 (福岡県)|lt=Inunaki River }},{{efn|Here it engaged in a sumo match with a man named Jingorō, and the man seemed to be on the edge of losing, when the villager shouted "Jingorō is the Suitengū's child {{transl|ja|mōshigo}}", which caused the ''kappa'' to flee.}} Chanting "Suitengū's {{transl|ja|mōshigo}} ("sworn blessed child of the god")" is supposed to fend against the ''kappa'' trying to drag a person into water.{{Refn|"{{transl|ja|Chikuhō no minwa}} 筑豊の民話, 1958-02-10 issue.<ref name="NihonDensetsuTaikei1987"/>}}

The Takahashi-jinja of Yoshii-machi in [[Ukiha, Fukuoka|Ukiha]] city (formerly [[Yoshii, Fukuoka|Yoshii]] town), which is situated by the Kose River, holds an annual ''kappa'' sumo tournament in September.{{sfnp|Kappa renpō kyōwakoku|1991|p=128}}{{sfnp|Nakamura|1996|p=201}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Nakamura conjectures that its origin is tied to the circulation of rituals or charms against water disaster<!--水難除け--> and praying for rain, which started at the advent of floodings in the Kyōwa era.{{sfnp|Nakamura|1996|p=201}} In Kyōwa 2/1802, the Tone River flooded,<ref name="kitagawa1996"/> and a mountain tsunami (mudslide) event occurred with the Chikugo River that same year.<ref name="MLIT-Chikugo"/> Some years later in ''Kasshi yawa'' Vol. 65 (c. 1822) author [[Matsura Seizan]] writes of an amulet of a ''kappa'' labeled Fukutarō ("good luck lad") to be used as "water disaster charm" and "charm against pox"<!-- 水難除・疱瘡除--> which was circulating the year before in his fiefdom ([[Hirado Domain]], Nagasaki). Seizan writes that this originates from a fisherman's family in {{illm|Kanazawa, Kanagawa|ja|金沢町 (神奈川県)|lt=Kanazawa}} village, [[Sagami Province]] (now in Kanagawa Prefecture), who were in the habit of using charms against water disaster, then one night in 1801, the elder sister of the man, named Shigeemon dreamt a vist from a ''kappa''-like child instructing that a shrine be built.<ref name="KasshiYawa-65kan"/>}}

One legend dating to the time of Chikugo Province, [[Tenmei]] 3/1783, at {{illm|Momochi|ja|百道}} (now in [[Sawara-ku, Fukuoka]]), a vassal samurai was getting the fish he caught on his fishing pole stolen. Three teenage sons kept watch and saw what looked like a dark-skinned boy about 7, 8 years of age making off with the fish basket. After spilling its dish water, it was subdued, when the parent appeared and in exchange of the child ''kappa''{{'}}s release, submitted a written oath that no drownings shall occur along Momochi's shore for the next 80 years, which was entrusted to {{nihongo|Sengan-ji|千眼寺}} (extant temple at Fujisaki, Sawara-ku).<ref name="fukuoka1"/>

Another legend attached to the old place name {{illm|Jigyō|ja|地行}} (now in [[Chūō-ku, Fukuoka|Chuo-ku, Fukuoka]]) concerns a ''sake''-drinking ''kappa''. It was drunken and asleep leaning on a pine tree under a moonlit sky. A boatman named Kahei oared out doing some fishing while drinking at the same time, the ''kappa'' approached but was refused sharing the ''sake'' and got shooed away, so it later stole back and drank all the ''sake'', the ''kappa'' was forgiven after offering to bring fish to the man on days of a bad catch. The pine was a known monument by the mouth of the {{illm|Hii River (Fukuoka)|ja|樋井川|lt=Hii River}} and stood until modern times.<ref name="fukuoka2"/>

====Ōita Prefecture====
[[File:Kappa-caught-hita-kawasaki museum.jpg|thumb|A copy of the ''kappa'' allegedly captured in Hita,（{{interlanguage link|Kawasaki City Museum|ja|川崎市市民ミュージアム}}]]

A ''kappa'' allegedly caught in Hita,  [[Bungo Province]] (now [[Hita, Ōita]] during the [[Kan'ei]] era is depicted as a colored painting held by the {{interlanguage link|Kawasaki City Museum|ja|川崎市市民ミュージアム}} (cf. Fig. right).<ref name="kawasaki_museum2019"/> Another copy dates the event to Kan'ei 3 or year 1626, namely the one made by an Osaka physician {{nihongo|Shunrinsai Toyozumi[?}|春林斎豊住}} in Bunka 2/1805, and given the title {{nihongo||河童真図|Kappa shinzu|extra="True illustration of ''kappa''"}},<ref>{{harvp|Nakamura|1995|p=112}}; {{harvp|Nakamura|1996|p=227}}</ref> now held by the {{nihongo|Akashi City Museum of Culture|明石市立文化博物館}}<ref name="kobe_shimbunNEXT-2028-05-27"/>) A copy of also exists on the ''Suiko jūnihin no zu'' ("Illustration of 12 types"), but the quality of the illustration has been lambasted by {{interlanguage link|Taneo Harada|ja|原田種夫}}.{{Refn|name="harada-on-hita"}}

At the Kumo Hachimangū shrine in what was formerly [[Yabakei, Ōita|Yabakei]]-machi town (now merged into [[Nakatsu, Ōita|Nakatsu]]), the {{nihongo||河童楽|kappa gaku}} (colloquially called {{transl|ja|Kappa Matsuri}} or festival){{sfnp|Kappa renpō kyōwakoku|1991|p=128}} involves music (flute, bell, and drum) and playacting: four children are selected to portray the ghosts of the Heike turned ''kappa'', while four youths are assigned to wave a great {{nihongo||唐団扇|kara [[uchiwa]] |extra="China fan"}}, in an act of appeasing the ''kappa'' spirits.<ref name="OitaGodoShinbun2025-08-04"/><ref name="honda1997"/>

There are schools of performance which differ for the ''kappa'' festivals held at other shrines, so that Kumo Hachimangū uses the  {{nihongo||宮園楽|Miyazono gaku}}, while the Iseyama Dai-jingū shrine of Ōkubo, in the same Yabakei-machi, employs the {{nihongo||樋山路楽|Hiyamaji gaku}} style, and the {{illm|Kameoka Hachiman-jinja (Nakatsu)|ja|亀岡八幡神社 (中津市|lt=Kameoka Hachiman-jinja}} at the former [[Yamakuni, Ōita|Yamakuni]]-machi town employs the {{nihongo||白地楽|Shiraji gaku}} style{{sfnp|Yamamoto|1996|pp=140–141}} and the {{nihongo|Kitsuki-jinja|亀都起神社|}} in [[Kusu, Ōita|Kusu]] town employed the {{nihongo||山田楽|Yamada gaku}} (currently discontinued).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.town.kusu.oita.jp/soshiki/shakaikyoikuka/2/5/shiteitouroku/943.html |title=Yamada-gaku (Machi-shitei mukei minzoku bunkazai) |script-title=ja:山田楽(町指定無形民俗文化財) |website=Kusu Township |date=1 April 2021 |access-date=10 September 2025}}</ref>

As aforementioned, Ōita is more of the epicenter of {{nihongo||河童楽|kappa gaku}} nowadays, even thought the repertoire is also called {{nihongo||筑後楽|Chikugo gaku}} as it had originated in ''Chikugo'' (Fukuoka Prefecture).<ref name="honda1997"/>{{sfnp|Yamamoto|1996|p=150}} The ''Chikugo-gaku yurai'' ("Derivation of the Chikugo music"){{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Yamamoto gives ''Chikugo-gaku yurai'' as the title specifically of the Miyazono-gaku or Kumo Hachimangū origin document,{{sfnp|Yamamoto|1996|p=150}} but Teiri Nakamura uses it as a generic title and applies it to "copies" at the Iseyama-daijingū shrine of Ōkubo or the Kitsuki-jinja shrine<!--亀都起神社--> (cff. supra), with an additional copy at the Kankō kaikan Kura (Tourism office in a former brewery storehouse), and deems all of them to contain the same text.{{sfnp|Nakamura|1996|p=294}}}} admits that the music has its roots in the village called {{nihongo||千代の中村|Chiyo no Nakamura}}.{{sfnp|Yamamoto|1996|p=150}} And while not definitive, a source claims the music originated in [[Jōkyō]] 3/1686.{{Refn|Origin myth of ditto Yabakei-town, Hiyama 樋山 settlement.{{sfnp|Yamamoto|1996|p=145}}}}{{sfnp|Nakamura|1996|p=294}}

====Nagasaki Prefecture====
In one narrative collected from [[Iki Island]], a woman whose true identity was a female ''kappa'' leaves her wealthy husband, and dives into the well to escape to sea. At the bottom of the well there remained remnants of a ''wan'' bowl. Orikuchi likens this episode to the "Shinoda wife" story (where the vixen [[Kuzunoha]] leaves a poem as she leaves her family).<ref name="orikuchi1930"/>{{sfnp|Orikuchi|1966|pp=290–291}}

In a cognate tale localized in [[Hirado Domain]], the female ''kappa'' is not the wife but a maidservant, and after dropping a plate and cracking it, she gets slashed by the sword by her master who is a samurai. She transforms back into a ''kappa'' and escapes to sea.<ref name="orikuchi1930"/>{{sfnp|Orikuchi|1966|p=315}}

From [[Fukue Island]] in the southern part of the [[Gotō Islands]] chain, is a story about a sumo-loving man breaking off a ''kappa''{{'}}s arm in victory, but gave the arm back after a few days, and the creature as a token of gratitude brought a huge "green stone" ({{transl|ja|ao ishi}}) that required ten men to carry.{{Refn|''Gotō minzoku zushi'' 五島民俗図誌. Lore of [[Fukue, Nagasaki]].{{sfnp|Ishikawa|1985|p=11}}}}<ref name="yoshimatsu1971"/>

Another such stone at a Suijin water deity shrine occurs at the water source of the Hongōchi{{efn|{{lang|ja|本河内}}.}} quarters of Nagasaki city, and the shrine boasts a {{transl|ja|kappa ishi}} or ''kappa'' stone. Years past, a Shibue<!--渋江--> family member serving as head priest welcomed the May festival (lunar [[Double fifth|Double Fifth]]){{efn|In the Saga Prefecture example, the bamboo shoots were also served on the 5-5 day.}} and pretended to entertain the prankish ''kappa'' with a meal of bamboo shoots. In actuality, only his fare were tender shoots, and the ''kappa'' were served hardened bamboo rings that confounded them, thus serving them deserved punishment.<ref name="yoshimatsu1971"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.city.nagasaki.lg.jp/kiji/koho202505/56792.html |title=Suijin jinja no kappa densetsu (Hongōchi 1-chome)|script-title=ja:水神神社のかっぱ伝説（本河内1丁目）|date=23 May 2025 |website=KōhōNagasaki<!--広報ながさき2025年5月号--> |publisher=Nagasaki City |access-date=30 August 2025}}</ref>

==== Saga Prefecture ====
At {{nihongo|Shiomi-jinja|潮見神社}} in former {{illm|Tachibana, Saga|ja|橘村 (佐賀県)|lt=Tachibana}} village, [[Kishima District, Saga|Kishima District]] (now part of [[Takeo, Saga|Takeo]] city), the Shibue clan (branch of [[Tachibana clan (kuge)|Tachibana clan]]) is enshrined as a ''kappa''-tamer serving the water god. Within its grounds once stood the {{nihongo||誓文石|Seimon ishi|extra="Oath text stone"}}, commemorating an alleged event that a ''kappa'' was caught and bound up by a Shibue family ancestor and made to swear never to take another human until a flower blooms on this very stone. The Shibue clan used to bring bamboo shoots as food gift every May festival (lunar [[Double fifth|Double Fifth]]), so it is told, later leading to the custom of (everyone) offering bamboo shoots to the water god.{{sfnp|Ishikawa|1985|pp=85–86}} (The Shibue family of shrine-keepers, the ''kappa'', and bamboo shoots also appears in the legends of {{section link||Nagasaki}}).

====Kumamoto Prefecture====
The legend of Katō Kiyomasa gathering an army of monkeys to subdue the ''kappa'' is localized in Kumamoto.<ref name="kato1919"/> 

The village of Ishiwara in [[Hōtaku District, Kumamoto]] (now Ishiwara machi in [[Kumamoto City]]) has passed on a legend that when one of the village boys was taken by a ''kappa'', the village lord named {{nihongo|Ishiwara Kanainosuke|石原叶之介}} stormed out to its den in [[Shirakawa River (Kumamoto)|Shirakawa River]] and battled it, wrenching off its arm, which turned out to be straw stalks. When the ''kappa'' asked for the return of its arm, Ishiwara complied after the ''kappa'' gave strict promise never to resort to such mischief at the village again.<ref>{{harvp|Takagi|1913}} (ii)  Kappa taiji（ロ）河童退治, pp. 128–129</ref><ref name="de_garis&sakai2009"/><ref name="kato1919"/>{{sfnp|Ishikawa|1985|p=11}}

Local folklore claims that the ''kappa'' can only submerge in water for 12 hours, but the ape (Japanese macaque) can stay underwater for 24 hours, and is able to defeat the ''kappa''(former {{interlanguage link|Kamimatsukuma, Kumamoto|ja|上松求麻村|lt=Kamimatsukuma}} village, [[Yatsushiro District, Kumamoto|Yatsushiro District]], collected in 1952) <ref name="maruyama1976"/>

=== Shikoku region ===
==== Kōchi Prefecture ====
A legend written down claims that in the autumn{{efn|On the lunar 12th day of the 9th month of}} Bunsei 3/1820, a strange creature (perhaps ''enkō''<ref name="ichihara1971"/> or ''kappa''<ref name="KochiMuseum"/>) was trapped in the [[Mullet (fish)|mullet]]-catching net in [[Shimanto River]]{{efn|The specific place is given as "Noego" on Ōshima Rokuchō-shima[?] ({{lang|ja|大島六町島ノエゴ}}), but is unclear.}} by Kanematsu Tasuke{{efn|{{lang|ja|兼松多助}}, who was a ''shōya'' (≈''[[nanushi]]'').}} of Nabeshima village in [[Hata District, Kōchi|Hata District]] (now in [[Shimanto, Kōchi (city)|Shimanto]] city). It measured 2.5 [[Shaku (unit)|shaku]] (about {{convert|75|cm|in}}) and was blackish, entirely furry including the arms and legs, but not the face which was pale, ape-like, but smooth. It was slippery like the feel of an eel when stroked. And emitting a gamy odor. This was documented in {{nihongo|Okamoto Mafuru|岡本真古}}'s  {{nihongo||三安漫筆|San'an manpitsu}}([[An'ei]] 9–[[Ansei]] 3).{{Refn|{{langx|ja|"文政三年九月十二日。ところは、四万十川、大島六町島ノエゴ…ボラ網にかかった、そのあやしき物は…惣身手足とも毛生へ、色はいげよりハ黒き方ニて手あらく、手にて撫れハうなきの手さわりの心地ニて、とろとろとすべり候"}}.{{sfnp|Tanigawa1988|pp=330–331}}<ref name="ichihara1971"/>}}<ref name="KochiMuseum">[[Kōchi Prefectural Museum of History]] ed. (1 December 2021) {{URL|1=https://kochi-rekimin.jp/up/202403/ZYisnJcKha4Nkl7b06182415.pdf&put5=RKImiN/岡豊風日%20第114号.pdf |2=''Okōfūjitsu'' 岡豊風日}} bulletin, No. 114, p. 5.</ref>

=== Chūgoku region ===
==== Shimane Prefecture ====
In Izumo Province, the Yakushi temple pavilion in {{illm|Nishikawatsu, Shimane|ja|西川津村}} (now in [[Yatsuka District, Shimane]]) boasted of holding in its possession a {{nihongo||川獺の証文|kawauso no shōmono|extra="''kawauso''{{'}}s written oath"}}. The {{lang|ja|kawauso}} ({{lit}} "otter") is a local name for the ''kappa'', which the villagers also called {{lang|ja|kawako}} in slang , within the narrative that is told. The ''kawako'' attempted to draw away a horse, but was dragged towards the village instead and captured. For a while it agreed to help out with work in the fields, but it could not check its old habit of targeting the buttocks, and the villagers had to fend it off with a [[roof tiles]]. Eventually, it was made to ink-stamp a written promise to do no more harm, and released.{{Refn|In Takagi ed. (1913)<ref name="takagi1913"/> regurgitated by {{harvp|Ishikawa|1985|p=106}}.}}{{Refn|In Araki ed. (1982)<ref name="araki1982"/> taken from ''Izumo no minwa minyōshū'' and Takeagi ed. ''Nihon densetsushū''.}}  Thus if a child chants "Unshū [Izumo Province] Nishikawachi-mura" this is said to fend against drownings in parts of Izumo.<ref name="takagi1913"/><ref name="de_garis&sakai2009"/>

The same story (lacking the details of the levied field chores and the ''kappa''{{'}}s anus-attacking mischief) was given by Izumo resident Lafcadio Hearn (1894),<ref name="hearn1894"/> though the place name "Kawachi" which Hearn gave has been pointed out to be erroneous for Kawatsu.{{Refn|refn="Annotation by Sakai 酒井: "「河内」ではなく「川津」である.. 「川津村=現在の西川津町」となる"<ref name="araki1982"/>}}

=== Tōhoku region===
[[Shinto shrine|Shrine]]s are dedicated to the worship of ''kappa'' as water deity in [[Aomori Prefecture]]<ref name="frederic2002"/> as  Suiko-sama (Osshiko-sama).<ref name="sakamoto1986"/> In [[Miyagi Prefecture]] also, at the {{illm|Isora Shrine (Miyagi)|ja|磯良神社 (色麻町)|lt=Isora Shrine}}, etc., the creature is venerated as water god and given venerated names such as {{nihongo|Kappa-gami-san|河童神さん}} or {{nihongo|Okappa-sama|おかっぱ様}}.<ref name="miyagi-ken1956-minzoku2"/>{{sfnp|Ozawa|2014|pp=251–269}}{{sfnp|Kappa renpō kyōwakoku|1991|pp=89, 127–128}}

====Iwate Prefecture====
The best known place where it has been claimed the ''kappa'' resides is in the {{interlanguage link|Kappabuchi|ja|カッパ淵}}, a river pool in ''[[Tōno, Iwate|Tōno]]'', [[Iwate Prefecture]]. The pool occurs in the Ashiarai River which flows behind the nearby {{interlanguage link|Jōkenji|ja|常堅寺}}<!--''Fukusenji''--> temple.<ref name="akasaka1996"/> In Tōno, the {{illm|Jōken-ji|ja|常堅寺}} Buddhist temple has a ''[[komainu]]'' dog statue with a depression on its head reminiscent of the water-retaining dish on the ''kappa'', said to be dedicated to the ''kappa'' which according to legend helped extinguish a fire at the temple<!--in the early 17th-century--><!--by sacrificing their water bowls and themselves to save the temple and its many treasures-->.<ref>{{cite book|last=Naitō |first=Masatoshi<!--内藤正敏--> |author-link=Masatoshi Naitō |title=Tōno monogatari no gen fūkei |script-title=ja:遠野物語の原風景 |trans-title=Original landscape of the Tōno monogatari |publisher=Chikuma shobo<!--筑摩書房-->　|year=1994 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vUo0AQAAIAAJ&q=常堅寺 |page=176 |isbn=9784480028785 }}</ref> In his ''Tōno Monogatari'', [[Kunio Yanagita]] records a number of beliefs from the Tōno area about women being accosted and even impregnated by ''kappa''.<ref name="tatsumi1998"/> Their offspring were said to be repulsive to behold, and were generally buried.<ref name="tatsumi1998"/>

==== Yamagata Prefecture ====
{{nihongo|Mantei Sōba|万亭叟馬}}'s {{nihongo||由利稚野居鷹|Yuriwaka nozue no taka|extra="The Wild Falcon of [[Yuriwaka]]"}}, illustrated by Hokusai (preface dated [[Bunka]] 4/1807), relates the tale that a ''kappa'' was captured by villagers near the castle town of [[Dewa Province]] ([[Shōnai Domain]]), and handed over to the physician {{nihongo|Essai|悦斎/悅齎}} perhaps to be ground up as medicine. The physician treated and released it, and subsequently received regular gifts of fish.<ref name="yamazaki1928"/><ref name="hinohara2014"/>

=== Kansai region ===
====Shiga Prefecture====
In the {{transl|ja|Kansō jigo}}<!--閑窓自語--> (1793–1797), its entry on the ''kappa'' lore of Ōmi Province (now Shiga Prefecture) records that the creature was known colloquially as {{transl|ja|kawara}}. Large number of this creature supposedly inhabited the Lake Biwa system, hunting or abducting people, or even visiting people's homes at night and calling out to the residents. Charms for avoiding their harassment included propping up (or burning<ref name="KansoJigo"/>) hemp stalks, and wearing {{transl|ja|sasage}} ([[cowpea]]s) on your person.<ref name="KansoJigo"/><ref name="aramata1988"/>

=== Chūbu region ===
==== Fukui Prefecture ====
In what was Wakasa Province, at Sata in  [[Mihama, Fukui|Mihama]] town in [[Mikata District, Fukui]], comes a story that an ancestor leading a cow/ox at a beach called Oda-hama, when the beast appeared to be pulled away by something. Reciting the sutra caused a ''kappa'' to appear, and it confessed that it was obliged to make an offering of ''shirikodama''  (butt organ) of human or beast at the [[Gion Matsuri]] in Kyoto, but as he had none he was resorting to theft. Begging to be spared its life, it promised to surrender a written promise never to harm man or beast at this beach again. The next day, the writ of promise arrived, and gifts of fish kept arriving for some days, until someone left a fish hanging on an antler used as hook, and the gifts ceased to arrive.{{sfnp|Ishikawa|1985|p=105}}

=== Kanto region ===
==== Ibaraki Prefecture  ====
The vicinity of {{interlanguage link|Ushiku Pond|ja|牛久沼}} (in [[Ryūgasaki, Ibaraki]] and near [[Ushiku]]){{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Painter Usen Ogawa spent most of his life on the edge of this pond.{{sfnp|Kappa renpō kyōwakoku|1991|p=72}}}} is rich with ''kappa'' lore. A story tells of a mischievous ''kappa'' that was captured and tied to a pine, but after mending its ways and earning its release promised to offer protection from water disasters.<ref name="akagi1991"/> The commonplace tale of the ''kappa'' who was reunited with his severed hand giving out the secret recipe of the {{interlanguage link|kappa's wonder drug|ja|河童の妙薬|lt=''kappa''{{'}}s wonder drug}}{{sfnp|Iwai|2000b|p=40}} is found here also. A physician named {{nihongo|Maki Ryōhon[?]|真木了本}} from Ōmiya or Kamiiwase in [[Naka District, Ibaraki]]{{efn|Now in [[Hitachiōmiya]] city.}} found what looked like some fingers or toes, and reunited these with the ''kappa'', from which the family learned the recipe for the "Iwase panacea balm" ({{lang|ja|岩瀬万能膏}}).<ref name="saitama_kenritsu1993"/>

[[File:Kappa water imp 1836.jpg|thumb|240px|The {{transl|ja|kappa}} allegedly caught off the eastern shore of the [[Mito Domain]] in 1801{{right|{{small|—Copied from Koga Tōan's ''Suiko Kōryaku'' ( "A brief consideration of ''kappa''", 1820).}}{{sfnp|Nakamura|1995|p=135}}}}]]

A capture of the creature was claimed to have happened during the Edo Period in Mito Bay{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|This "Mito-ura" is not an currently a formal geographic name, and is uncertain, but from the report, it can be surmised the capture happened in the sea off of the area around [[Ōarai, Ibaraki|Ōarai]] town or former {{interlanguage link|Nakaminato, Ibaraki|ja|那珂湊市}}<!--や同市東部[[阿字ヶ浦駅|阿字ヶ浦]]--> (now [[Hitachinaka, Ibaraki|Hitachinaka]] cit).<ref name="ibaraki_kenritsu_rekishikan2011"/>}} in the year [[Kyōwa]] 1/1801. The report of it together with the painting of a turtle-like ''kappa'' can be found in {{interlanguage link|Asakawa Zen'an|ja|朝川善庵}}'s ''Zen'an zuihitsu'' (pub. 1850), and it also shows a lateral pose of it crawling on all fours (cf. Fig. right). According to the text, its anatomical structure was such that the head could retract about 80% of the way inside the carapace, and it seemed boneless. It had three anuses, allegedly, and its flatulence sounded like {{nihongo||スッ／＼<!--properly 〳〵 but these combine into a single vertical glyph-->|sussuh}}.<ref name="ZenanZuihitsu"/>{{sfnp|Sasama|2005|pp=182–186}}<ref>{{harvp|Ishida|2017|p=209}}: "水戸の海浜でとらえたすっぽんという河童の写生をみても、亀または鼈に似た匍行する怪物.."</ref>

==== Tokyo ====
[[File:Kappastatues.JPG|thumb|Paired male and female ''kappa'' statues at the Sogenji Buddhist shrine at the [[Asakusa]] district in [[Tokyo]]<ref name="dk2024"/>]]

The ''kappa'' {{Transliteration|ja|[[daimyōjin]]}} has been venerated at the ''[[Kappa-dera|Sōgen-ji]]'' temple at [[Asakusa]], [[Tokyo]]<ref name="dk2024"/> since the [[Bunka]] era (1804–1818), when the temple's legendary records say the creature helped with the [[Polder|drainage]] of marshes and [[land reclamation]] in the surrounding marshland that was unfit for habitation.<ref name="tsutsumi2024"/> The temple also houses a [[mummified]] hand of an alleged ''kappa''.<ref name="chiba1993"/><ref name="seki2016"/>  The origin tale around [[Kappabashi-dori|Kappabashi]] also speaks of ''kappa''{{'}}s involvement in the building of the bridge.<ref name="DK2017"/>{{sfnp|Yamaguchi N.|2010|p=205}} The historical fact that was the germ behind this legend was that a philanthropist named Kappaya Kihachi ({{lang|ja|合羽屋喜八}}) contributed to the water management effort and was interred at the Kappa-dō pavilion of this temple.{{sfnp|Yamaguchi N.|2010|p=205}}

=={{anchor|Cross culture lore}}Parallels==
Similar folklore can be found in Asia and Europe. In Chinese and in Scandinavian lore, there is a comparable river monster that, like the kappa, likes to draw horses into water, or demands horse as sacrifice. The ''Wu Yue Chunqiu'' ("[[Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue]]")  quotes [[Wu Zixu]]{{efn|Yoshida gives as "[Wu] {{Transliteration|zh|Tzǔ-hsü|italic=no}} {{lang|zh|[伍]子胥}}" who is the famous politician invoked here, not the author of the work itself, who is Zhao Ye.}} recounting a man named Jiao Qiusu losing his horse to such a river spirit.{{efn|Yoshida gives as {{Transliteration|zh|Chao Chiu-su|italic=no}} {{lang|zh|椒丘訴}}.}}<ref name="WuYueChunqiu-tr-he2021"/>{{sfnp|Ishida|Yoshida|1950|p=19}}

The Slavic waterman (''[[vodyanoy]]'' of Russia, ''vodník'' or ''hastrmann'' of Czechia, ''[[:de:Wassermann (Mythologie)|Wassermann]]'' of Bohemian Germans, etc.), which demands horses as sacrifice (though cattle, sheep, etc. is used as well) has also been compared to the kappa.{{sfnp|Ishida|Yoshida|1950|p=73}} In the folklore of the Western Slavic Wends ([[Sorbs]]), the ''[[Nixie (folklore)|nix]]'' "draws cows into the water each day at midday".<ref>{{harvp|Ishida|Yoshida|1950|p=73}} citing [[:de:Friedrich Panzer (Germanist)|Panzer, Friedrich]], (1938). "Wassergeister" ''Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens'' IX, p. 232.</ref>

==Origins==
An oft-cited hypothesis attributed to [[Kunio Yanagita]] is that the ''kappa'' is a debased end-product of what used to be a venerated water deity (''suijin'').<ref name="tsutsumi2024"/>{{Refn|Or {{harvp|Foster|1998|p=5}}: "lower status spirit", citing {{harvp|Chiba|1988|p=28}}}}

Using this hypothesis as a linchpin, [[Ishida Eiichirō|Eiichirō Ishida]]'s {{nihongo||河童駒引考|Kappa komabikikō|extra="Consideration on the kappa's steed-tugging"}} sought to establish that the ''kappa''{{'}}s horse-tugging nature had its roots in some sort of cattle or horse sacrifice ritual to the water deities. But as attestation of such was wanting in Japan, he expanded his search to the Eurasian continent.{{sfnp|Ishida|2017|p=207}} Noting that in China there was an ancient practice of submerging cattle or horse as offering to the "Lord of Rivers" (''[[Hebo]]'', {{lang|zh|河伯}}), Ishida conjectured that ''kappa'' may be traced back to an importation of lore from China.{{sfnp|Ishida|2017|pp=175–176}}

Regardless of whether the Japanese veneration of the water deity owes its origin to China, there are enshrinements, festivals, or rituals associated with the ''kappa''{{=}}''suijin'' (water god) in various places in Japan (as discussed below in {{section link||Local legends}}) 
If the primordial ''kappa''{{'}} was a [[Shinto]] deity, it would fit well with the model that the [[Yama-no-Kami]] (mountain god) can turn into a river god by shifting his spot of residence,<ref name="miyamoto_tsuneichi1956"/> as local ''kappa'' (such as ''hyōsubo'') are purported to exhibit this mountain-to-river seasonal migration behavior,<ref name="miyamoto_tsuneichi1956"/> as already discussed in {{section link||Wintering in the mountains}}.

It has also been speculated that the {{transl|ja|[[Katashiro|hitogata]]}} ("man-shape", cutout paper dolls, etc.) employed as ''[[yorishiro]]'' (medium for [[spiritual possession]]) may have influenced the iconography of the ''kappa''.<ref name="akasaka1996"/>

It is also considered possible that ''kappa'' may have originated from a {{interlanguage link|straw effigy|ja|藁人形}} or a [[scarecrow]], which squares with the ''kappas'' attributed notion that pulling its right arm shrinks its left.{{sfnp|Orikuchi|1966|p=299}}{{sfnp|Aramata|2019|p=146}}

And according to the local lore of [[Tōno, Iwate]], the redness of the ''kappa'' of this northerly region is ascribable to the creature being a metaphor of economically induced [[infanticide]] ({{transl|ja|mabiki}}, {{lit}} "thinning").{{sfnp|Tsutsumi|2024|p=33}}{{Refn|The connection between practiced infanticide and ''kappa'' is mentioned by<ref name="ashkenazi2003"/> citing Jolivet.<ref name="jolivet2000"/> Cf. also connection they make between "dish" and infant's [[fontanelle|fontanel]].}}

===Bowl or hat origins of dish ===
Regarding the head dish, folklorist [[Shinobu Orikuchi]]'s monograph ''Kappa no hanashi'' (1930)<ref name="orikuchi1930"/> delves into the possibility that the ''kappa''{{'}}s head-dish may have its origins in the [[Ta-no-Kami]] ("rice paddy deity") wearing a conical ''[[Kasa (hat)|kasa]]'' type hat.<ref name="orikuchi1930"/> Scholar {{interlanguage link|Masahide Takasaki|ja|高崎正秀}} (1962) (who was [[mentor]]ed by Orikuchi) extrapolated that if the head covering was the god's umbrella-hat, then the ''kappa''{{'}}s shell ([[carapace]]) must also represent the [[Tokoyo no kuni|otherworldly]] god's ''[[Mino (straw cape)|mino]]''-type straw cape.<ref name="takahashi_masahide1962"/>

Orikuchi's exposition in attempting to argue this point, which is rather a train of thought, is as follows: He first makes comparison with the ''kappa''{{'}}s head-dish and the folklore about "bowl-lending" (''{{interlanguage link|wan (vessel)|ja|椀|lt=wan}}-gashi''), where leaving a note at a certain river-pool or mound causes the necessary number of bowls to be produced on a loan, and since the pool or mound in question is often said to be connected to the [[Ryūgū-jō|Ryūgū]] ("Dragon Palace" of the sea god), this must be water deity related lore.{{Refn|As Orikuchi, indicates, lore on the bowl-lending pool has been described by Kunio Yangita,{{sfnp|Yanagita|1977|p=81}}}} A motif within the bowl-lending is that the correct number must be returned, or the blessing will ceased to be given. Orikuchi relates this to dish-counting in [[children's song]]s, and the episode of a woman's voice counting of dishes at the well in the famous ''[[Banchō Sarayashiki|Sarayashiki]]'' ("Dish mansion") ghost story. Orikuchi relates this well with the tradition of steeping virgins in mud to propitiate a bountiful rice harvest, which some have believed must have once been human sacrifice rituals, but Orikuchi believed rather to have been a ritual of giving away a woman as bride to the water deity, possibly to be some sort of shrine servant.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|As for brides, note that Orikuchi here also introduces tales of humans marrying ''kappa'', which he collected on [[Iki Island]]. Cf. {{section link||Nagasaki Prefecture}}.}}

Orikuchi also brings up the example of the ''[[Hachikazuki]]'' ("Bowl-bearer princess") which is part of the ''[[Otogi-zōshi]]'' repertoire, opining that such a bowl when expanded into a wider-brimmed hat, can conceivably be like the water deities ''kasa''-hat,<ref name="orikuchi1930"/> or so summarized by Takahashi, as above.<ref name="takahashi_masahide1962"/> Takahashi in another piece of writing (1939) writes that if one were to pose the question 'What is the ''kappa''{{'}}s head-dish?' the answer must lie with the {{interlanguage link|Nabe kanmuri matsuri|ja|鍋冠祭}} or "Pot-Wearing/Crowning Festival" of [[Maibara, Shiga]], and with the "bowl-lending pool" folklore.<ref name="takahashi_masahide1939"/>

Elsewhere, sociologist Muriel Jolivet (2000) has suggested that since the ''kappa'' may be connected to population-control infanticide, the water-retaining depression on its head may have been inspired by the soft [[fontanelle]] spot on a newborn's head.<ref name="jolivet2000"/><ref name="ashkenazi2003"/>

===Wildcat type as migratory legend===
[[Natsuhiko Kyogoku|Kyōgoku]] and {{interlanguage link|Katsumi Tada|ja|多田克己|lt=Tada}} (2000) observes some ''kappa'' fall into the wildcat-type category. They note that in the lore of [[Tsushima Island]] ''kappa'' is known either as {{transl|ja|kawatora}} ('"river tiger") or {{nihongo||川童/カオーラ|kaōra}} which do not have the looks of the local Tsushima [[leopard cat]], but shares the wildcat's behavior.<ref name="kyogoku&tada2000-YokaiZukan"/> The authors also note that in the Korean language "river tiger" would sound just like {{transl|ja|kaōra}} (possibly {{transl|ko|gahorang}}[?], [[McCune–Reischauer]]: {{transl|ko|kahorang}}, {{lang|ko|가호랑}}).{{Refn|Assuming ''ka-'' prefix is correct, it is unclear what word this is. In Korean, "{{linktext|可}}" is pronounced "ga" (McCune–Reischauer: "ka") but "{{linktext|河}}" for river is "ha". Another word for river is {{transl|ko|gang}} ({{Korean|hangul=강|hanja=江}}, which forms the compound {{transl|ko|gangga}} ([[McCune–Reischauer]]: {{transl|ko|kangka}}; {{lang|ko|강가}}) meaning "riverside".<ref name="kim_sowoon1992-ga"/><ref name="kim_sowoon1992-gang"/> And {{transl|ko|horang}} ({{lang|ko|호랑}}) means "tiger and wolf", from which derives {{transl|ko|horangi}} ({{lang|ko|호랑이}}), an emphatic term for "tiger".<ref name="kim_sowoon1992-holang"/>}}

====Conflation with ''kasha''====
Kyōgoku and Tada's older collaboration (2000) also discusses the "''kasha'' type",<ref name="kyogoku&tada2000-YokaiZukan"/> where they discuss the possible conflation between the  ''[[kasha (folklore)|kasha]]'', which was a dead body-snatching cat-type ''yōkai'', and therefore comparable to some types of ''kappa'' (which also abducted humans). The comparison is already made by Orikuchi (1930), who cited [[Minakata Kumagusu]]'s observation even earlier, that Wakayama Prefecture's local alias for ''kappa'', the {{transl|ja|kashanbo}}, probably derives from some sort of association with the ''kasha'' yōkai.{{Refn|Orikuchi (1930);<ref name="orikuchi1930"/> repr. {{harvp|Orikuchi|1966}}, {{URL|1=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1663260/1/159 |2=p.297}}.}}

=== ''Suiko'' as Chinese name ===
{{see also|shuihu#As synonym for kappa}}
During the [[Edo period]] in Japan, numerous treatises appeared which referred to the ''kappa'' as {{nihongo||水虎|suiko|extra={{lit}} "water-tiger"}}, a mythical semi-aquatic called {{transl|zh|[[shuihu]]}} by the Chinese in their older [[natural history]] literature. Equating these creatures effectively means they are seen as having a common origin, though there have been notable dissenting opinions on this.

An early example is the physician {{interlanguage link|Kurokawa Dōyū|ja|黒川道祐}}'s {{nihongo||遠碧軒記|Enpekikenki|extra=1675}}, which glossed the water-tiger as {{transl|ja|kawatarō}}.<ref name="kurokawa1827"/>

Dissident opinion was given in the encyclopedia ''[[Wakan Sansai Zue|Wakan sansai zue]]'' (pub. 1712) which decided the two creatures were different and discussed the Japanese ''kawatarō'' (i.e. ''kappa'') and the Chinese ''suiko''/''shuihu'' as separate entries.<ref name="terashima1712"/> However the {{nihongo||書言字考節用集|Shogen jikō setsuyōshū|extra=pub. 1717}} that appeared only a few years after came to the conclusion that the Chinese ''suiko'' and the Japanese ''kappa'' were one and the same,{{efn|Its entry appears as "水虎 (カハワツハ)", i.e., written in ''[[kanji]]'' as ''suiko'', but the ''[[furigana]]'' given as ''kawawappa''.}} even though like the ''Wakan sansai zue'' it was built largely on the work of the Chinese [[Pharmacopoeia|pharmacopeia]], ''[[Bencao Gangmu|Bencao gangmu]]''.{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|p=32}}

There is a whole family of illustrated treatise on the ''kappa'' that bears the name ''suiko'' in their titles, which drew from early versions and built on them. They bear such titles as {{nihongo||水虎説|Suiko setsu|extra={{lit}} "Discourse on the Suiko"}},{{nihongo||水虎考略|Suiko kōryaku|extra={{lit}}  "A brief consideration of ''kappa''", 1820}},{{sfnp|Nakamura|1995|p=135}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|{{harvp|Foster|2024|p=203}}, Fig. 31 renders this as "About ''suiko''", but this is most inconvenient for the purpose of distinguishing similar titles.}} {{nihongo||水虎考略後編|Suiko kōryaku kōhen|extra="Sequel to a brief consideration of ''kappa''"}}, and the single-sheet print {{nihongo||水虎十弐品之図|Suiko kōryaku|extra="Illustration of twelve different types of ''suiko''"}}.{{Refn|The interrelationships between these ''suiko''/''kappa'' codices as copies of each other and the shifts and changes in contente were the subject of {{interlanguage link|Teiri Nakamura|ja|}}'s study ({{harvp|Nakamura|1996|pp=374–375}}).}}{{Refn|{{harvp|Foster|2024|p=203}}, Fig. 31 touches on the fact that the "twelve different types" sheet was based on the ''Suiko kōryaku''.}}<ref name="fujisawa1959"/>{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|p=37}} Their chronology{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|name="kikiawase"|Nakamura's study emphasizes that the {{nihongo||河童聞合|Kappa kikiawase|extra={{lit}} "collected hearings" or "inquiries on the ''kappa''", c. 1805}}{{sfnp|Nakamura|1995|p=88}}<ref>Cf. English abstract, {{harvp|Nakamura|1995|p=135}}.</ref> There were instructions attached to submit the report with color<!--彩色-->.<ref>{{harvp|Nakamura|1995|p=89}}; {{harvp|Nakamura|1996|pp=199–200}}</ref> Thus the 6 or 7 of the illustrations in ''Suiko kōryaku'' are determined to be copies from ''kikiawase'' by Nakamura.<ref>{{harvp|Nakamura|1996|pp=226–228}} ''apud'' {{harvp|Ozawa|2011|=37}}</ref>}} and content will be discussed below under {{section link||Iconography}}.

In another example, {{interlanguage link|Yanagiwara Motomitsu|ja|柳原紀光}}'s {{nihongo||閑窓自語|Kansō jigo|extra=pub. [[Kansei]] 5–9/1793–1797}}, gives the headline as "Talk on the Ōmi Province ''suiko'', Talk on the Hizen Province ''suiko''"{{efn|{{langx|ja|「近江水虎語・肥前水虎語」}}.}} but the word ''suiko'' is not actually used in the underlying passages. In the Ōmi Province ([[Lake Biwa]]) anecdote, the lake monster's name is {{transl|ja|kawara}},{{efn|Cf. under {{section link||Shiga Prefecture}}}} and in the Hizen Province episode from Kyūshū, the creature is  {{transl|ja|kawatarō}}.<ref name="KansoJigo"/> Yet another example is the antiquary [[Yamazaki Yoshishige]]'s {{nihongo||三養雑記|Sanyō zakki|extra=1839}}{{Refn|''Sanyō zakki'' 三養雑記 31 (extract), in: ''Kōbunko'' 廣文庫: "水虎、俗に河太郎、またかつぱといふ... [Suiko, colloquially called ''kawatarō'', also called ''kappa'']".{{sfnp|Mozume|1916|pp=316–317}}}}

As aforementioned, ''suiko'' remains in colloquial usage as an alias of ''kappa'' in certain areas of the Tōhoku region and Kyūshū (e.g., the {{nihongo||お水虎様|Osuiko-sama}} of Aomori Prefecture).<ref name="murakami2000"/>

The kappa has also been equated with another mythical amphibian from Chinese literature, called the {{nihongo||水蝹/すいいん|suiin}},  mentioned in such works as the {{interlanguage link|You Ming Lu|zh|幽明录|lt=''Youming lu''|preserve=1}} ("Records of the Dead and the Living"). In  {{nihongo|Naomi Ryū|直海龍}}'s {{nihongo|Kō yamato honzō|広倭本草/広大和本草}} (pub. Hōreki 9/1759), equates this ''suiin'' with the Japanese {{transl|ja|kawaro}} or {{transl|ja|gawatarō}}, while further down also equates the ''suiin'' with the water tiger (''suiko'').<ref name="KoYamatoHonzo"/>{{sfnp|Mozume|1916|pp=308–309}}

== Mummies ==
Purported mummies and bones of ''kappa'' as yōkai relics are held by various possessors.{{Refn|{{harvp|īkura|2014|pp=211–246}}<!--narrow page range not given by Hirota--> ''apud'' Hirota (2021)<ref name="hirota2021"/>.}}

Writer Naoki Yamaguchi knows of three whole-bodied mummies purported to be owned in Japan, and which still exist: one is the mummy passed down the family of the Matsuuraichi sake brewery in [[Imari, Saga]]. Another piece was obtained by a ''[[misemono]]'' traveling show that operated around the Tokyo area, another held by {{illm|Zuiryū-ji (Osaka)|ja|瑞龍寺 (大阪市)|lt=Zuiryū-ji}} temple in Osaka.{{sfnp|Yamaguchi N.|2010|pp=187, 189}} Besides these, {{nihongo|Myōden-ji|妙伝寺}} temple in [[Mashiko, Tochigi|Mashiko]] possesses an alleged ''kappa'' mummy.{{sfnp|Kappa renpō kyōwakoku|1991|p=96}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bennen18.blog41.fc2.com/blog-entry-297.html|last=Andō |first=Hideaki |author-link=<!--安藤秀明--> |title=カッパのミイラ |website=Andō Keiichi, doll-talk blog 安藤圣一（あんどうけいいち）人形説き　のブログ |date=2 October 2012 |access-date=3 September 2025}}</ref>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|An elderly woman residing in what was formerly [[Sakamoto, Kumamoto|Sakamoto]] village in [[Yatsushiro District, Kumamoto]] claims to own one, which is not allowed to leave the premise.{{sfnp|Kappa renpō kyōwakoku|1991|p=171}}}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Some books mention the mummy of [[Akashi, Hyōgo|Akashi]],{{sfnp|Kappa renpō kyōwakoku|1991|p=97, 144}} but this is just the head portion, and N. Yamaguchi calls it a "''kappa'' face". It is held by the {{illm|Akashi City Museum of Culture|ja|明石市立文化博物館}} but it was trapped in a fisherman's net off of the [[Oki Islands]] (administrated by Shimane Prefecture), and it may merely be a piece of whale vertebra.{{sfnp|Yamaguchi N.|2010|p=208}}}}

The reclining  ''kappa'' mummy owned by the {{nihongo|Tajiri|田尻}} family of the Matsuuraichi brewery in Imari{{sfnp|Yamaguchi N.|2010|pp=189–195}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.matsuuraichi.com/|title=Matsuuraichi shūzō |script-title=ja:松浦一酒造HP |accessdate=6 February 2010}}</ref> has been examined by a [[primatologist]]{{efn|Professor Hisanori Fujii 藤井尚教 of [[Shokei College]]}} who counted 16 [[thoracic vertebrae]], which didn't match humans or apes (with 12), so even supposing this was made from mammalian skeleton, it would be difficult to pin down what animal.{{sfnp|Yamaguchi N.|2010|p=189}}

The traveling show mummy was considered prime exhibit material ({{transl|ja|mabuneta}}) by a previous [[impresario]] who handed it down to the present owner. The attached story was that the ''kappa'' haunted {{illm|Fushimi, Nara#Ayame Pond|ja|伏見 (奈良市)#あやめ池|lt=Ayame Pond}} around what has now become developed as [[Ayameike Station]] in [[Nara, Nara]] city. It allegedly was caught by villagers after assaulting horses and children, bound by the hands and feet and left to dry in the sun, and thus mummified. The local temple housed it, the story goes, but the temple became derelict, and the item was stolen and trafficked after [[World War II]]. There is some wear and tear since it was used in exhibit for 60 years, and currently kept out of public viewing for conservation purposes.{{sfnp|Yamaguchi N.|2010|pp=196–202}}

While there were mermaid mummy and ''kappa'' mummy craftsmen during the Edo Period, not much about them is known beyond their existence.<ref name="kreiner1998"/>{{Refn|However, J. F. van Overmeer Fisscher provides some testimony about workshop[s] in Nagasaki that made all sorts of mummies, at the going price of 30 [[taels]] (30 [[ryō]]) equivalent to 60 [[Dutch guilder]]s (cf. [[Feejee mermaid]])<ref name="overmeerfisscher1833"/>)}}

At the [[Kitano Tenmangū (Kurume)|Kitano Tenmangū]]{{Refn|{{langx|ja|[[:ja:北野天満宮 (久留米市)|北野天満宮]]}}, in Kurume, Fukuoka, aforementioned.}} of Kurume, Fukuoka, there is a mummified piece alleged to be the hand of a ''kahaku''. The attached story is that in the year 901 when [[Sugawara no Michizane]] was nearly [[assassinate]]d by Chikugo River, a ''kappa'' boss tried to help him and got his hand cut off. According to a variant, Michizane himself cut off the hand from the ''kappa'' that tried to drag Michizane's horse.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Miyamoto |first1=Yukie |author1-link=<!--宮本幸枝--> |last2=Kumagai |first2=Azusa |author2-link=<!--熊谷あづさ--> |title=Nihon no yōkai to fushigi |script-title=ja:日本の妖怪の謎と不思議 |publisher=[[:ja:Gakken|Gakken]] |year=2007 |series=GAKKEN MOOK |page=33 |isbn=978-4-05-604760-8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kitano.or.jp/tenmanguu/rekisi.htm |title=Kitano tenmangū no rekishi |script-title=ja:北野天満宮の歴史 |website=Cosmos no machi Kitano |script-work=ja:コスモスの町きたの |publisher=[[Kitano, Fukuoka|Kitano]] Shōkōkai |accessdate=31 January 2009}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
The ''kappa'' is a popular creature of the Japanese folk imagination; its manifestations cut across genre lines, appearing in folk religion, beliefs, legends, folktales and folk metaphors.<ref name="foster1998-ono-1994" />

[[Ryūnosuke Akutagawa]]'s 1927 novella ''[[Kappa (novel)|Kappa]]'' centers on a man who got lost and ended up in the land of the ''kappa'' near [[Mount Hotakadake]].<ref>Yamanouchi, Hisaaki. ''The Search for Authenticity in Modern Japanese Literature'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978.</ref> The story heavily focuses on the subject of suicide and Akutagawa killed himself the year the work was published.<ref>Peace, David. [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/sep/08/featuresreviews.guardianreview13 "Last words"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180826054004/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/sep/08/featuresreviews.guardianreview13 |date=26 August 2018 }}, ''The Guardian'', 27 September 2007.</ref>

The 1950s cartoon series such as  ''Kappa tengoku'' by Kon Shimizu was already discussed above.<ref name="kagawa2022"/>

In Japan, the character Sagojō ([[Sha Wujing]]) is conventionally depicted as a ''kappa'', he being a comrade of the magic monkey Son Gokū ([[Sun Wukong]]) in the Chinese story ''[[Journey to the West]]''.<ref name="Hanami">{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20170306013722/http://road-station.com/2014/03/does-kappa-still-have-their-occult-power/ Does Kappa still have their occult power?]}}. road-station.com (Michi-no-eiki).</ref>

Kappas are a recurring image in [[David Peace]]'s 2018 novel ''[[Patient X (novel)|Patient X]]'',<ref>{{Cite book |title=Patient X: the case-book of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa |last=Peace |first=David |isbn=978-0-5255-2177-8 |location=New York |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |year=2018 |oclc=1013525517 }}</ref> itself about the life and work of Akutagawa.

Nitori Kawashiro, a character of the [[Touhou Project]] is a Kappa.

== Public installations ==
=== Mizuki Shgeru Road ===
{{external media| float = right| width = 240px| image1 = [https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sakaiminato_Mizuki_Shigeru_Road_Kappa_Statue_1.JPG Bronze statues of two ''kappa'' facing each other], Mizuki Shigeru Road}}
The {{illm|Mizuki Shigeru Road|ja|水木しげるロード}} in [[Sakaiminato, Tottori]] is lined with bronzes of ''yōkai'' after the character designs of [[manga]] artist [[Shigeru Mizuki]], including the ''kappa''.<ref name="foster2009-Mechademia"/>

===Gatarō of Fukusaki===
{{external media| float = right| width = 240px| image1 = [https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tsujikawayama park Sep 2018 2.JPG ''Kawajirō'' and two ''kappa'' painted figures emerging from pond], Tsujikawayama Park}}

The township of [[Fukusaki, Hyōgo]] (birthplace of folklorist [[Yanagita Kunio]] has installed a number of ''yōkai'' statures or figures all over town. including several ''kappa''. Drawing from Yangita's writings, the town has developed as mascot two fictional brothers named Kawatarō and Kawajirō. The Kawajirō is installed both near the station and submerged in the pond at Tsujikawayama Park alongside two baby ''kappa'', and they emerge out of water periodically.<ref name="Fukusaki_yokai20190507">{{Cite web|author=Fukusaki township municipal office, Regional Promotional Division |author-link=<!--福崎町役場 地域振興課--> |date=7 May 2019 |title=Fukusaki-chō no yōkai tachi |script-title=ja:福崎町の妖怪たち |url=http://www.town.fukusaki.hyogo.jp/0000002183.html |publisher=[[Fukusaki, Hyōgo|Fukusaki-chō]] |website=公式ウェブサイト |accessdate=13 August 2019 }}</ref><ref name="FukusakiTownTourismAssn">{{Cite web|author=Fukusaki Town Tourism Association |author-link=<!--福崎町観光協会--> |title=The Yokai of Tsujikawayama Park: §Kappa no Gataro (The Kappa named Gataro)/§Kappa no Gajiro (The Kappa named Gajiro) |script-title=ja:辻川山公園の妖怪たち: 河童の河太郎（ガタロウ）/河童の河次郎（ガジロウ） |url=https://fukusakikankou.jp/en/the-yokai-of-tsujikawayama-park/  |website=Fukusaki Town Tourism Association |date=2024 |accessdate=10 September 2025 |lang=en}}</ref><ref name="LineT_TsujikawaPark">{{Cite web|title=Kappa ni tengu!? Hyōgo-ken Fukusaki-chō Tsujikawayama Kōen de yōkai watching |script-title=ja:河童に天狗!?兵庫県福崎町「辻川山公園」で妖怪ウオッチング |url=https://www.travel.co.jp/guide/article/6474/ |publisher=Venture Republic Inc |website=Travel jp |date=2001–2025 |accessdate=13 August 2019 }}</ref> The figures were designed by {{illm|Tomoo Ogawa|ja|小川知男}} who was a staff at the town's Regional Promotional Division.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.town.fukusaki.hyogo.jp/bunka/cmsfiles/contents/0000002/2513/bunka31_2010-14.pdf |last=Ogawa |first=Tomoo |author-link=:ja: 小川知男 |title=Kaishingeki no kappa Kawajirō tanjō hiwa |script-title=ja:快進撃の河童『河次郎』誕生秘話 |work=Fukusaki-chō bunka, No. 31 |script-work=ja:広報「福崎町文化」第31号 |format=PDF |publisher=Fukusaki-chō Cultural Center<!--福崎町文化センター--> |date=1 March 2015|accessdate=30 September 2021|pages=10-14}}</ref>

===Iconic uses===
[[File:Kappa Warning Sign Fukuoka 2018-Oct-7.jpg|thumb|right|"DANGER!! Do not swim or play around here." A kappa is depicted as a metaphor of drowning on a sign near a pond in Fukuoka.]]

Even today, [[Safety sign|warning signs]] about the ''kappa'' appearing near bodies of water are seen in some Japanese towns and villages.<ref name="miura2003"/> However, such signs often merely serve as scary warnings to dissuade young children from playing too close to rivers, ponds, etc.<ref name="dk2024"/>

===Commercial advertising===
Major ''sake'' brewery {{interlanguage link|Kizakura|ja|黄桜}}'s mascot has been the ''kappa'' and its family, the first version undertaken by Kon Shimizu, and the second version taken over by [[Kō Kojima]],<ref name="kagawa2022"/><ref>{{harvp|Foster|1998|p=14}} and Fig. 4. The female is bare-breasted with pink nipples.</ref>{{Refn|{{harvp|Papp|2010|pp=16–17}} and Fig. 2.4 ""the gender roles.. have hardly changed since the early fifities from pouring saké for the husband.. the female kappa is naked.. displaying very strong eroticism".<ref name="papp2010"/>}} which were viewed widely as [[Television advertisement|TV commercial]]s from around 1955.{{sfnp|Ozawa|2011|p=40}}

[[Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi]]'s DC Card (a credit card) uses the DC Card Kappa, a cuddly cartoon character, as mascot.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Foster|first=Michael Dylan|title=Pandemonium and Parade: Japanese Monsters and the Culture of Yokai|date=2009|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-25361-2|edition=1|jstor=10.1525/j.ctt1ppkrc.11}}</ref>

===Anime and games===
* In the anime show ''[[Inuyasha]]'', a ''kappa'', Sha Gojyo(Sagojō)'s descendant said to be a descendant of the legendary character from ''Journey of the West'' and together with Son Gokū's descendant, the servant of Chokyūkai to find a bride.
* [[List of Inuyasha characters#Kagome Higurashi|Kagome's]] [[List of Inuyasha characters#Grandpa|grandfather]] gave her an alleged mummified foot of a kappa for her early 15th birthday, but she does not accept and gives to [[List of Inuyasha characters#Buyo|Buyo]].
* In episode 4 of ''[[Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon]]'', Grandpa Higurashi gifted to his great-granddaughter, [[List of Inuyasha characters#Moroha|Moroha]], a mummified kappa's foot as a gift, which she accepts and keeps.
* In the ''[[Touhou Project]]'' video game ''[[Mountain of Faith]]'', the stage 3 boss is a ''kappa'' named Nitori Kawashiro.
** ''Kappas'' appear several times in official manga works of the ''Touhou Project''. They are depicted as technologically advanced inventors.

''Kappa'', and creatures based on them, are recurring characters in Japanese ''[[tokusatsu]]'' films and television shows. Examples include the kappas in the [[Daiei]]/[[Kadokawa Pictures|Kadokawa]] series ''[[Yokai Monsters]]'', the 2010 ''[[kaiju]]'' film ''[[Death Kappa]]'',{{sfnp|Foster|2015|p=164}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Weinstock|first=Jeffrey Andrew|date=2016|title=The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PHbeCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA355|language=en|publisher=[[Routledge]]|page=355|isbn=978-1409425625}}</ref> and "King Kappa", a ''kaiju'' from the 1972 [[Tsuburaya Productions]] series ''[[Ultraman Ace]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ultraman Ace |url=https://betacapsulereviews.wordpress.com/ultraman-ace/ |website=Beta Capsule Reviews |access-date=31 July 2019 |date=26 January 2018 |archive-date=31 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190731181456/https://betacapsulereviews.wordpress.com/ultraman-ace/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

* ''[[Summer Days with Coo]]'' is a 2007 [[Anime|Japanese animated]] film about a ''kappa'' and its impact on an ordinary family, written for the screen and directed by [[Keiichi Hara]] based on two novels by {{illm|Masao Kogure|ja|木暮正夫}}.<ref>{{Citation|title=Summer Days with Coo|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179773/|access-date=20 May 2020|archive-date=11 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111192801/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179773/|url-status=live}}</ref>

* In ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III]]'', the titular Turtles accidentally activate the Time Scepter, a mystical artifact, and end up travelling back in time, to Japan of the Edo period (more specifically 1603). As a running gag, some of the villagers who interact with them feel frightened by their appearance and refer to them as the legendary "kappa" throughout the film.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://gamerant.com/best-redeeming-things-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-3/ |title=7 Redeeming Things About Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 |date=18 June 2022 |access-date=30 January 2023 |archive-date=30 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130190439/https://gamerant.com/best-redeeming-things-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-3/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Notably, the Turtles quickly befriend children in the village, and Leonardo demonstrates for them the modern medical technique of CPR to save a boy's life.

==Eponymy==
A cucumber-filled ''[[makizushi]]'' (sushi roll) is known as a ''[[kappamaki]]''.<ref name="ashkenazi2003"/>{{sfnp|Foster|2015|p=157}}

It is said that the company president of [[Calbee]] liked ''kappa'', so he wanted the name "Kappa" to be included in one of his products. That brought about [[Kappa Ebisen]], a popular shrimp-flavored snack in Japan.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wajuku.jp/index.php/archives/6601|title=第九十九回「い組」お稽古「江戸の妖怪・化物」アダム・カバット – 和塾|language=ja|access-date=5 December 2018|archive-date=6 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181206003724/http://www.wajuku.jp/index.php/archives/6601|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[kappa tick]] (Amblyomma kappa) is a native Japanese [[arachnid]] which occurs in the southern Ryukyu Islands and was named due to its association with reptilian hosts, particularly turtles (which share some physical similarities with the kappa).

==See also==
{{Commons category|Kappa (folklore)}}
* [[Kappa (novel)|''Kappa'']], a novel by [[Ryūnosuke Akutagawa]]
* [[Kappabashi-dori]], a Tokyo street named after the kappa
* ''[[Kijimuna]]'', a spirit creature from [[Okinawa Prefecture|Okinawa]]
* [[Kuzenbo]], the king of kappa in Japanese mythology
* ''[[Mintuci]]'', a water spirit from [[Ainu mythology|Ainu]] mythology
* [[Neck (water spirit)|Neck]], a shapeshifting water spirit in Germanic mythology and folklore
* {{annotated link|Siyokoy (Philippine mythology)}}

==Explanatory notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em|refs=
<ref name="AbukumaJiho2023-10-03">{{cite web|url=https://abukumajiho.com/special/20231003_19292 |last=Takahashi |first=Azumi |author-link=<!--高橋亜純--> |title=Tuesday column: small yōkai |script-title=ja:火曜コラム:小妖 |journal=[[:ja:あぶくま時報|Abukuma jihō]] |date=3 October 2023 |access-date=30 August 2025}}</ref>

<ref name="akagi1991">{{Cite book|editor-last=Akagi |editor-first=Takehiko |editor-link=<!--赤城毅彦--> |title=Ibarki hōgen minzokugo jiten |chapter=Kappa matsu |script-chapter=ja:河童松 |script-title=ja:茨城方言民俗語辞典 |publisher=[[:ja:東京堂出版|Tokyodo Shuppan]] |year=1991 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uHi1BZrWMDYC&q={{urlencode:河童松}} |page=231|isbn=<!--4490102968, -->9784490102963 |language=ja}}</ref>

<ref name="akasaka1996">{{cite book|last=Akasaka |first=Norio |author-link=:ja:赤坂憲雄 |title=Yama no seishinshi: Yanagita Kunio no hassei |script-title=ja:山の精神史：柳田国男の発生 |publisher=[[Shogakukan]] |date=1996 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JYonAQAAIAAJ&q=河童 |pages=40–41 |isbn=<!--4094600892, -->9784094600896 |id={{NDLDC|13229684|format=NDLJP}}}}</ref>

<ref name="araki1982">{{cite book|editor-last=Araki |editor-first=Hiroyuki |editor-link=:ja:荒木博之 |chapter= |title=Nihon densetsu taikei |script-title=ja:日本伝説大系 |volume=11 |publisher=Mizuumi Shobō<!--みずうみ書房--> |date=1982 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6QIxAAAAMAAJ&q=河童 |page=211 }}</ref>

<ref name="aramata1988">{{cite book|last=Aramata |first=Hiroshi |author-link=Hiroshi Aramata |chapter=Kappa |script-chapter=ja:河童 |title=Sekai dai-hakubutsu zukan |script-title=ja:世界大博物図鑑 |volume=5 |location= |publisher=平凡社 |date=1988 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qEwJAQAAMAAJ&q=河童 |pages=385–386 |isbn=<!--4582518222, -->9784582518221}}</ref>
<ref name="aramata-map-heikegani">{{cite book|last1=Aramata |first1=Hiroshi |author1-link=Hiroshi Aramata |last2=Ōya |first2=Yasunori |author2-link=<!--應矢泰紀--> |chapter=Heikegani (Saga-ken) |script-chapter=ja:平家蟹（山口県） |title=Aramata Hiroshi no Nihon zenkoku yōkai mappu |script-title=ja:アラマタヒロシの日本全国妖怪マップ |publisher=Shuwa System<!--秀和システム--> |year=2021 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZtRMEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA106 |page=106 |isbn=<!--4798065072, -->9784798065076}}</ref>
<ref name="aramata-map-hyosube">{{cite book|last1=Aramata |first1=Hiroshi |author1-link=Hiroshi Aramata |last2=Ōya |first2=Yasunori |author2-link=<!--應矢泰紀--> |chapter=Hyōsube (Saga-ken) |script-chapter=ja:ひょうすべ（佐賀県） |title=Aramata Hiroshi no Nihon zenkoku yōkai mappu |script-title=ja:アラマタヒロシの日本全国妖怪マップ |publisher=Shuwa System<!--秀和システム--> |year=2021 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZtRMEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA120 |page=120 |isbn=<!--4798065072, -->9784798065076}}</ref>
<ref name="aramata-map-kashanbo">{{cite book|last1=Aramata |first1=Hiroshi |author1-link=Hiroshi Aramata |last2=Ōya |first2=Yasunori |author2-link=<!--應矢泰紀--> |chapter=Kashanbo (Wakayama-ken)  |script-chapter=ja:カシャンボ（和歌山県） |title=Aramata Hiroshi no Nihon zenkoku yōkai mappu |script-title=ja:アラマタヒロシの日本全国妖怪マップ |publisher=Shuwa System<!--秀和システム--> |year=2021 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZtRMEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA90 |page=90|isbn=<!--4798065072, -->9784798065076}}</ref>
<ref name="aramata-map-neneko">{{cite book|last1=Aramata |first1=Hiroshi |author1-link=Hiroshi Aramata |last2=Ōya |first2=Yasunori |author2-link=<!--應矢泰紀--> |chapter=Neneko (Ibaraki-ken) |script-chapter=ja:禰々子（ねねこ）（茨城県） |title=Aramata Hiroshi no Nihon zenkoku yōkai mappu |script-title=ja:アラマタヒロシの日本全国妖怪マップ |publisher=Shuwa System<!--秀和システム--> |year=2021 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZtRMEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA34  |page=34|isbn=<!--4798065072, -->9784798065076}}</ref>

<ref name="asano&clark1995">{{cite book|editor1-last=Asano |editor1-first=Shūgō |editor1-link=:ja:浅野秀剛 |editor2-last=Clark |editor2-first=Timothy |editor2-link=<!--Timothy Clark--> |title=The Passionate Art of Kitagawa Utamaro |script-title=ja:「喜多川歌麿」展図録 |location=Tokyo<!-- and London--> |publisher=[[Asahi Shinbunsha]]<!--[[British Museum Press]]--> |year=1995 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oIokAQAAMAAJ&q=kappa |pages=189, 277–278 |isbn=<!--071411474X, --> 9780714114743}}</ref>

<ref name="ashkenazi2003">{{cite book |last=Ashkenazi |first=Michael |author-link=<!--Michael Ashkenazi--> |chapter=kappa |title=Handbook of Japanese Mythology |year=2003 |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofjapane0000ashk/page/195|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tb3OEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA196 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/handbookofjapane0000ashk/page/195 195]–196 |url-access=registration |access-date=22 December 2010 |isbn= 978-1-57607-467-1 }}</ref>

<ref name="BencaoGangmu-tr-unschuld2021">{{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Unschuld tr.|2021}}|author=Li Shizhen |translator=Paul U. Unschuld |chapter=Section Worms/Bugs. Chapter 42. Appendix. ''Shui hu'' |script-chapter=zh:水虎 |title=Ben Cao Gang Mu, Volume VIII: Clothes, Utensils, Worms, Insects, Amphibians, Animals with Scales, Animals with Shells |publisher=Univ of California Press |year=2021  |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KXUgEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA499 |page=499 |isbn=<!--0520976983, -->9780520976986}}</ref>

<ref name="british_museum-utamakura">{{cite web|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_OA-0-133-1 |author=Curator KF |title=shunga; print (shelfmark OA+,0.133.1) |website=British Museum |date= |access-date=6 September 2025}} Also quotes from {{harvp|Asano|Clark|1995}}</ref>

<ref name="ButsuruiShoko-KojiRuien">{{interlanguage link|Koshigaya Azan|ja|越谷吾山}} (1775). ''Butsurui shōko'' 2, ''apud'' {{citation|editor=Jingū Administration Office |editor-link=:ja:神宮司庁|chapter=Dōbutsu-bu 7 |script-chapter=ja:動物部 七 |title=Koji ruien |script-title=ja:古事類苑 |volume=49 |publisher=Koji ruien kankō-kai<!--古事類苑刊行会--> |date=1910 |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1874269/1/262 |pages=480–481 |id={{NDLDC|1874269|format=NDLJP}}}}</ref>

<ref name="chiba1993">{{cite journal|last=Chiba |first=Mikio |author-link=:ja:千葉幹夫 |title=Edo yōkai meisho zue |script-title=ja:江戸妖怪名所図絵 |journal=Taiyō |script-journal=ja:太陽 |volume=31 |number=6/cumulative 384 |publisher=Heibonsha |date=June 1993 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lbxYAAAAMAAJ |page=80<!--78-80--> |language=ja}}</ref>

<ref name="de_garis&sakai2009">{{cite book|last1=De Garis |first1=Frederic  |author1-link=<!--Frederic de Garis--> |last2=Sakai |first2=Atsuharu |author2-link=:ja:酒井温理 |chapter=Section Worms/Bugs. Chapter 42. Appendix. ''Shui hu'' |title=We Japanese |publisher=Routledge |year=2009 |orig-year=2002 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hUm0AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA13 |page=13|isbn=<!--1136183671, -->9781136183676}}</ref>

<ref name="DigitalDaijisen">{{cite dictionary|entry=Kappa |script-entry=ja:かっぱ【▽河▽童】|title=Dejitaru daijisen |script-title=ja:デジタル大辞泉  |publisher=Shogakukan |date=2020 |url=https://kotobank.jp/word/河童-45345 |via=kotobank}}</ref>

<ref name="DK2017">{{cite book|author=DK Eyewitness |author-link=<!--DK Eyewitness--> |chapter=Inaricho District and Kappabashi-dori |title=DK Eyewitness Tokyo |publisher=Penguin |date=2017 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2xnMDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA56 |page=56|isbn=<!--146546512X, -->9781465465122}}</ref>

<ref name="dk2024">{{cite book|author=dk |author-link=<!--dk--> |title=Supernatural Creatures: Mythical and Sacred Creatures from Around the World |publisher=Penguin |date=2024 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xzDyEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA131 |page=131 |isbn=<!--0593958314, -->9780593958315}}</ref>

<ref name="foster2008">{{cite book|last=Foster |first=Michael Dylan |author-link=Michael Foster (folklorist) |title=Pandemonium and Parade: Japanese Monsters and the Culture of Yōkai |publisher=University of California Press |date=3 November 2008 <!--(c) 2009--> |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z5WQy5Q6Hj4C&pg=PA46 |page=46|isbn=978-0-520-25361-2}}</ref>
<ref name="foster2009-Mechademia">{{cite journal|last=Foster |first=Michael Dylan |author-link=Michael Foster (folklorist) |title=Haunted Travelogue: Hometowns, Ghost Towns, and Memories of War |journal=Mechademia: Second Arc |volume=4 |issue=War/Time |date=11 November 2009 |pages=168–179<!--164–181-->|doi=10.2307/1178994 |jstor=41510934}}</ref>

<ref name="frederic2002">{{cite encyclopedia|title=kappa |encyclopedia=Japan Encyclopedia |first=Louis |last=Frédéric |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p2QnPijAEmEC&pg=PA480 |publisher=President and Fellows of Harvard College |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-674-00770-3 |page=480}}</ref>

<ref name="fujisawa1959">{{cite book|last=Fujisawa |first=Morihiko |author-link=:ja:藤沢衛彦 |chapter=Kiroku ni miru kappa no seijō |script-chapter=ja:記録にみる河童の性情 |title=Zusetsu Nihon minzokugaku zenshū dai-4 (Minkan shinkō/yōkai-hen) |script-title=ja:図説日本民俗学全集 第4 (民間信仰・妖怪編) |publisher=[[:ja:あかね書房|Akane Shobo]] |date=1959 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YG06AAAAMAAJ&q=水虎 |page=136<!--131–137-->}}</ref>

<ref name="fukuoka1">Katsuya Yamauchi<!--山内勝也--> (1983). ''Kappa no shōmon: Momochi de no dekishinin nakusu'' 河童の証文-百道での溺死人なくす in: Fukuoka city Mayor's Office PR Section ed. ''Fukuoka rekishi sanpo'' ふくおか歴史散歩 '''2''': 107–108. Fukuoka City.</ref>
<ref name="fukuoka2">Katsuya Yamauchi<!--山内勝也--> (1983). ''Chigyō kappa no matsu: Sake-zuki no kappa ga ongaeshi'' 地行河童の松-酒好きの河童が恩返しin: Fukuoka city Mayor's Office PR Section ed. ''Fukuoka rekishi sanpo'' ふくおか歴史散歩 '''2''': 109–110. Fukuoka City.</ref>

<ref name="fukushima1978">{{cite journal|last=Fukushima |first=Yoshikazu |author-link=<!--福島好和--> |title=Kurimoto Tanshŭ to gyofu (1): Tanshŭ  no shōgai to sono kenkyŭ |script-title=ja:栗本丹洲と魚譜（一） : 丹洲の生涯とその研究 |trans-title=Kurimoto Tansyû and his study on the fish (1) : The life of Tansyû and his study on the fauna of Japan |journal=Jinbun kenkyŭ |script-journal=ja:人文論究 |ISSN=0286-6773 |publisher=<!--西宮 : 関西学院大学人文学会-->[[Kwansei Gakuin University]] |volume=28 |issue=3 |date=December 1978 |url=https://kwansei.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/15185/files/283-01.pdf |pages=9–10<!--1–23--> |hdl=10236/5216 }}<!--https://kwansei.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/15185 --></ref>

<ref name="gorai-etal1979">{{cite book|editor1-last=Gorai |editor1-first=Shigeru |editor1-link=:ja:五来重 |editor2-last=Sakurai |editor2-first=Tokutarō |editor2-link=:ja:桜井徳太郎 |editor3-last=Ōshima |editor3-first=Tatehiko |editor3-link=:ja:大島建彦 |editor4-last=Miyata |editor4-first=Noboru |editor4-link=:ja:宮田登 |title=Kōza Nihon no minzoku shūkyō: Kami kannen to minzoku |script-title=ja:講座日本の民俗宗教: 神観念と民俗 |publisher=[[:ja:弘文堂|Kobundo]] |year=1979 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=40vTAAAAMAAJ&q=河童 |pages=218–219 |isbn=978-4-620-31428-0}}</ref>

<ref name="gunji1995">{{cite journal|last=Gunji |first=Sanao |authorlink=<!--郡司早直--> |title=Rokkaku-sei gijō no yōto ni tsuite: Mizuchi ni kansuru densetsu wo tegakari ni |script-title=ja:鹿角製儀仗の用途について―蛟に関する伝説を手掛りに― |trans-title=Ceremonial Batons Made of Deer Antler (Rokkakusei-gijō) from the Jōmon Period Based on the Perspective of Japanese Folklore |journal=Kokugakuin Daigaku kiyō |script-journal=ja:國學院大學大學院紀要 |volume=26 |issue= |date=October 1995 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dKNHAAAAMAAJ&q=河童 |page=363<!--351–364-->}}</ref>

<ref name="harada1941">{{cite book|last=Harada |first=Taneo |author-link=:ja:原田種夫 |chapter=Bōshi no hanashi |script-chapter=ja:帽子の話 |title=Fūjin |script-title=ja:風塵 |publisher=Toyokaku<!--東陽閣--> |date=1941 |chapter-url=<!----> |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1133333/1/47?keyword=%E6%B0%B4%E8%99%8E|page=75<!--49–80-->|id={{NDLDC|1133333|format=NDLJP}}}} Reprinted in {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=rJgcAAAAMAAJ&q=水虎|2=Collected Works, Vol. 1}}, Kokusho Kankokai, 1983, p. 20</ref>

<ref name="hearn1894">{{cite book |last=Hearn |first=Lafcadio |author-link=Lafcadio Hearn  |title=Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan |volume=2 |location=Boston |publisher=[[Houghton, Mifflin, and Co.]] |year=1894 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EqEMAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA505 |pages=505–506, n2}}</ref>

<ref name="higashi2000">{{cite journal|last=Higashi |first=Masao |author-link=:ja: 東雅夫 |title=Nazo no yōkai 'gyūki' no shōtai |script-title=ja:謎の妖怪'牛鬼'の正体 |journal=Mū |script-journal=ja:ムー |number=240 |date=November 2000 |url=<!--not previewable except contents: https://jp.mercari.com/item/m75700446930?srsltid=AfmBOoqKOoUwVAgdthnJL4L3AVwPZbc1ARRdq5ioVRZpYXD1fyCb7Kk8--> |pages=63–69}}<!--Identification of ''Mu'' magazine and issue, content in brief via Saigetsu do<ref name="saigetsudo2011"/>。--></ref>

<ref name="hinohara2014">{{cite book|last=Hinohara |first=Kenji |author-link=<!--日野原 健司--> |chapter=Tokushū Hokusai tokuhon no yōkai, yūrei (Yōkai zufu: Edo no bakemono daishūgō) |script-chapter=ja:特集 北斎読本の妖怪・幽霊 (妖怪図譜 : 江戸の化物大集合) |title=Nihon no kokoro |script-title=ja:日本のこころ |series=Bessatsu Taiyō<!--別冊太陽--> 219 |publisher=平凡社 |date=July 2014 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RQs0AQAAIAAJ&q=河童 |url=https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/books/R100000002-I000000024933-i6224978 |page=158<!--152–159-->|isbn=<!--4582922198, -->9784582922196}}</ref>
 
<ref name="hirota2021">{{cite journal|last=Hirota |first=Ryūhei |author-link=<!--廣田龍平--> |title=Traversing the Natural, Supernatural, and Paranormal: ''Yōkai'' in Postwar Japan |journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies |volume=48 |number=2 |publisher=Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture |date=2021 |url=https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/journal/6/article/2314/pdf/download |pages=324<!--321–339--> |doi=10.18874/jjrs.48.2.2021}}</ref>

<ref name="HokusaiManga03">{{cite book|author=Katsushika Hokusai |author-link=Katsushika Hokusai  |chapter=Kappa |script-chapter=ja:河童  |title=Hokusai manga |script-title=ja:北斎漫画 |volume=3 |publisher=[[:ja:片野東四郎|Katano Tōshirō]] |date=1878 |chapter-url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/851648/1/30 |at=23v }}</ref>
<ref name="HokusaiManga12">{{cite book|author=Katsushika Hokusai |author-link=Katsushika Hokusai |chapter=(Tsuri no meijin), kappa wo tsuru no hō |script-chapter=ja:同（＝鉤の名人）、河童を鉤（つ）ルの法 |title=Hokusai manga |script-title=ja:北斎漫画 |volume=12 |publisher=[[:ja:片野東四郎|Katano Tōshirō]]  |date=1878 |chapter-url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/851657/1/22 |at=19r }}</ref>

<ref name="honda1997">{{cite book|editor-last=Honda |editor-first=Yasuji |editor-link=:ja:本田安次 |title=Nihon no dentō geinō: Honda Yasuji chosakushū |script-title=ja:日本の傳統藝能 : 本田安次著作集 |volume=14 |publisher=[[:ja:錦正社|Kinseisha]] |date=December 1997 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=34KyAAAAIAAJ&q=千代 |pages= |id={{NDLDC|13416347|format=NDLJP}}}}</ref>

<ref name="HonzokomokuShakugi">{{interlanguage link|Yamamoto Bōyō|ja|山本亡羊}} ''Honzō kōmoku shakugi'' 本草綱目釈義, Book 4. Bugs 蟲, §12, ''apud'' {{citation|editor=Jingū Administration Office |editor-link=:ja:神宮司庁 |chapter=Dōbutsu-bu 7 |script-chapter=ja:動物部 七 |title=Koji ruien |script-title=ja:古事類苑 |volume=49 |publisher=Koji ruien kankō-kai<!--古事類苑刊行会--> |date=1910 |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1874269/1/262 |pages=481–482 |id={{NDLDC|1874269|format=NDLJP}}}}</ref>

<ref name="ibaraki_kenritsu_rekishikan2011">{{cite book|author=Ibaraki Prefectural Museum of History |author-link=Ibaraki Prefectural Museum of History |title=Yōkai kenbun: Tokubetsu-ten |script-title=ja:妖怪見聞: 特別展 |publisher=[[:ja:茨城県立歴史館|Ibaraki Prefectural Museum of History]] |date=2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=obcTh7btyt4C&q=水戸浦|page=116}}</ref>

<ref name="ichihara1971">{{cite book|last=Ichihara |first=Rintarō |author-link=:ja:市原麟一郎 |chapter= |title=Minwa no furusato: Tosa no minwa|script-title=ja:民話のふる里 : 土佐の民話 |location= |publisher=Tosa Minwa no Kai<!--土佐民話の会-->|date=1971|url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/12501569/1/57 |page=114<!--[?]57ｺﾏ--> |id={{NDLDC|12501569|format=NDLJP}}}}</ref>

<ref name="iwashina1953">{{cite journal|last=Iwashina |first=Koichirō |author-link=:ja:岩科小一郎 |title=Kappa zatsudan |script-title=ja:河童雑談 |journal=Ashinaka |script-journal=ja:あしなか |publisher=山村民俗の会 |issue=37 |date=August 1953 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tP4zAQAAIAAJ&q=河童 |page=25<!--24–25--> }} {{URL|1=http://www.nichibun.ac.jp/YoukaiCard/0030086.shtml|2=summarized}}, informant: Handa 半田 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304000654/http://www.nichibun.ac.jp/YoukaiCard/0030086.shtml |date=4 March 2009|}} via [[:ja:怪異・妖怪伝承データベース|The Database of Folktales of Mysterious Phenomena and Yōkai]]@[[International Research Center for Japanese Studies]]}}</ref>

<ref name="jolivet2000">{{cite book|last=Jolivet |first=Muriel |author-link=<!--Muriel Jolivet--> |chapter=Chapter 4. Ema: Representations of Infanticide and Abortion |editor1-last=Ashkenazi |editor1-first=Michael |editor1-link=<!--Michael Ashkenazi--> |editor2-last=Clammer |editor2-first=J. R. |editor2-link=<!--J. R. Clammer--> |title=Consumption and Material Culture in Contemporary Japan |publisher=Kegan Paul International |year=2000 |url=https://books.google.com/books?&id=1QG1AAAAIAAJ&q=kappa |pages=89–91<!--81–97--> |isbn=<!--0710306180,--> 9780710306180}}</ref>

<ref name="kabat1999">{{cite book|editor-last=Kabat |editor-first=Adam |editor-link=:ja:アダム・カバット |title=Edo bakemono zōshi |script-title=ja:江戸化物草紙 |publisher=Shogakukan |date=1999 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RQs0AQAAIAAJ&q=河童 |pages=34–35, 56 |isbn=<!--409362111X, -->9784093621113}}</ref>

<ref name="kagawa2022">{{cite web|last=Kagawa |first=Masanobu |author-link=<!--香川雅信 book author on this topic--> |title=Kappa: Mizu no kyōfu wo taigen shita ozomashiki yōkai |script-title=ja:河童（かっぱ）：水の恐怖を体現したおぞましき妖怪 |trans-title=Kappa: hideous creature as an incarnate of the fear of water |website=nippon.com |date=30 May 2022 |url=https://www.nippon.com/ja/japan-topics/b02505/ |access-date=30 August 2025}}</ref>

<ref name="kaibara1709">{{cite book|author=Kaibara Ekken |author-link=Kaibara Ekken  |chapter=Kawatarō |script-chapter=ja:（和品）河童（かはたらう） |title=Yamato honzō |script-title=ja:大和本草 |location=Kyoto |publisher=[[:ja:永田文昌堂|Nagata Chōbē]] |date=1709 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cLhZAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP347 |at=Book 16, §11}}</ref>

<ref name="kasaoka-city1983">{{cite book|author=Kasaoka-shi shi hensan shitsu |author-link=<!--笠岡市史編さん室--> |title=Kasaoka-shi shi |script-title=ja:笠岡市史 |publisher=Kasaoka City |year=1983|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_XshjrUMWLMC&q=河童 |page=136}}</ref>

<ref name="KansoJigo">[[:ja:柳原紀光|Yanagiwara Motomitsu]]. ''Kansō jigo'' 閑窓自語. ''apud'' {{citation|editor=Jingū Administration Office |editor-link=:ja:神宮司庁 |chapter=Dōbutsu-bu 7 |script-chapter=ja:動物部 七 |title=Koji ruien |script-title=ja:古事類苑 |volume=49 |publisher=Koji ruien kankō-kai<!--古事類苑刊行会--> |date=1910 |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1874269/1/262 |page=480 |id={{NDLDC|1874269|format=NDLJP}}}}</ref>
{{void|<ref name="KansoJigo-Hyakurin">[[:ja:柳原紀光|Yanagiwara Motomitsu]]. ''Kansō jigo'' 閑窓自語. In:{{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=HgNJAAAAMAAJ&pg=PP945|2=''Hyakka setsurin'' 百家説林}}』, [[:ja:吉川弘文館|Yoshikawa Kobunkan]], 1892, pp. 935–936.</ref>}}

<ref name="KasshiYawa-65kan">{{cite book|author=Matsura Seizan |author-link=Matsuura Seizan |chapter=Kan-65 (*) Sen-nen ryōkoku ni ayashiki han hodokoshi no mono wo tōrai su.. (fukutarō, with illustr. of charm against water disaster and pox) |script-chapter=ja:巻六十五　〇先年領国に怪しき版施のものを到来す.. (「福太郎：水難除・疱瘡除」図) |title=Kasshi yawa |script-title=ja:甲子夜話 |volume=2 |location= |publisher=[[:ja:国書刊行会 (1905-1922)|Kokusho Kankokai]]  |date=1911 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QLJuU0PKCa0C&pg=PP540 |pages=524–526}}</ref>

<ref name="kato1919">{{cite book|last=Katō |first=Totsudō |author-link=:ja:加藤咄堂 |chapter=Higo, Hizen, Iki, Tsushima |script-chapter=ja:肥後・肥前・壱岐・対馬|title=Nihon fūzoku shi |script-title=ja:日本風俗志 |volume=3  |edition= |location= |publisher=[[:ja:大鐙閣|Daitokaku]] |date=1919 |chapter-url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/954613/1/320 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F-ALAQAAIAAJ&q=河童 |pages=616–617 |id={{NDLDC|954613|format=NDLJP}}}}</ref>

<ref name="kawasaki_museum2019">{{citation|author=Kawasaki City Museum |author-link=:ja:川崎市市民ミュージアム |title=Yōkai to hito: Fantajī kara riaru e |script-title=ja:妖怪と人：ファンタジーからリアルへ |publisher=Kawasaki City Museum |date=July–September 2019 |url=https://www.kawasaki-museum.jp/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/youkaihito_A4.pdf |page=2}}</ref>
<ref name="kim_sowoon1992-ga">[[:ja:金素雲|Kim So-woon]] (1992) [1968] ''Korean-Japanese Dictionary'' s.v. "{{lang|ko|가}}" ({{transl|ko|ga}}), ①{{lang|ja|ふち、へり、きわ、端}}.side, verge<!--marginal English glosses-->. Compound: {{lang|ko|강가}} {{lang|ja|川辺}} [riverside]<!--compound not translated into English--> p. 1a . Kōrai Shorin.</ref>
<ref name="kim_sowoon1992-gang">[[:ja:金素雲|Kim So-woon]] (1992) [1968] ''Korean-Japanese Dictionary'' s.v. "{{lang|ko|강}}" [江] ({{transl|ko|gang}}), ①{{lang|ja|大河、おおきな川}}. river.!--marginal English gloss--> p. 31b . Kōrai Shorin.</ref>
<ref name="kim_sowoon1992-holang">[[:ja:金素雲|Kim So-woon]] (1992) [1968] ''Korean-Japanese Dictionary'' s.v. "호랑" [虎狼] ({{transl|ko|horang}}), {{lang|ja|ころう①とらとおおかみ}}. tiger and wolf.!--not English glossed--> p. 999b . Kōrai Shorin. s.v. also "{{lang|ko|호랑이}}" ({{transl|ko|horangi}})　{{lang|ja|虎}} ({{lang|ko|범}}, {{transl|ko|beom}}) {{lang|ja|の恐ろしさを強調した名称}}　1. a tiger, 2. a fierce person<!--marginal English glosses--></ref>

<ref name="kitagawa1996">{{cite journal|last=Kitagawa |first=Akira |author-link=<!--北川明 Kanto Regional Construction Bureau, Ministry of Construction, Saitama--> |title=Past and recent developments of flood control in the Tone River |journal=International Workshop on Floodplain Risk Management |volume= |date=1996 |url=http://cidbimena.bvs.hn/docum/crid/Febrero2005/pdf/eng/doc10127/doc10127-contenido.pdf |page=52 <!--51–66-->}}</ref>

<ref name="kobe_shimbunNEXT-2028-05-27">{{cite news|last=Tanaka |first=Shinji |author-link=<!--田中真治--> |title=Hakaishi kara 'hyokkori kappa' Akashi to kappa no shirazaru kankei |script-title=ja:墓石から“ひょっこりカッパ”　明石と河童の知られざる関係 |journal=Kobe Shinbun NEXT |date=27 May 2018 |url=https://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/odekake-plus/news/detail.shtml?news/odekake-plus/news/pickup/201805/11297893}}</ref>

<ref name="kokkai2005">{{Cite web|year=2005 |url=https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/gallery/nature/31<!--https://www.ndl.go.jp/nature/cha3/index.html より転送--> |title=Egakareta dōbutsu, shokubutsu.. |script-title=ja:描かれた動物・植物―江戸時代の博物誌：第3章 珍禽奇獣異魚 - 描かれた動物・植物 |publisher=National Diet Library |access-date=10 June 2012}}</ref>

<ref name="KoYamatoHonzo">{{citation|last=Naomi |first=Genshū<!--aka Ryū--> |author-link=<!--直海元周/直海竜--> |chapter=Jū-bu. Suiin. |script-chapter=ja:獣部 水蝹 和名カハロ 一名ガハタロウ |title=Kō yamato honzō |script-title=ja:広倭本草 10巻別録2巻 [6] |volume=10  |publisher=[[:ja:永田文昌堂|Nagata Chōbē]]<!--永田調兵衛--> |year=1759 |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/2557077/1/27 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lbdZAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP179 |pages=4r–5r |quote= |id={{NDLDC|2557077/1|format=NDLJP}}}}</ref>

<ref name="krauss2015">{{cite book |last=Krauss |first=Friedrich Salomon |author-link=Friedrich Salomon Krauss|title=Japanisches Geschlechtsleben |trans-title=Erotics To Go |publisher=Otbebookpublishing |date=2015 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gmRdEQAAQBAJ&pg=PT78 |page=<!--unpaginated--> |isbn=<!--395676532X, -->9783956765322|language=de}}</ref>

<ref name="kreiner1998">{{cite book|last=Kreiner  |first=Josef |author-link=Josef Kreiner |chapter=3. Maboroshi no hakubutsugaku hyōhon sakusha tachi |script-chapter=ja:3 幻の博物学標本作者たち |trans-chapter=The elusive naturalist specimen-makers |title=Tasogare no Tokugawa Japan: Siebold fushi no mita Nippon |script-title=ja:黄昏のトクガワ・ジャパン: シーボルト父子の見た日本 |publisher=NHK<!--日本放送出版協会--> |date=1998 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xmMyAQAAIAAJ&q=河童 |pages=213–214 |isbn=<!--4140018429, -->9784140018422}}</ref>

<ref name="kurokawa1827">{{cite book|author=Kurokawa Dōyū |author-link=:ja:黒川道祐 |chapter=''Enpekikenki''. Volume 3 of 3, Chapter 2 |script-chapter=ja:遠碧軒記 下の二 |title=Nihon zuihitsu taisei |script-title=ja:日本随筆大成 |volume=5 |publisher=[[:ja:吉川弘文館||Yoshikawa Kobunkan]] |date=1827 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xjNS55eIrdsC&pg=PP492 |page=472}}<!--Reprinted in 1975 edition of ''Nihon zuihitsu taisei '', Dai-1-ki, 10-kan, p. 117--></ref>

<ref name="kyogoku&tada2000-YokaiZukan">{{cite book|last1=Kyōgoku |first1=Natsuhiko |author1-link=Natsuhiko Kyōgoku |last2=Tada |first2=Katsumi |author2-link=:ja:多田克己 |chapter=Kappa |script-chapter=ja:河童 |title=Yōkai zukan |script-title=ja:妖怪図巻 |publisher=[[:ja:国書刊行会|Kokusho kankōkai]]  |date=1 June 2000 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hzUQAQAAMAAJ&q=河童 |pages=146–148|isbn=978-4-33-604187-6}}<!--alt: https://books.google.com/books?id=iXIPAQAAMAAJ&q=河童--></ref>
<ref name="kyogoku&tada2008">{{cite book|last1=Kyōgoku |first1=Natsuhiko |author1-link=Natsuhiko Kyōgoku |last2=Tada |first2=Katsumi |author2-link=:ja:多田克己 |chapter=Kappa |script-chapter=ja:河童 |title=Yōkai gahon・kyōka hyakumonogatari |script-title=ja:妖怪画本・狂歌百物語 |publisher=[[:ja:国書刊行会|Kokusho kankōkai]] |year=2008 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hagqAQAAIAAJ&q=河童 |pages=72–73<!--Amazonサンプル閲覧に拠る--> |isbn=<!--4336050554, -->978-4-33-605055-7}}</ref>

<ref name="maruyama1976">{{cite book|last=Maruyama |first=Manabu |author-link=:ja:丸山學 |title=Minzoku-hen |script-title=ja:民俗篇 |publisher=[[:ja:古川書房|Furukawa Shobo]] |year=1976 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ap4xAAAAMAAJ&q=河童 |page=271}}</ref>

<ref name="minakata1917">{{cite journal|last=Minakata |first=Kumagusu |author-link=Minakata Kumagusu |title=Jūnishi kō(4): Hebi ni kansuru minzoku to densetsu |script-title=ja:十二支考(4):蛇に関する民俗と伝説 |journal=Taiyō |script-journal=ja:太陽 |year=1917}}. [http://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000093/card2536.html Aozora bunko No.2536]; reprinted in: {{cite book|last=Minakata |first=Kumagusu |author-link=Minakata Kumagusu |chapter=Hebi (mi-doshi) |script-chapter=ja:蛇（巳年）|title=Minakata Kumagusu zenshū: Jūnishi kō |script-title=ja:南方熊楠全集: 十二支考 |publisher=Heibonsha  |year=1971 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A1NIAAAAMAAJ |page=195<!--159–222-->}}</ref>

<ref name="miyamoto_tsuneichi1956">{{cite journal|last=Miyamoto |first=Tsuneichi |author-link=:ja:宮本常一 |title=Kappa tanjō |script-title=ja:カッパ誕生|journal=Minkan denshō |script-journal=ja:民間伝承 |volume=20 |issue=6/cumul. 212 |date=June 1956 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BJVIAAAAMAAJ&q=河神 |page=24<!--22–25 (via ndljp digital collection)--> |id={{NDLDC|2264412|format=NDLJP}}}}</ref>

<ref name="miyamoto_yukie2013">{{cite book|last=Miyamoto |first=Yukie |author-link=<!--宮本幸枝--> |chapter=Kappa |script-chapter=ja:河童 |title=Nihon no yōkai FILE |script-title=ja:日本の妖怪FILE |trans-title= |location= |publisher=[[:ja:Gakken|Gakken]] |date=2013 |url=<!--non previewable--> |pages=10–13 |isbn=978-4-054056-63-3}}</ref>

<ref name="miura2003">{{cite book |last=Miura |first=Hideo |author-link=<!--三浦秀夫--> |title=Yōkai henge tan: Nihon no ikai e |script-title=ja:妖怪変化譚: 日本の異界へ |publisher=Choeisha <!--鳥影社--> |date=2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PMBOAAAAMAAJ |page=59 |isbn=<!--4886297838, -->9784886297839}}</ref>

<ref name="miyagi-ken1956-minzoku2">{{cite book|author=Miyagi Prefecture<!--宮城縣--> |author-link=Miyagi Prefecture  |chapter=Dōgi, dōshi: Nenjūgyōji |script-chapter=ja:童戯・童詞：年中行事 |title=Miyagi-ken shi. Minzoku 2 |script-title=ja:宮城縣史　民俗2 |volume=20 |publisher=Miyagi Prefecture |date=20 October 1956 |url=http://www.nichibun.ac.jp/YoukaiCard/C0410236-000.shtml |page=247<!--241–329--> |archive-date=27 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927230849/http://www.nichibun.ac.jp/YoukaiCard/C0410236-000.shtml|via=[[:ja:怪異・妖怪伝承データベース|The Database of Folktales of Mysterious Phenomena and Yōkai]]@[[International Research Center for Japanese Studies]]}}</ref>
<ref name="miyagi-ken1956-minzoku3">Noboru Yamanaka 山中登. "''Kappa no hiden sekkotsu yaku'' 河童の秘伝接骨薬". ''Kappa monogatari'' かっぱ物語, cited in: {{cite book|author=Miyagi Prefecture<!--宮城縣--> |author-link=Miyagi Prefecture |chapter=Yōkai henge, yūrei: Jirei-hen |script-chapter=ja:妖怪変化・幽霊：事例篇 |title=Miyagi-ken shi. Minzoku 3 |script-title=ja:宮城縣史　民俗3 |volume=21 |publisher=Miyagi Prefecture |date=20 October 1956 |url=http://www.nichibun.ac.jp/YoukaiCard/C0411189-000.shtml |page=491<!--471–562--> |archive-date=27 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927230842/http://www.nichibun.ac.jp/YoukaiCard/C0411189-000.shtml|via=[[:ja:怪異・妖怪伝承データベース|The Database of Folktales of Mysterious Phenomena and Yōkai]]@[[International Research Center for Japanese Studies]]}}</ref>

<ref name="miyashita1967">{{cite journal|last=Miyashita |first=Ichiro |author-link=<!--宮下一郎 (郷土史家)-->  |title=Kappa no oshieta chūfū no kusuri |script-title=ja:河童の教えた中風の薬 |journal=Ina |script-journal=ja:伊那 |publisher=<!--伊那史学会--> |volume=15 |number=1/cumul. 464 |date=1 January 1967 |url=http://www.nichibun.ac.jp/YoukaiCard/0160053.shtml |pages=31，34 |archive-date=4 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304022911/http://www.nichibun.ac.jp/YoukaiCard/0160053.shtml |via=[[:ja:怪異・妖怪伝承データベース|The Database of Folktales of Mysterious Phenomena and Yōkai]]@[[International Research Center for Japanese Studies]]}}</ref>

<ref name="MLIT-Chikugo">{{cite web|url=https://www.qsr.mlit.go.jp/chikugo/archives/kozuichisui/cikugokozui/suigai1.html |title=洪水年表（明治以前）|trans-title=Flood chronology (Pre-Meiji) |website=[[Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism|MLIT]], Chikugo River Work Office, Kyushu Regional Development Bureau<!-- 国土交通省 九州地方整備局 筑後川河川事務所--> |date= |access-date=11 September 2025}}</ref>

<ref name="murakami2000">{{cite book|last=Murakami |first=Kenji |author-link=:ja:村上健司 |title=Yōkai jiten |script-title=ja:妖怪事典 |publisher=[[Mainichi Shimbun]]sha |year=2000 |page=196 |isbn=978-4-620-31428-0 |language=ja}}</ref>

<ref name="nara2007">{{cite book|last=Nara  |first=Hiroshi |author-link=<!--Hiroshi Nara -->|title=Inexorable Modernity: Japan's Grappling with Modernity in the Arts |publisher=Lexington Books  |year=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bMMusu0O4zAC&q=kappa+shirikodama&pg=PA33  |page=33 |isbn=978-0-7391-1841-2 }}</ref>

<ref name="NihonDensetsuTaikei1987">{{citation|editor-last=Araki |editor-first=Hiroyuki |editor-link=:ja:荒木博之 |last1=Miyaji |first1=Takehiko |author1-link=:ja:宮地武彦 |last2=Yamanaka |first2=Kōsaku |author2-link=<!--山中耕作--> |chapter= |title=Nihon densetsu taikei |script-title=ja:日本伝説大系 |volume=13 |issue=Kitakyūshū-hen: Fukuoka,Ōita, Saga, Nagasaki<!--北九州編 : 福岡・大分・佐賀・長崎--> |publisher=Mizuumi Shobō<!--みずうみ書房--> |date=March 1987 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZSG6AAAAIAAJ&q=水天宮 |page=242 |id={{NDLDC|12501701|format=NDLJP}}}}</ref>

<ref name="NihonHogenDaijiten">{{citation|editor=Shōgaku Tosho |editor-link=<!--尚学図書--> |chapter=Kappa |script-chapter=ja:河童 |title=Nihon hōgen dai-jiten |script-title=ja:日本方言大辞典 |volume=1  |publisher=[[Shogakukan]] |date=March 1989 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5EQxAQAAIAAJ&q=かわのとの |page=641 |isbn=<!--4095082011, -->9784095082011|id={{NDLDC|13431793|format=NDLJP}}}}</ref>

<ref name="NihonKokugoDaijiten">{{cite dictionary|entry=Kappa |script-entry=ja:かっぱ【河童】 |title=Seisen-ban Nihon kokugo daijiten |script-title=ja:精選版 日本国語大辞典 |publisher=Shogakukan |date=2006 |url=https://kotobank.jp/word/河童-45345 |via=kotobank}}</ref>

<ref name="NihonMeichoZenshu-vol22">{{citation|last=Yamaguchi |first=Takeshi |author-link=:ja:山口剛 (文学者) |chapter=Kaisetsu |script-chapter=ja:解説 |trans-title=Explanatory introduction |title=Nihon meicho zenshū: Edo bungei no bu |script-title=ja:日本名著全集 江戶文藝之部 |volume=22 |issue=Hizakurige jō/ge 膝栗毛. 上,下 |publisher=Nihon meicho zenshū kankōkai<!--日本名著全集刊行会--> |date=1927 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fePTAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA55 |page=55 |id={{NDLDC|1179366|format=NDLJP}}}}</ref>

<ref name="NihonSekibutsuZuten1995">{{cite book|editor=Nihon Sekibutsu Kyōkai 日本石仏協会 |editor-link=:ja:日本石仏協会 |chapter=Kappa no komainu |script-chapter=ja:河童の狛犬 |title=Nihon sekibutsu zuten |script-title=ja:日本石仏図典 |volume=2  |publisher=[[:ja:国書刊行会|Kokusho Kankokai]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fTQQAQAAMAAJq=河童 |page=65 5|id=}}</ref>

<ref name="NihonShinbutsu-komahiki">{{Citation|last=Nagata |first=Noriko |author-link=<!--永田典子--> |chapter=Komahiki |script-chapter=ja:こまひき【駒引き】 |editor1-last=Ōshima |editor1-first=Tatehiko |editor1-link=:ja:大島建彦 |editor2-last=Sonoda |editor2-first=Minoru |editor2-link=:ja:薗田稔 |editor3-last=Tamamuro |editor3-first=Fumio |author3-link=:ja:圭室文雄 |title=Nihon no shinbutsu no jiten |script-title=ja:日本の神仏の辞典 |publisher=[[:ja:大修館書店|Daishukan shoten]] |year=2001 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nDwQAQAAMAAJ&q=こまひき |page=526 |isbn=<!-- 4469012688, -->9784469012682}}</ref>

<ref name="NippoJisho">{{cite dictionary|editor=Companhia de Jesus |editor-link=Jesuits |chapter=Cauarǒ |title=Vocabulario da lingoa de Japam com adeclaração em Portugues.. |script-title=ja:日葡辞書 |location=Nagasaki |publisher=Collegio de Japan da Companhia de Jesus |date=1603 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TFJAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA44&q=bugio |page=44}}</ref>

<ref name="Nipponica-KappaKomabikiKo">[[:ja:倉石忠彦|Kuraishi, Tadahiko]]「{{URL|1=https://kotobank.jp/word/河童駒引考-1517925 |2=Kappa komabikikō 河童駒引考}}, in Encyclopedia ''Nipponica'', Shogakukan, via kotobank.</ref>

<ref name="OitaGodoShinbun2025-08-04">{{cite journal|author= |author-link=<!-- -->|title=Nakatsu-shi Yabakei-machi no Kumo Hachimangū de Miyazono-gaku. Kara-uchiwa de ko-gappa aogi, mubyō sokusai to naru |script-title=ja:中津市耶馬渓町の雲八幡宮で宮園楽　唐うちわで子がっぱあおぎ、無病息災など祈る |journal=大分合同新聞 |date=4 August 2025 |publisher= |url=https://www.oita-press.co.jp/1010000000/2025/08/04/JDC2025072902433}}</ref>

<ref name="okuno1988">{{cite book|last=Okuno |first=Hirotaka |author-link=<!--奥野広隆--> |title=Yama ni noboru kappa |script-title=ja:山にのぼる河童 |trans-title=''Kappa'' that climb mountains |date=1988 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OR5NAAAAMAAJ&q= |p=118}} in: {{harvp|Ōshima|1988|pp=118–179}}</ref>

<ref name="orikuchi1930">[[Shinobu Orikuchi]]. {{URL|1=https://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000933/files/18395_22464.html |2=''Kappa no hanashi'' 河童の話}} "§5 ''Atama no sara''　頭の皿", via Aozora Bunko. Published 1930 in {{URL|1=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1449498/1/217 |2=''Kodai kenkyū dai-1-bu, dai-2. Minzokugaku-hen'' 古代研究 第１部　第２ 民俗學篇}}, pp. 1010–1049. Also reprinted in {{harvp|Orikuchi|1966|pp=288–317}}; {{harvp|Orikuchi|2003|pp=223–252}}</ref>

<ref name="ota_memorial2020">{{cite web|url=https://x.com/ukiyoeota/status/1267037017826660355 |author=Ōta Memorial Museum of Art |author-link=Ukiyo-e Ōta Memorial Museum of Art |title=Ota Memorial Museum of Art |date=31 May 2020 |access-date=30 August 2025}} @ukiyoeota</ref>

<ref name="overmeerfisscher1833">{{cite book|last=Overmeer Fisscher |first=J. F. van |author-link=<!--Johan Gerhard Frederik van Overmeer Fisscher, 1800–1848--> |title=Bijdrage tot de kennis van het Japansche rijk |location=Amsterdam |publisher=J. Müller & comp. |date=1833 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N7liLZ5LDJgC&pg=PA119 |pages=119–120 |language=nl}}</ref>

<ref name="papp2010">{{Cite book|last=Papp |first=Zília  |author-link=<!--Zília Papp--> |chapter=Yōkai of the Water|title=Anime and Its Roots in Early Japanese Monster Art　|publisher=[[Global Oriental]]　|year=2010 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AfV5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA79 |pages=16–17 |isbn=<!--9004202870, -->9789004202870}} (also last paragraph of preceding "Yōkai of the Water", p. 16) </ref>

<ref name="sadler1933">{{cite book|last=Sadler|first=A. L. |author-link=Arthur Lindsay Sadler |title=Cha-No-Yu: The Japanese Tea Ceremony |publisher=Tuttle Publishing |year=2011 |orig-year=1933 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WrnWAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA226 |page=226 |isbn=<!--1462901913, -->9781462901913}}</ref>

<ref name="saigetsudo2011">{{cite web|url=https://saigetudo.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-30.html |author=歳月堂 |title=石田散薬と河童伝説 |website=歳月堂BLOG |date=6 November 2011 |access-date=9 September 2025}}</ref>

<ref name="sakamoto1986">{{cite book|last=Sakamoto |first=Yoshika |author-link=<!--坂本吉加, 1941--> |title=Tsugaru no densetsu |script-title=ja:津軽の伝説 |volume=1 |series=<!--青森県の文化シリーズ 25--> |publisher=Hoppo Shinsha<!--北方新社--> |date=September 1986 |url= |page=50?<!--28ｺﾏ--> |isbn=|id={{NDLDC|12501798|format=NDLJP}}}}</ref>

<ref name="saitama_kenritsu1993">{{cite book|author=Saitama Prefectural Museum |author-link=Saitama Prefectural Museum of History and Folklore |title=Tokubetsu-ten Kappa vs Tengu |script-title=ja:特別展 河童 vs 天狗 |publisher=[[:ja:埼玉県立博物館|Saitama Prefectural Museum]] |date=1993 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cjqj6w66cLIC&q=真木 |page=21}}</ref>

<ref name="sasama2003">{{cite book|last=Sasama |first=Yoshihiko |author-link=:ja:笹間良彦 |title=Etoki Edokko-go daijiten |script-title=ja:絵解き・江戸っ子語大辞典 |publisher=Yūshikan<!--遊子館--> |year=2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3tAzAQAAIAAJ&q=胡瓜 |page=99 |isbn=<!--4946525556, -->9784946525551}}</ref>

<ref name="sasama2005">{{cite book|last=Sasama |first=Yoshihiko |author-link=:ja:笹間良彦 |title=Oni to mononoke no bunka-shi: e de mite fushigi! |script-title=ja:鬼ともののけの文化史: 絵で見て不思議! |publisher=Yūshikan<!--遊子館--> |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zQNPAAAAMAAJ&q=水戸浦 |page=185 |isbn=<!--4946525769, -->9784946525766}}</ref>

<ref name="sasatani1958">{{cite journal|last=Sasatani |first=Ryōzō |author-link=<!--笹谷良造--> |title=Jūnishi meigi kō: Inu/I/Ne |script-title=ja:十二支名義考―戌・亥・子― |trans-title=Consideration on the 12 [[animal zodiac]]s: Dog, boar, rat  |journal=Minzoku |script-journal=ja:民族 |volume=2 |number=2 |publisher=豊中市立民俗館民俗同好会 |date=March 1958 |url=http://www.nichibun.ac.jp/YoukaiCard/2220015.shtml |archive-date=27 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927230805/http://www.nichibun.ac.jp/YoukaiCard/2220015.shtml |page=7<!--5–12-->|via=[[:ja:怪異・妖怪データベース|The Database of Folktales of Mysterious Phenomena and Yōkai (Spirits, Ghosts, and Monsters)]]}}</ref>

<ref name="shamoon2013">{{cite journal|last=Shamoon |first=Deborah |author-link=<!--Deborah Shamoon--> |date=2013 |title=The Yōkai in the Database: Supernatural Creatures and Folklore in Manga and Anime |journal=Marvels & Tales |volume=27 |issue=2 |page=279<!--276–289--> |doi=10.13110/marvelstales.27.2.0276 |jstor=10.13110/marvelstales.27.2.0276 |s2cid=161932208|issn=1521-4281}}</ref>

<ref name="shimono2005">{{cite book|last=Shimono |first=Toshimi |author-link=:ja:下野敏見 |title=Amami, Tokara no dentō bunka: Matsuri to noro, seikatsu |script-title=ja:奄美、トカラの伝統文化: 祭りとノロ、生活 |publisher=[[:ja:南方新社|Nanpō Shinsha]] |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pCASPmwV0oAC&pg=PA260 |page=260 |isbn=9784861240287}}</ref>

<ref name="seki2016">{{cite book|last=Seki |first=Sunny |author-link=Sunny Seki |chapter=Prologue |title=Last Kappa of Old Japan Bilingual Edition: A Magical Journey of Two Friends (English-Japanese) |publisher=Tuttle Publishing |year=2016 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hw-IDQAAQBAJ&pg=PP3 |page=<!--unpaginated--> |isbn=<!--1462918883, -->9781462918881 |language=es}}</ref>

<ref name="ShogenJikoSetsuyoshu">[[:ja:越谷吾山|Koshigaya Gozan]] ''Shogen jikō setsuyōshū'' 書言字考節用集, Book 5 "気形"、[[Kyōhō]]2/1717, ''apud'' {{citation|editor=Jingū Administration Office |editor-link=:ja:神宮司庁 |chapter=Dōbutsu-bu 7 |script-chapter=ja:動物部 七 |title=Koji ruien |script-title=ja:古事類苑 |volume=49 |publisher=Koji ruien kankō-kai<!--古事類苑刊行会-->  |date=1910 |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1874269/1/262 |page=480 |id={{NDLDC|1874269|format=NDLJP}}}}</ref>

<ref name="Suiko12Hin">{{citation|author=坂本浩然 |author-link=:ja:坂本浩雪 |others=Illustrated by Juntaku 坂本純澤 |title=Suiko jūni-hin no zu |script-title=ja:水虎十弐品之圖 |publisher=Hayashi keibunbō<!--???林奎文房--> |date= |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/2543033 |id={{NDLDC|254303|format=NDLJP}}}}</ref>

<ref name="suzuki_bontaro1935">{{cite journal|last=Suzuki |first=Bontarō |author-link=<!--鈴木凡太郎-->|title=Densetsu wo motsu Tōkyō, Kanagawa, Chiba no omocha |script-title=ja:伝説をもつ東京・神奈川・千葉の玩具 |journal=Tabi to densetsu |script-journal=ja:旅と伝説 |volume=8 |issue=8/cumul. 92 |date=August 1935 |publisher=<!--三元社--> |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K-w_AQAAIAAJ&q=河童の話 |page=20<!--20–25--> |id={{NDLDC|1483558|format=NDLJP}} }} ([[:ja:怪異・妖怪伝承データベース|The Database of Folktales of Mysterious Phenomena and Yōkai]]{{URL|1=https://www.nichibun.ac.jp/cgi-bin/YoukaiDB3/youkai_card.cgi?ID=1232870 |2=Summary}} @ [[International Research Center for Japanese Studies]]).</ref>

<ref name="tada1990-Genso">{{Cite book|last=Tada |first=Katsumi |author-link=:ja:多田克己 |title=Gensō sekai no jūnin tachi |script-title=ja:幻想世界の住人たち |year=1990 |publisher=[[:ja:新紀元社|Shingensosha]] |series=Truth in fantasy IV |page=110 |isbn=978-4-91-514644-2}}</ref>

<ref name="takagi1913">{{citation|editor-last=Takagi |editor-first=Toshio |editor-link=:ja:高木敏雄 |chapter=Suikai shinwa-teki densetsu 11. (3) Kappa densetsu. (i) Uso no shōmon |script-chapter=ja:水界神話的傳説第十一。 (三) 河童傳説。（イ） 獺の証文 |title= |script-title=ja:日本伝説集 : 附・分類目次解説索引 |publisher=Kyodo Kenkyusha<!--郷土研究社 NotMusashino Shoin 武蔵野書院--> |date=1913 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oCZIAAAAMAAJ&pg=PP138 |chapter-url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/945424/1/67 |pages=<!--127–128--> |id={{NDLDC|945424|format=NDLJP}}}}</ref>

<ref name="takahashi_masahide1939">{{cite journal|last=Takahashi |first=Masahide |author-link=:ja:高崎正秀 |title=Sara yashiki setsuwa no kenkyū (1): Utsubo monogatari Toshikage seiritsu-ron e no zentei |script-title=ja:皿屋敷説話の研究(一)―宇津保物語俊蔭成立論への前提―<!--(ニ)は11月11号--> |journal=Bungaku |script-journal=ja:文学 |volume=7 |number=9 |date=September 1939 |publisher=Iwanami Shoten |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GTlDAQAAIAAJ&q=河童 |page=28<!--4–22-->|id={{NDLDC|3365320|format=NDLJP}} |quote=河童は今では、しがない水中のあやかしに過ぎないが、嘗てそれは農村の富を左右する水霊であり、その戴く皿の中に其の霊力を秘めててゐると信ぜられてゐた(『古代研究』、「河童の話」)。それが朱面の童子と考へられた点は、福神猩々なども同じこと、又一の常世の稀人神の姿であつた。然らば其の皿は何か。 こゝで私の眼交を橫ぎるものが二つある。一つは有名な鍋冠祭の鍋と、諸國に停へられる椀貸も同じこと、又一の常世の稀人神の姿であつた。}} {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=7P8zAQAAIAAJ&q=皿|2=Works, vol. 5}}, Ofusha, 1971, p. 297</ref>
<ref name="takahashi_masahide1962">{{cite journal|last=Takahashi |first=Masahide |author-link=:ja:高崎正秀 |title=Kojiki denshō-ron: Tokushū Kojiki |script-title=ja:古事記伝承論--特集・古事記 |journal=Kokugakuin zasshi |script-journal=ja:國學院雜誌 |volume=63 |number=9 |date=September 1962 |publisher=<!--國學院大學--> |url= |page=16<!--4–22-->|id={{NDLDC|3365320|format=NDLJP}} |quote=河童が頭に皿を戴き、背に甲羅を負うてゐる姿に造像されたのは、皿は笠の形であり、甲羅は箕・蓑をかついだ常世神の姿の変化したものであつた。}} {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=6_0zAQAAIAAJ&q=河童|2=Collected Works 高崎正秀著作集 '''1'''}}, Ofusha<!--桜楓社-->, 1971, p. 360.</ref>

<ref name="takashina&haga1976">{{Cite book|last1=Takashina |first1=Shūji |author1-link=Shūji Takashina |last2=Haga |first2=Tōru |author2-link=:ja:芳賀徹 |title=Geijutsu no seishin-shi: Buson kara Fujishima Takeji made: Kyōdō tōgi |script-title=ja:芸術の精神史: 蕪村から藤島武二まで : 共同討議 |publisher=[[:ja:淡交社|Tankosha]] |year=1976 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qxezAAAAIAAJ&q=河童 |page=147}}</ref>

<ref name="tanaka_iwao1964">{{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Tanaka I.|1964}}|last=Tanaka |first=Iwao |author-link=<!--田中磐 (民俗学者 1920–2002年)--> |chapter=Kappa tsuki |script-chapter=ja:河童馮き |title=Sinano, Matumotodaira no minzoku to shinkō|script-title=ja:信濃・松本平の民俗と信仰 |publisher=Anchiku kyōdo shiryō kankōkai<!--安筑郷土誌料刊行会--> |year=1964|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=awkMAAAAMAAJ&q=河童 |pages=18, 23<!--17–26--> |id={{NDLDC|9544805|format=NDLJP}}}}</ref>

<ref name="tatsumi1998">{{cite journal|last=Tatsumi |first=Takayuki |author-link=Takayuki Tatsumi |year=1998 |title=Deep North Gothic: A Comparative Cultural Reading of Kunio Yanagita's ''Tono Monogatari'' and Tetsutaro Murano's ''The Legend of Sayo''|journal=Newsletter of the Council for the Literature of the Fantastic|volume=1|issue=5|url=http://www.uri.edu/artsci/english/clf/n5_a1.html|access-date=22 December 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607011127/http://www.uri.edu/artsci/english/clf/n5_a1.html|archive-date=7 June 2011}}</ref>

<ref name="terashima1712">{{citation|last=Terashima |first=Ryōan |author-link=:ja:寺島良安 |chapter=40. Gūrui & kairui: Suiko & Kawatarō |script-chapter=ja:四十 寓類・怪類：水虎 (すいこ) と川太郎 (かわたろう) [別項] |title=Wakan Sansai Zue: 105-kan, shu 1-kan, bi 1-kan |script-title=ja:和漢三才図会 : 105巻首1巻尾1巻 |volume=27 of 81 |publisher= |date=1712 |chapter-url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/2596374/21 |at=Book 40<!--(of 105+2 Books)-->, fol. 17v–18r}}</ref>

<ref name="terashima-tr-shimada-etal1985">{{cite book|last=Terajima |first=Ryōan |author-link=:ja:寺島良安 |translator1-last=Shimada |translator1-first=Isao |translator1-link=:ja:島田勇雄 |translator2-last=Takeshima |translator2-first=Atsuo |translator2-link=<!--竹島淳夫 --> |translator3-last=Higuchi |translator3-first=Motomi |translator3-link=<!--樋口元巳--> |title=Wakan sansai zue |script-title=ja:和漢三才図会 |volume=6 |publisher=[[平凡社]] |series=<!--[[東洋文庫 (平凡社)|東洋文庫]]-->  |year=1987 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2aZIAAAAMAAJ&q=川太郎 |page=93 |isbn=978-4-582-80466-9 }}</ref>

<ref name="tsutsumi2024">{{cite book|last=Tsutsumi |first=Kunihiko |author-link=:ja:堤邦彦 (国文学者) |chapter=Kappa |script-chapter=ja:河童 |title=Kyōto ayakashi taun: machi wo arukeba yōkai ni ataru |script-title=ja:京都あやかしタウン　まちを歩けば妖怪にあたる |publisher=[[:ja:淡交社|Tankpsha]] |year=2024 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xvMHEQAAQBAJ&pg=PT22 |page=32<!--32–35--> |isbn=<!--4588212613, -->9784588212611}}</ref>

<ref name="Volker">{{cite book |title=The Animal in Far Eastern Art and Especially in the Art of the Japanese |first=T.|last=Volker|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XyEVAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA110 |year=1975|isbn=978-90-04-04295-7 |page=110|publisher=BRILL }}</ref>

<ref name="WuYueChunqiu-tr-he2021">{{cite book|author=Zhao Ye |author-link=:zh:趙曄 |translator=Jianjun He |translator-link=<!--Jianjun He (historian)--> |title=Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue: An Annotated Translation of Wu Yue Chunqiu |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=2021 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pM_1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT112 |page=<!--unpaginated--> |isbn=<!--1501754351, -->9781501754357}}</ref>

<ref name="yamaguchi2014">{{cite book|last=Yamaguchi |first=Bintarō |author-link=:ja:山口敏太郎 |chapter=Chapter 2. Kappa |script-chapter=ja:第2章 河童 |title=Dai-hakuryoku! Nihon no yōkai daihyakka |script-title=ja:大迫力！日本の妖怪大百科 |publisher=[[:ja:西東社|Seitōsha]] |date=2014 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d64YBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA63 |pages=62–63 |isbn=<!--4791687159, -->9784791687152}}</ref>

<ref name="yamazaki_yoshikuni1931">{{cite journal|last=Yamazaki |first=Yoshikuni |author-link=<!--山崎善圀-->|title=Iwagi-gun ni okeru densetsu |script-title=ja:岩城郡に於ける伝説 |journal=Tabi to densetsu |script-journal=ja:旅と伝説 |volume=4 |issue=9/cumul. 45 |date=1 September 1931 |publisher=<!--三元社 -->|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K-w_AQAAIAAJ&q=河童の話 |pages=39–40<!--39–41--> |id={{NDLDC|1483512/1|format=NDLJP}}}}（[[:ja:怪異・妖怪伝承データベース-->|The Database of Folktales of Mysterious Phenomena and Yōkai]]{{URL|1=https://www.nichibun.ac.jp/cgi-bin/YoukaiDB3/youkai_card.cgi?ID=1230137 |2=Summary}} and {{URL|1=https://www.nichibun.ac.jp/cgi-bin/YoukaiDB3/simsearch.cgi?ID=1230137|2=related examples}} @[[International Research Center for Japanese Studies]]）</ref>

<ref name="yanagita1914">{{cite book|last=Yanagita |first=Kunio |author-link=Kunio Yanagita |chapter=Kappa komabiki |script-chapter=ja:河童駒引 |title=Santō mintan shū |script-title=ja:山島民譚集 |volume=1|publisher=Kōin Sōsho Kankōsho<!--甲寅叢書刊行所--> |year=1914 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=50A0AQAAIAAJ&q=鹿角 |pages=25–26, 80–81}}; {{URL|1=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/9541756/1/33 |2=Teihon Yanagita Kunio-shū 定本柳田国男集 Vol.27}}, Chikuma Shobō, 1964, pp. 52–53}}</ref>
<ref name="yanagita1942">{{cite book|last=Yanagita |first=Kunio |author-link=Kunio Yanagita |title=Santō mintan shū |script-title=ja:山島民譚集 |volume=15 |series=Series 2 |publisher=[[:ja:創元社|Sogensha]] |year=1942 |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1460962/1/40 |page=61}}</ref>
<ref name="yanagita1959">{{cite book|last=Yanagita |first=Kunio |author-link=Kunio Yanagita |chapter=Watashi no gakumon |script-chapter=ja:私の学問 |title=Kokyō shichijū-nen |script-title=ja:故郷七十年 |publisher=[[The Asahi Shimbun]]sha |year=1974 |orig-year=1959 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8jAmAAAAMAAJ&q=カワカムロ |pages=332–333<!--304–--> |id={{NDLDC|12225565|format=NDLJP}}}}; 1st ed.： Nojigiku bunko<!-- のじぎく文庫、-->, 1959 {{NDLDC|2984734|format=NDLJP}}, pp. 323–325. {{URL|1=https://www.aozora-renewal.cloud/cards/001566/card55742.html|2=xhtml version}}@aozora</ref>
<ref name="yanagita1977[1956]">{{Cite book|last=Yanagita |first=Kunio |author-link=Kunio Yanagita |title=Yōkai dangi |script-title=ja:妖怪談義 |publisher=Kodansha |series=<!--[[講談社学術文庫]]--> |origyear=1956 |year=1977 |pages=69–84 |isbn=978-4-06-158135-7}} {{URL|1=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/9543143/1/42 |2=3rd ed., Shūdōsha, 1957}}, Chapters ''Kappa no hanashi'' 川童の話 pp. 76–, ''Kappa no watari''川童の渡り pp. 78–, ''Kappasai kaiko'' 川童祭懐古 pp. 84–92.</ref>

<ref name="yamazaki1928">{{cite journal|last=Yamazaki |first=Fumoto |author-link=:ja:山崎麓 |title=Edo bungaku ni arawaretaru kappa |script-title=ja:江戸文学に現れたる河童 |journal=Edo jidai bunka |script-journal=ja:江戸時代文化 |volume=2 |number=9 |date=October 1928 |publisher= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_sQzAAAAMAAJ&q=悅齎 |page=41/639<!--38–42--> }}</ref>

<ref name="yano2009">{{cite book|last=Yano |first=Ken'ichi |author-link=:ja:矢野憲一 |title=Kame |script-title=ja:亀(かめ) |publisher=[[Hosei University|Hosei University Press]]<!--法政大学出版局--> |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E6fiAAAAMAAJ&q=河童 |page=242 |isbn=<!--4588212613, -->9784588212611}}</ref>

{{void|<ref name="yokai.com">{{Cite web|title=Kappa {{!}} Yokai.com|url=http://yokai.com/kappa/|language=en-US|access-date=2 May 2020|archive-date=1 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200501223647/http://yokai.com/kappa/|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

<ref name="yoshimatsu1971">{{cite journal|last=Yoshimatsu |first=Yūichi |author-link=<!--吉松祐一--> |title=Magasalo^ken kappa-kō |script-title=ja:長崎県河童考 |journal=Nagasaki dansō |script-journal=ja:長崎談叢 |number=52 |date=December 1971 |publisher=<!--三元社--> |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fRIzAAAAMAAJ&q=竹の子 |pages=46–47<!--45–49--> |id={{NDLDC|7916492|format=NDLJP}}}}</ref>

<ref name="yumoto2023">{{cite book|last=Yumoto |first=Kōichi |author-link=:ja:湯本豪一 |chapter=48. Water-imp (kappa) |script-chapter=ja: 河童図 |title=Yokai Wonderland: More from YUMOTO Koichi Collection Supernatural Beings in Japanese Art |publisher=PIE International |year=2023|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S_bMEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA122 |page=122|isbn=<!--4588212613, -->9784588212611}}</ref>

<ref name="ZenanZuihitsu">{{cite book|last=Asakawa |first=Zen'an |author-link=:ja:朝川善庵 |chapter=Zen'an zuihitsu |script-chapter=ja:善庵随筆 |title=Nihon zuihitsu taisei |script-title=ja:日本隨筆大成 |volume=5 |publisher=[[:ja:吉川弘文館|Yoshikawa Kobunkan]] |year=1927 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xjNS55eIrdsC&pg=PP809 |pages=787–788}}</ref>
}}

;Bibliography
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book|last=Aramata |first=Hiroshi |author-link=Hiroshi Aramata |chapter=Kappa |script-chapter=ja:河童 |title=Aramata Hiroshi no yōkai ni sarechatta mono jiten |script-title=ja:ｱﾗﾏﾀﾋﾛｼの妖怪にされちゃったﾓﾉ事典 |location=|publisher=Shuwa System<!--秀和システム--> |date=2019|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5ZuzDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA146 |pages=145–147|isbn=<!--44798056944, -->9784798056944 |language=ja}}

* {{cite book|last=Chiba |first=Tokuji |author-link=:ja:千葉徳爾 |title=Tashigoto to kappa |script-title=ja:田仕事と河童 |trans-title=Work in the Rice Fields and the ''Kappa'' |date=1988 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OR5NAAAAMAAJ&q=}} in: {{harvp|Ōshima|1988|pp=17–44}}

* {{cite book|last=Foster |first=Michael Dylan |author-link=Michael Foster (folklorist) |title=The Book of Yokai: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore |publisher=University of California Press |year=2015 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FdzjBAAAQBAJ |isbn=978-0-520-95912-5}}
** {{cite book|last=Foster |first=Michael Dylan |author-link=Michael Foster (folklorist) |chapter=Kappa (also Kawatarō) |title=The Book of Yokai, Expanded Second Edition: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore |publisher=University of California Press |year=2024 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5OYPEQAAQBAJ&pg=PA195 |page=<!--195–206 --> |isbn=<!--0520389557, -->9780520389557}}
*{{cite journal|last=Foster |first=Michael Dylan |author-link=Michael Foster (folklorist)|title=The Metamorphosis of the ''Kappa'': Transformation of Folklore to Folklorism in Japan |journal=Asian Folklore Studies |volume=57 |number=1 |year=1998 |pages=1–24|doi=10.2307/1178994 |jstor=1178994 |s2cid=126656337}}

* {{cite book|last=Iida |first1=Michio  |author-link=<!--飯田道夫--> |title=Kappa-kō: sono yugamerareta shōtai wo saguru |script-title=ja:河童考 : その歪められた正体を探る |trans-title=Thoughts on ''kappa'': Seeking the true form behind the distortion |location=Kyoto |publisher=[[:ja:人文書院|Jinbun shoin]] |date=September 1993 | url=|pages=|id={{NDLDC|13271535|format=NDLJP}}}}

* {{cite journal|last1=Ishida |first1=Eiichirô |author-link=Ishida Eiichirō |last2=Yoshida |first2=Ken'ichi <!--吉田健一--> |author-link2=Ken'ichi Yoshida (literary scholar) |year= 1950|title= The ''Kappa'' Legend: A Comparative Ethnological Study on the Japanese Water-Spirit"Kappa" and Its Habit of Trying to Lure Horses into the Water|journal= Folklore Studies |volume= 9 |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/view/download/digidepo_10208282_po_1304.pdf?contentNo=1&alternativeNo= |pages= |doi=10.2307/1177401|jstor=1177401 |publisher=Nanzan University |format=pdf (21MB)}}
[Thoughts on kappa: Seeking the true form behind the distortion]. Kyoto: Jinbun Sh
* {{cite book|last=Ishida |first1=Eiichirô |author-link=Ishida Eiichirō |title=Kappa komabiki kō |script-title=ja:河童駒引考 |publisher=[[Iwanami Shoten]] |year=2017|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1-6xAAAAIAAJ&q= |pages=}}
** {{cite book|last=Ishida |first1=Eiichirô |author-link=Ishida Eiichirō |title=Shinban Kappa komabiki kō |script-title=ja:新版河童駒引考 |publisher=[[University of Tokyo Press]] |year=1966 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hrMEAAAAMAAJ&q= |pages= |id={{NDLDC|9545104|format=NDLJP}}}}
* {{cite book|last=Ishikawa |first=Jun'ichirō |author-link=:ja:石川純一郎 (民俗学者) |title=Kappa no sekai |script-title=ja:河童の世界 |edition=New |publisher=[[:ja:時事通信社|Jiji Tsushinsha]] |year=1985 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TclMAAAAMAAJ&q= |pages= |isbn=978-4-78-878515-1}}

* {{citation|ref={{SfnRef|Iwai|2000a}}|last=Iwai |first=Hiromi |author-link=:ja:岩井宏實 |chapter=Kappa |script-chapter=ja:河童 |title=Nihon no yōkai hyakka: E to shashin de mononoke no sekai wo saguru |script-title=ja:日本の妖怪百科: 絵と写真でもののけの世界をさぐる |volume=2 |issue=Mizu no yōkai<!--水の妖怪--> |publisher=[[Kawade Shobō Shinsha]]  |date=1 April 2000 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PXEPAQAAMAAJ&q=河童 |pages=2–15 |isbn=<!--4309613829 -->978-4309613826}}
* {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Iwai|2000b}}|last=Iwai |first=Hiromi |author-link=:ja:岩井宏實 |chapter= |title=Kurashi no naka no yōkai tachi |script-title=ja:暮しの中の妖怪たち |publisher=[[Kawade Shobō Shinsha]] |date=6 April 2000 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m24nAQAAIAAJ&q=河童 |page= |isbn=<!--4309473962, -->9784309473963}}

* {{cite book|last=Komatsu |first=Kazuhiko |author-link=:ja:小松和彦 |title=Kappa |script-title=ja:河童 |series=<!--怪異の民俗学 3 --> |publisher=[[Kawade Shobō Shinsha]] |year=2000 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wWYnAQAAIAAJ&q=|isbn=<!--4309613934, --> 9784309613932}}
* {{cite book|last=Konno |first=Ensuke |author-link=:ja:今野圓輔 |title=Nihon kaidanshū: Yōkai-hen |script-title=ja:日本怪談集: 妖怪篇 |publisher=[[:ja:社会思想社|Shakai Shisōsha]] |date=1981 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4W8nAQAAIAAJ&q=河童 |page= |isbn=<!--4390110551, -->9784390110556 |id={{NDLDC|12467692|format=NDLJP}}}}
* {{cite book|author=Kappa renpō kyōwakoku |author-link=<!--河童連邦共和国--> |title=Nihon no kappa: Mizu to kami no fōkuroa |script-title=ja:日本のかっぱ : 水と神のフォークロア |publisher=[[:ja:桐原書店|Kirihara Shoten]] |date=July 1991 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a9hXAAAAMAAJ&q=河童 |pages= |isbn=4-342-80370-4<!--, 9784342803703-->|id={{NDLDC|13271581|format=NDLJP}}}}
* {{cite journal|last=Martial |first=Henry-Trapon |author-link=<!--ヘンリ＝トラポン・マルシアル--> |title=Nihon no kappa shinwa: Sono kigen to gendai shakai ni okeru zanzon |script-title=ja:日本の河童神話 : その起源と現代日本社会における残存 |journal=Nihongo/Nihon bunka kenshū puroguramu repōto shū |script-journal=ja:日本語・日本文化研修プログラム研修レポート集 |volume=1998|date=31 March 1999 |publisher=Hiroshima University Exchange Student Center<!--広島大学留学生センター-->|url=https://hiroshima.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/2037542/files/ReportJTP_1998_21.pdf |pages=21–39 |hdl=<!---->}}
* {{citation|ref={{SfnRef|Mozume|1916}} |editor-last=Mozume |editor-first=Takami |editor-link=:ja:物集高見 |title=Kawatarō |script-title=ja:河太郎（かはたろう） |work=Kōbunko |volume=5 |publisher=Kōbunko kankōkai<!--広文庫刊行会--> |year=1922 |orig-year=1916 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0_QZAQAAMAAJ&pg=PP344 |pages=308–322}}

* {{cite journal|last=Nakamura |first=Teiri |author-link=:ja:中村禎里 |title=Kappa denshō ni okeru jinteki yōso |script-title=ja:河童伝承における人的要素 |trans-title=Man-like Characters in 'Kappa (a water spirit)' of Japanese Folklore |journal=国立歴史民俗博物館研究報告 |trans-journal=Bulletin　of the　National　Museum　of Japanese　History |volume=61 |date=January 1995 |publisher=|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IVIjAAAAMAAJ&q=益軒 |pages=87–138 |hdl=}}
* {{cite book|last=Nakamura |first=Teiri |author-link=:ja:中村禎里 |title=Kappa no Nihon-shi |script-title=ja:河童の日本史 |publisher=[[:ja:日本エディタースクール|Japan Editors School]] Publishing |date=1996 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=661MAQAAIAAJ&q="貝原"+"水虎" |pages= |isbn=<!--4888882487, -->9784888882484}}

* National Museum of Japanese History; Tōru Tokumitsu edd. (2014)
** {{cite book|last=īkura |first1=Yoshiyuki  |author-link=<!--飯倉義之-->  |chapter=Kappa shishite te o nokosu: Kappa ibutsu denshō no seiri |script-chapter=ja:河童死して手を残す—河童遺物伝承の整理 |editor1=National Museum of Japanese History<!--国立歴史民俗博物館--> |editor1-link=National Museum of Japanese History |editor2-last=Tsunemitsu |editor2-first=Tōru |editor2-link=:ja:常光徹 |title=Kappa to wa nanika: Reikhaku fōramu Minzoku tenji no shin-kōchiku |script-title=ja:河童とはなにか：歴博フォーラム 民俗展示の新構築 |publisher=[[:ja:岩田書院|Iwata Shoin]] |date=31 March 2014  |url=<!--Not Previewable https://books.google.com?id=3H_BoAEACAAJ--> |pages= 211–246 |isbn=978-4-87-294853-0}}
** {{cite book|last=Kagawa |first=Masanobu |author-link=<!--香川雅信-->|chapter=Kappa imēji no hensen |script-chapter=ja:河童イメージの変遷 |editor1=National Museum of Japanese History<!--国立歴史民俗博物館--> |editor1-link=National Museum of Japanese History |editor2-last=Tsunemitsu |editor2-first=Tōru |editor2-link=:ja:常光徹 |title=Kappa to wa nanika: Reikhaku fōramu Minzoku tenji no shin-kōchiku |script-title=ja:河童とはなにか：歴博フォーラム 民俗展示の新構築 |publisher=[[:ja:岩田書院|Iwata Shoin]] |date=31 March 2014 |url=<!--Not Previewable https://books.google.com?id=3H_BoAEACAAJ-->|isbn=978-4-87-294853-0}}
** {{cite book|last=Ozawa |first=Hana |author-link=<!--小澤葉菜--> |chapter=Miyagi no 'Okappa-sama'―Kami-gun Shikama-chō no Isora Jinja wo chūshin ni |script-chapter=ja:宮城の「おかっぱ様｣―加美郡色麻町の磯良神社を中心に  |editor1=National Museum of Japanese History<!--国立歴史民俗博物館--> |editor1-link=National Museum of Japanese History |editor2-last=Tsunemitsu |editor2-first=Tōru |editor2-link=:ja:常光徹 |title=Kappa to wa nanika: Reikhaku fōramu Minzoku tenji no shin-kōchiku |script-title=ja:河童とはなにか：歴博フォーラム 民俗展示の新構築 |publisher=[[:ja:岩田書院|Iwata Shoin]] |date=31 March 2014 |url=<!--Not Previewable https://books.google.com?id=3H_BoAEACAAJ--> |pages=251–269 |isbn=978-4-87-294853-0}}<!--https://ronbun.nijl.ac.jp/kokubun/01233787-->

* {{cite book|last=Orikuchi |first=Shinobu |author-link=Shinobu Orikuchi |chapter=河童の話 |title=Zensh: Kodai kenkyū (Minzokugaku^hen dai-2) |script-title=ja:全集:古代研究(民俗学篇 第2) |volume=3 |publisher=[[Chūōkōron Sha]] |date=1966 |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1663260/1/155 |pages=288–317 |id={{NDLDC|1663260/1|format=NDLJP}}}}
** {{cite book|last=Orikuchi |first=Shinobu |author-link=Shinobu Orikuchi |title=Kodai kenkyū 2. Norito no hassei |script-title=ja:古代研究 2: 祝詞の発生 |publisher=[[Chuokoron-Shinsha]] |series=<!--[[中公クラシックス]]--> |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fn_iAAAAMAAJ&q=士屋敷 |year=2003 |pages=223–252 |isbn=<!--4121600452,--> 9784121600455}}
* {{cite book|last=Ōshima |first=Tatehiko |author-link=:ja:大島建彦 |title=Kappa |script-title=ja:河童 |series=<!--双書フォークロアの視点 1 --> |publisher=Iwasaki Bijutsusha<!--岩崎美術社--> |date=April 1988 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OR5NAAAAMAAJ&q= |pages= |isbn=978-4-78-878515-1 |id={{NDLDC|13267891|format=NDLJP}}}}
* {{cite journal|last=Ozawa |first=Hana |author-link=<!--小澤葉菜--> |title=''Kappa'' no imēji no hensen ni tsuite: zuzō shiryō no bunseki wo chūshin ni |script-title=ja:「河童」のイメージの変遷について―図像資料の分析を中心に |trans-title=Charting the Changing Image of the Kappa through Visual Representations |journal=Jōmin bunka |script-journal=ja:常民文化 |issue=34 |date=March 2011 |publisher=[[Seijo University]] |url=https://seijo.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/984/files/jpn-034-02.pdf |pages=23–46 |hdl=<!--https://seijo.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/984-->}} ({{URL|1=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/230524143.pdf |2=copy}} @ CORE

* {{cite journal|last=Shiina |first=Shintarō |author-link=:ja:椎名慎太郎 |title=Kappa no sugata wo otte: Minzoku denshō ni miru shomin no kokoro |script-title=ja:河童の姿を追って : 民俗伝承に見る庶民の心 |trans-title=Seeking the Images of Kappa (river goblin) : People's Mind and Thoughts Reflected in the Folklores |journal=Daigaku kaikaku to shōgai gakushū |script-journal=ja:大学改革と生涯学習 : 山梨学院生涯学習センター紀要 |trans-journal= |number=17 |date=27 March 2013 |publisher=[[Yamanashi Gakuin University]] |url=https://ygu.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/2139/files/17-075-097.pdf |pages=75–97 |hdl=<!--https://ygu.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/2139-->}}
* {{citation|ref={{SfnRef|Takasaki et al.|1928}}|last1=Takasaki |first1=Masahide |author1-link=:ja:高崎正秀 |last2=Shimamura |first2=Tomoaki |author2-link=<!--嶋村知章--> |last3=Suda  |first3=((Hakaru?)) |author3-link=<!--菅多計 [betw. Suda Natsuhiko 須田夏彦 and Suda Heikichi 須田平吉のあいだ]--> |last4=Okada |first4=Sōmei |author4-link=<!--岡田蒼溟 オカダソウメイ--> |last5=Hayashi |first5=Kaiichi |author5-link=<!--林魁一  はやし・かいいち--> |last6=Hino  |first6=Iwao|author6-link=<!--日野巖  植物学者にIwao HINO--> |last7=Kisarazu  |first7=Kunio<!--?--> |author7-link=<!--木更津久仁郎 --> |last8=Hayakawa |first8=Kōtarō |author8-link=:ja:早川孝太郎 |title=Kappa zokuden |script-title=ja:河童俗伝 |journal=Minzoku |script-journal=ja:民族 |volume=3 |number=5 |date=1 July 1928 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Us85AAAAMAAJ&q= |pages=185–196}}<!--Which writer's contribution and page number determinable at [[:ja:怪異・妖怪データベース|The Database of Folktales of Mysterious Phenomena and Yōkai (Spirits, Ghosts, and Monsters)]]-->

* {{cite book|last=Takeda |first=Akira|author-link=:ja:竹田旦|title=Suijinshinkō to kappa|script-title=ja:水神信仰と河童 |trans-title=Water deity belief and the ''kappa'' |date=1988 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OR5NAAAAMAAJ&q=河童+南瓜 |pages=}} in: {{harvp|Ōshima|1988|pp=7–16}}

* {{Cite book|last=Tanigawa |first=Ken'ichi |author-link=:ja:谷川健一 |title=Yôkai yôkai  |script-title=ja:妖怪 |series=日本民俗文化資料集成 8 |publisher=[[:ja:三一書房|San'ichi Shobo]] |date=1 November 1988 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9PM2AAAAMAAJ&q=河童 |page=|isbn=<!--4380885275-->978-4380885273}}
* {{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Yamaguchi N.|2010}}|last=Yamaguchi |first=Naoki |author-link=<!--山口直樹--> |chapter=Chapter 5: Kappa |script-chapter=ja:第5章: 河童 |title=Ketteiban yōkai mīra kanzen FILE |script-title=ja:決定版妖怪ミイラ完全FILE |publisher=Gakken Publishing<!--学研パブリッシング--> |date=2010 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aHrWDbOvVIsC&pg=PA205 |pages=188–213 |isbn=<!--4054044514, -->9784054044517}}

* {{cite journal|last=Yamamoto |first=Hiroko |author-link=:ja:山本宏子 |title='Kappa' no minzoku geinō (zoku) |script-title=ja:「河童」の民俗芸能（続） |journal=Geinō no kagaku |script-journal=ja:芸能の科学 |volume=24 |date=March 1996|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/146900007.pdf |pages=139–174 |hdl=<!--https://www.tobunken.go.jp/ich/publication/geinokagaku/backnumber/-->}}

* {{cite book|last=Yanagita |first=Kunio |author-link=Kunio Yanagita |others=Told by Kyōseki Sasaki |title=Tōno monogatari |script-title=ja:遠野物語 |publisher=Kunio Yanagita |date=June 1910 |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/767944/1/30 |pages= |id={{NDLDC|13229684|format=NDLJP}}}}
** {{cite book|last=Yanagita |first=Kunio |author-link=Kunio Yanagita  |chapter=Tōno monogatari |script-chapter=ja:遠野物語 |title=Teihon Yangita Kunio-shū |script-title=ja:定本柳田国男集 |volume=4  |publisher=[[Chikuma Shobō]] |date=1963|url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/9541734/1/20 |pages=1–54 |id={{NDLDC|9541734|format=NDLJP}}}}

* {{cite journal|last=Yoshida |first=Tsuakasa |author-link=<!--吉田宰--> |title=Hiraga Gennai ''Nenashi gusa'' no kappa-zu|script-title=ja:平賀源内『根南志具佐』のカッパ図 |trans-title= |journal=Kinsei bungei |script-journal=ja:近世文藝 |volume=112 |date=2020|publisher=|url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/kinseibungei/112/0/112_13/_pdf |pages=13–26 |doi=10.20815/kinseibungei.112.0_13}} ([https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/kinseibungei/112/0/112_13/_article/-char/ja/ English abstract])
{{Refend}}

==External links==
*Mark Schumacher (2004). [http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/kappa.shtml Kappa – River Imp or Sprite]. Retrieved 23 March 2006.
*Garth Haslam (2000). [http://www.sonic.net/~anomaly/oniko/epaug99.htm#places Kappa Quest 2000]. Retrieved 14 December 2006.
*Kirainet (2007). For a look at Kappa in popular culture [http://www.kirainet.com/english/kappa Kirainet]. Retrieved 6 May 2007.
*[http://hyakumonogatari.com/category/kappa-stories/ Hyakumonogatari.com] Translated kappa stories from Hyakumonogatari.com
*[http://www.unknownexplorers.com/kappa.php Kappa] Unknown Explorers
*[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1678054/ Underwater Love (2011)]
*[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425661/ The Great Yokai War (2005)]
*[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179773/ ''Summer Days with Coo'' (2009)], an animated film featuring a kappa as the main character.

{{Japanese folklore long}}
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[[Category:Kappa (folklore)| ]]
[[Category:Legendary turtles]]
[[Category:Water spirits]]
[[Category:Yōkai]]
[[Category:Mythological blood-drinkers]]
[[Category:Piscine and amphibian humanoids]]
[[Category:Anthropomorphic reptiles]]