Kappa no kizugusuri

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- KAPPA - 河童 / かっぱ /　カッパ - Legends -
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- Kappa no kusuri カッパの薬 / 河童の薬 Kappa and medicine -

There are various legends in Japan.

Most of them have a similar story about the Kappa trying to pull a horse into the water.

. komahiki 駒引き / 河童駒引 Kappa the “horse puller” .
- horse 駒 koma / 馬 . 午 uma -


. Kappa no myooyaku 河童の妙薬 - Myoyaku special medicine .


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- Kappa no kizugusuri カッパのきず薬 / 河童の傷薬
Kappa makes an ointment for wounds -

Legends from Yamanashi 山梨県の民話

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summary
Once upon a time, in the village of 韮崎の下条 Nirasaki, Gejo there lived a man called 五作 Gosaku and his wife お静 O-Shizu. Gosaku was a horse leader for luggage.

One day at the end of the year, when Gosaku was on his way home from town, he saw a young boy of about 12 years pulling at the tail of his horse. He got angry at this nuisance and took his bamboo stick to hit the boy to let go.



When he reached home he saw something hanging from the tail of his horse, it looked like the arm of a child. Gosaku felt annoyed, but he kept the arm in the entrance of his home over night.

Early in the morning he heard the voice of a boy:
"Hey, dear uncle, please give me back my arm."
But the boy was in fact a kappa that lived in the nearby river 釜無川 Kamanashigawa.
Finally Gosaku felt pity with the boy who apologized in tears and gave him the arm back.



The Kappa was so happy to have his arm back, he taught Gosaku how to make a Kappa miracle medicine 妙薬 to heal wounds and even put a cut-off arm back in place.
This medicine was even more effective when used on humans and was eventually called "The wound ointment from Gejo 下条の傷薬" and people used it from then on for many many many years.
- source : nihon mukashibanashi 甲州の伝説


韮崎市 Nirasaki shi 藤井町 Fujiicho
. Kappa ishi 河童石 Kappa stone legend .

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- quote
カッパのきず薬
Once upon a time
there was a retainer of the lord 武田信玄 Takeda Shingen named 主水頭守清 Mondo no Kami Morikiyo, who was a doctor.

One day Morikiyo was crossing a river on horseback, when his horse suddenly stopped.
When he looked down he saw a long yellowish arm reaching out of the water and grab one leg of his horse. When the creature did not let go after he shouted at it, he took his sword and cut the arm off.
The horse now crossed the river to the other side.

Morikiyo began to wonder about the cut-off arm, climbed down from his horse and looked for the arm. He found it and realized that the yellow-green arm belonged to a kappa.

"That's a special thing! Now I got something special!" and he carried the arm home.



At night after this exciting day when Morikiyo was asleep, someone tried to snoop into his bedroom. Morikiyo woke up, took his sword and threatened the thief.

"Wait,wait, I am the Kappa from this afternoon."
And indeed, a Kappa without one arm was sitting there.
"Please give me back my arm!" the Kappa pledged.

"Why should I? This cut-off arm would be of no help to you any more now."

"Please, if you give me back my arm, I show you how to make the best medicine to heal wounds ever seen in Japan!"
And the Kappa showed him a pair of clams filled with a yellow-green ointment.
"If this cream is so powerful, then use it here and now to put your arm back on!" Morikiyo demanded.

"No problem, let me show you" said the Kappa, spread some medicine on his arm and what do you know - in a second the arm was back in place and not even a scar to be seen.

Then the Kappa told the doctor how to prepare this special medicine and made him remember the process word by word.
Morikiyo the doctor felt very greatfull.



"Let's have a drink together" he invited the Kappa and pulled out a bottle of rice wine.
At this moment, Morikiyo woke up.

"Oh well, it was all just a dream!" He jumped out of bed and looked for the arm of the kappa but could not find it. He ran out to the veranda, but nobody was to be seen, only some hair and the footsteps of the Kappa.
"Oh well, so it was not just a dream!" Morikiyo was confused.

On the next morning, Morikiyo prepared the medicine as the Kappa had taught him and showed it to his lord, Shingen, at the castle.
He put some medicine on the wounded parts of the samurai, who were there in the quarters.
And indeed, the pain subsided soon and the wounds healed in no time.

"Wonderful, so this is really the best wound ointment in Japan" Morikiyo thought happily.
After that, Morikiyo quit his job as retainer of lord Shingen and opened a pharmacy selling his ointment カッパのきず薬.
People from all over Japan with bad wounds came to him to buy the medicine.
Even after the death of Morikiyo the store florished over many generations.

お し ま い - THE END
- source : hukumusume.com


. Takeda Shingen 武田信玄 .

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カッパ伝説のある河口湖
Kappa legends from Lake Kawaguchiko, Yamanashi

Kappa live in the lake and are seen as deities 水神, with great power to heal wounds.
The story here is similar to the above one's, the hero is a strong man called Hachiemon from Nagahama 　長浜に八エ門. The Kappa tried to pull him into the lake, but Hachiemon prayed hard and the deity 大嵐の天神様 told him to put his three fingers into the three holes of the plate on top of the Kappa's head 皿には三つの穴が開いて.
The medicine Hachiemon later made was called 河董膏 Kappa Cream, put into a clam shell.




. . . . . and another legend

At the home of the village headman 安太郎 Yasutaro, there seemed to come a thief regularly to steal smoked fish from the pantry. Since the footprints on the veranda were wet and large, they soon knew it was a Kappa. One morning there was a piece of paper near the open hearth, with the detailed instructions how to prepare the Kappa Cream. The cream worked its wonders soon and Yasutaro became rich.
To show his gratitude to the Kappa Yasutaro made the smoked fish a special アブリ魚 souvenir of his village.
- source : www.fujigoko.tv



- cream in a clam shell - Edo-period medicine

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more legends of this kind in Japan

州両毛の創作民話 湯桧曽地区の伝承
河童柳の傷薬
- source : www.albsasa.com


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. Aichi - Kappa healer from Aichi legends 愛知県 .

Akita 秋田県
. chirirenge チリレンゲ spoon to mix medicine .
and others

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. - Tetsugi Jinja 手接神社 - Ibaraki .


Ibaraki
真木家「岩瀬万能膏」（茨城）
上岩瀬の医者真木了本が牛久沼の河童から伝授された膏薬で、代々真木家の夫人にだけ伝えられた。昭和初期まで一般家庭の常備薬として重宝がられた。
成分：鉛丹、胡麻油、没薬、乳香
効能：化膿せるきりきず、はれものなど。

Niigata
「アイス薬」（新潟）
糸魚川の西海に伝わる河童の妙薬は、打撲傷に良く効く“アイス”という薬で、あさしらげ（ハコベ）、にはとこ（クサニハトコ）、ろくたびなどでつくると伝えられている。クサニハトコは、生薬名を接骨木といい、糸魚川市羽生では伝説の草として大切に育てられている。


Tokushima
賀島家「河童の傷薬」（徳島）
賀島友井が桑野川（琴江川）の多門が淵の河童から秘伝を授けられたといういいつたえが残っている。幕政時代の傷薬として、さかんに利用され重宝がられたという。
効能：とげ抜き、血圧降下、便秘、胃腸病など

- source : kizakura

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Miyazaki 宮崎県
. Hyoosunbo ひょうすんぼ Hyosunbo .
and the 正一家 Masakazu family

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- quote -
BONE SETTING SKILLS, MEDICAL SKILLS
Kappa are mostly evil, but not always. When benevolent, the Kappa is supposedly a skilled teacher in the art of bone setting and other medical skills. In the real world of medicine, the term “kappa” refers to a monoclonal plasma cell related to bone marrow. In addition, the Kappa is always portrayed as trustworthy despite its many evil ways. When captured and forced to promise never again to harm anyone, the kappa always keeps its promise.
Kappa often help or mentor those who outwit them or capture them.
- source : Mark Schumacher

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. Michael Dylan Foster .
“The kappa is notorious for attempting to lure horses and cows to a watery death; but the key word here is attempting. In most versions of this legend, the kappa fails; its plan backfires and it (or just its arm) is pulled by the startled horse all the way to the stable. The kappa's success rate in fondling women's shiri in the toilet may be slightly higher, but often on its second attempt its arm is grabbed and yanked from the body. And when its mischief goes awry, when it is weakened from losing water from its sara or incapacitated (emasculated) by a yanked-off arm, the honest and benevolent side of the kappa's nature surfaces.
In order to be set free or receive back its arm (the arm can often be reattached within a certain number of days), the kappa will take an oath. It will pledge, for instance, to stop harassing people in the area, or to assist with work in the fields, or to teach its captor secret bone setting techniques and formulas for making medicine and salves.
It should be noted that this last trait - the kappa's familiarity with bone setting and other medical procedures - is one of the most widespread of the beliefs associated with the kappa).”



. Chinese Medicine (kanpo), medicine (kusuri) 漢方薬 .
- Introduction -

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Kappa legends about medicine form the prefectures
(from nichibun sources)
- source : www.moon.zaq.jp
tba

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. - - - Join my Kappa friends on facebook ! - - - .

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. Kappa densetsu　河童伝説, Kappa minwa 河童民話 - Legends - Introduction .

. Mingei 民芸　Regional Folk　Art from Japan .

- #kappamedicine #kappakusuri #kusuri #medicine -
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