Kappa History

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- KAPPA - 河童 / かっぱ /　カッパ - ABC-Index -
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- Kappa before the Edo period -

Japanese Tales - Royall Tyler



- quote
The kappa, a water goblin that has become almost the emblem of Japanese folklore,
is not to be found in medieval tale literature at all.
Above all, farmers and their preoccupations, so basic to the modern folktale, are rare in the older literature.
Although they do include popular elements, the medieval collections are not folk literature.
- source : books.google.co.jp

. Legends and Folktales from Japan - Introduction .




- source : 河童日本紀行

size of Kappa during history
During the Edo period it was still seen as about 150 cm, now it has gone down to 120 cm.

Some Kappa legends can be dated by the persons involved, names of a local lord or a famous priest.
Records are kept in temples, shrines, villages and old families.

Here are legends about the Kappa dating before 1600.

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Fukushima 福島県

. Gennō Shinshō 源翁心昭 Priest Genno Shinsho .
(1329 - 1400)


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Ibaraki 茨城県

. Tetsugi Jinja 手接神社 .
lit. "The Shrine of the Grafted Arm"
. . . some say it was toward the end of the Heian period, on a late afternoon, the Lord Serizawa 芹澤氏　was riding alone along the banks of a river.



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Kyushu　九州　

Kagoshima 鹿児島
. Toda Kannon 戸田観音 .
Lord Shibuya Tokushige Kedo-In 渋谷（祁答院）徳重, 1459


Kumamoto 熊本県　and Fukuoka　福岡県
. - Tanushimaru 田主丸 - Kumamoto and Fukuoka - .
九千坊 Kyusenbo　- coming from China


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Miyagi 宮城県　　

. Sakanoue no Tamuramaro 坂上田村麻呂 .
(758 - 811)

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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 .

- #kappahistory #history -
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