Gaappa legends Kyushu

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- KAPPA - 河童 / かっぱ /　カッパ - Legends from Kyushu 九州 -
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- Gaappa ガーッパ The Kappa of Nagasaki 長崎県 -

. - suijin 水神 water deity - .
Gaappa is seen as the God of Water 水神.

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In spring the Gaappa moves to 雞知 Kechi and in Autumn to 佐須 Sasu (対馬 Tsushima ).

The Gaappa has the size of a child with red hair, others say he looks like a large frog with a dent on his head. He likes to eat the nuts of the shuro 棕櫚 hemp palm.

Sometimes he throws sand at a person walking on the beach.

To be possessed by the Gaappa is said of people who like to carry around a lot of fish and sweets on a lonely road at night.
It is almost the same as being possessed by a fox.

Some people with a special medial vision can even see the Gaappa.

If people wrestle with a Kappa, the thread of their robes comes off. To win against a Gaappa best have him stand on his head. Then the magic water from his plate will be spilled.

Before swimming in a river you have to fix some cucumbers to your arms and neck.

People who meet a Gaappa usually become ill very soon afterwards.

On the day of the River Festival カワマツリ people float bamboo shoots and dumplings on the river.
Some rivers have special bewitched places where the Gappa live, ガーッパドコ gaappadoko. These places are dangerous for horses

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Kappa and Monkey 猿

The wild monkeys usually do no harm to humans. But if a human is possessed by a Gaappa the monkey will jump on it and bite it.


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西海市 Saikai town, 西彼町 Seihi

. Gaappa ガーッパ Kappa and Sake .


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商い（秋無い）ますます（二升）繁盛（半升＝五合）
aki nai masumasu hanjo - a pun with Chinese characters


対馬市 Tsushima town and Tsushima Island

There are many deep and dangerous river pools on the island, where Gaappa live and bring harm to humans. These pools have water even in the most waterless times of summer.

In one river pool of 佐護川 Sasugawa lives the "Boss of the Gaappa" 大将ガーツパ.
For the New Year all the Gaappa come here to celebrate and exchange stories of their own river pools.
He lives in 千馬ケ原 in Kechi village 美津島町難知,

In some very rural areas there are some kind of 祈祷師 exorcists for the Gaappa, ガーッパおとしの神さん Gaappa otoshi no kami san. They can remove a Gaappa if he possesses a human by beating the Shaman drum, swinging the ritual wand 御幣 and chanting exorcist sutras.

There are so many stories about the Gaappa of Tsushima, so they are sometimes called

対州ガーッバ Taishu Gaappa (Taishu is an old name for the island).
There is a Gaappa well ガーッパ井戸 in the village of 対馬厳原町 Izuharamachi.

At the shrine 壱岐郡芦辺町八幡浦の津緑川（つべらごう）神社 Tsuberago Jinja there is a Kawappa Sumo wrestling ガワッパ相撲 on the 16th day of the O-Bon festival for the ancestors.


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At the end of the Edo period
a samurai on his way home late at night saw a Gaappa in the river. The samurai noticed that his eyes stuck out like that of a crab or lobster but could not remember anything else about the creature he had seen. Oh yes, he also said this creature did not have a plate on its head.


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This happened about 25 years ago.
There was a rumor that this man had been deceived by a Gaappa.
The man called out "There comes a Gaappa!", fell into the river and could not get up by himself. When they finally brought him home to bed, he realize that the whale meat he had in his breast pocket was gone.


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- reference -

yokai database ガーッパ
- source : www.nichibun.ac.jp -

- source : www.eonet.ne.jp/~nagasaki/kappa

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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 .

- KAPPA - 河童 / かっぱ /　カッパ - Legends from Kyushu 九州 -

. Mingei 民芸　Regional Folk　Art from Japan .

- #gaappalegendskyushu -
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