Before the summer holidays begin and we will be focusing on small excursions, swimming school and other summery activities, I want to write a third kappa-related post. In my first post a month or so ago I introduced this mythological creature’s fancy for cucumber, and a few weeks ago I mentioned bowing being a kappa’s achilles heel and biggest weakness. And this merits a little more discussion since I think it is a fascinating concept embodying a lot of the Japan I have come to love.
Simply put, the kappa is told to be a mischievous being with good manners, who loves sumo wrestling, lives in rivers or ponds and likes cucumbers. If you meet a kappa and are in danger of coming in harms way, you can offer it a cucumber and chances are you will end up friends. The kappa’s fondness of cucumber is present in everyday life in Japan – there is a kind of sushi called kappa maki, where cucumber and rice is rolled up in sea weed. This happens to be my son’s as well as my own favorite kind of sushi. But what do you do if you are out and about with no cucumber in your pockets, and you run into a kappa? How can you avoid a bad outcome of this encounter. Well, as I have understood it you need to play a little game of manners.
The strength of a kappa is found in the water that resides in a bowl on top of a kappa’s head. If this water were to dry up or get spilled out, a kappa looses its strength and you can defeat it. But if you fill up the bowl again, the kappa will become forever in your debt. When my wife was pregnant with our son I came across a statue of a kappa at Suitengu shrine in Tokyo. This kappa is carrying three children and visitors can pour water on top of the head of the kappa as a way of showing respect, maybe while praying for its protection. There are many stories of mischievous kappas and their encounters with people, my favorite being the boy who was playing near the river when he met a kappa who challenged him to a sumo match. Freely retold, the boy, knowing about a kappa’s weaknesses accepted the challenge and when he stood in front of the kappa before the match started, he bowed deeply. Being an inherently polite and honorable creature, the kappa returned his bow and all the water spilled from the kappa’s bowl. The kappa lost all of its power and seeing the helpless being, the boy took a big leaf and used water from the river to fill up the bowl again. The kappa got all of its strength back and was filled with gratitude, promising to always protect the boy from now on. That is what I call a happy ending.
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