Best Vacation In Japan | Sougenji Kappa-Dera Temple In Tokyo

Best Vacation In Japan | Sougenji Kappa-Dera Temple In Tokyo. In Japanese folklore, "kappa" are bipedal, turtle-like aquatic goblins who typically grab unsuspecting humans, typically youngsters, as they walk over bridges or through swamps, pulling them down into the muck to drown them.

The fishy-smelling kappa's most distinct feature is that the bowl-like dent on the tops of its head, that it should keep crammed with water in any respect times to remain alive. The Tokyo neighborhood of Kappabashi-dori (literally "Kappa's Bridge") was supposedly thus laid low with the creatures that its inhabitants engineered atiny low kappa-temple to appease them.

The temple, known as Sougenji or Kappa-dera, still stands nowadays. Its altar is kept piled high with offerings of cucumbers - said to be the kappa's favorite food - and its treasure chamber contains antique scroll-drawings of the goblins and even a "real" dried and preserved kappa-arm.

Visitors ought to keep an eye fixed out for the many statues of kappa that stand outside native retailers. A number of these are cute and cuddly, however others are decidedly creepy. Anyone encountering a true kappa ought to bear in mind to remain calm and, most of all, to be polite: Bowing to a kappa can oblige the kappa to bow in come, emptying its head-bowl of life-sustaining water and sending it back to the spirit realms.