[Half-human half-fish] Mermaid [Yokai Encyclopedia]

 Mermaid, Siren, Ningyo 

There are many ways to call it, but what kind of image do you have of then?

Perhaps  you have this in mind.

It is an image of  Western mermaids, a beautiful humanoid creature with a half-human and half-fish appearance.

Of course, there are mermaids in Japan as well.

↓Here is a picture of a mermaid drawn in an old Japanese newspaper.

It's almost like a fish 😅

The student who saw this for the first time said, "I can't eat fish for a while."

Western mermaids and Japanese mermaids

Now, let me introduce the differences between these two types of mermaids other than their appearance.

Western mermaids are good at singing, and  who have heard their song will try to go to where the mermaids are.

People were afraid of them since sailors might steer the ship into rocks and reefs, sinking the ship in the process.

As for Japanese mermaids, Sometimes it is believed that mermaid corpses may appear floating on the beach.

Mermaid corpses’ appearance is believed to be a bad omen.

For example: the ruin oh the Oshu Fujiwara ,Kamakura Shogunate 3rd Shogun Minamoto no Sanetomo assassination, etc. all believed to have happened after the appearance of a mermaid corpse.

People who have eaten mermaids

Is there a story about eating mermaids in your country?

There is such a story in Japan.

Most Japanese mermaids are fish.

Therefore, there are people who have caught mermaids.

The person tried to gather close friends to eat, but they were all creepy and didn't eat because their heads were so similar to humans.

But only one young woman ate it.

Then, the woman became a young and beautiful body that never grew old.

And the woman became a nun.

The woman was not old for 800 years, so she was called ※"Yaobikuni".

Recently, it seems that it has also appeared in games.

From the official website of the app game "Onmyoji"

summary

・ European mermaids and Japanese mermaids are completely different

・ European mermaids are good at singing

・ Japanese mermaids have the corpse is launched on the shore

・ If you eat Japanese mermaids, you will not get old

※Yao=800

   bikuni=A private nun dressed as a nun