For hundreds of years, this strange “mermaid mummy” has been kept at a temple where it was worshipped by believers hoping the enigmatic creature could bring them luck, happiness, and good health.

This strange, mummified creature has the upper body of a human and the lower body of a fish, but what is it? Is it an unknown species, a real mermaid-like those mentioned in myths and legends, or something else?

Scientists are analyzing the remains of a mummified mermaid found in Japan. Credit: Kunio Ozawa

Scientists have attempted to unravel the true story behind this perplexing being for the first time.

A group of researchers from Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts is currently investigating the remains of the “mummified mermaid”. Results of this study are expected in autumn this year.

The scientific study started thanks to folklorist Hiroshi Kinosнιтa, a member of the Okayama Folklore Society who stumbled upon a pH๏τo of the mummy while reading the research papers written by Kiyoaki Sato (1905-1998), a natural historian.

Sato has written Japan’s first encyclopedia on “yokai” ghouls, hobgoblins, and other supernatural creatures of Japanese folklore.

Kinosнιтa located the mummified mermaid and contacted scientists to examine the creature.

Kozen Kuida, a chief priest at Enjuin temple in Asakuchi agreed to let the researchers conduct a thorough study. The tiny mummy was removed from the 30-centimeter long box and taken to the University for CT scanning. Inside the box, a small note explained the creature had been caught in a fishing net on the coast of Tosa Province (present-day Kochi Prefecture) between 1736 and 1741.

It seems to have had many owners before it reached the temple.

Credit: Kunio Ozawa

“Many myths and legends tell that strange amphibious, web-footed aquatic beings known as Kappas were widespread in Medieval Japan.

There is also a very ancient and only partly known, animistic cult still performed in the Gobi Desert in the north of Mongolia that is considered to be related to the same beings.

The shamans performing this cult claim to communicate with black, hunchbacked creatures, with long claws that have the power to ‘cast their skin’ and immediately ᴀssume human form.

These shapeshifters can go unrecognized; however, when clad in their ‘dark skin’ they are said to be invisible and to sail or fly in great shells, over the waters or through the clouds, according to the ‘Book of Fire’ (Ghal Sudur), in which all ancient traditions of the region are mentioned.” ¹

Could the puzzling, mummified mermaid be a Kappa?

It is currently unknown how the strange, unknown creature ended up in the Enjuin temple. According to the chief priest Kuida the mummy is kept in a fireproof safe to prevent deterioration. It has been displayed to the public for the last 40 years.

Kinosнιтa explained mummified mermaids are kept at other temples in Japan. One of them has the upper body of a monkey and the lower body of a salmon.

In charge of the unusual study of this mysterious mermaid is Takafumi Kato, a Professor of paleontology. Together with his colleagues, he will conduct DNA tests along with a detailed analysis of the creature’s lower body.

Chief priest Kuida said the baffling mummified creature reminds him of Amabie, “a Japanese mermaid-like creature with long hair, a beak, and 3 legs.

According to an Edo-period tile block print dated 1846, Amabie appeared off the coast of Kumamoto, Japan. Amabie predicted a bountiful harvest for the next six years, but that’s not all.

This mythical Yokai came to humans with a message, giving people advice in case of an epidemic.

A kappa by Katsushika Hokusai. Credit: Public Domain

Amabie said – “Good harvest will continue for six years from the current year if disease spreads, show a picture of me to those who fall ill and they will be cured.” Afterward, Amabie returned to the sea, but the memory of the enigmatic creature has been kept alive.” ²

When thousands died due to the coronavirus, many people in Japan made drawings of Amabie with the hope this mythological creature could somehow help humanity overcome the pandemic outbreak.

´The results of the mummified mermaid study will be presented later this year, and it will be interesting to learn what kind of creature has been kept inside the Enjuin temple for so many years.