Kids Web Japan

In the city of Tono in Iwate Prefecture in northeastern Japan, there is an area called Kappabuchi, which is said to have been home to many kappa.

Behind the magnificent Jokenji temple, which has been standing for 500 years, a clear stream runs through a thick grove. This is the place called Kappabuchi. Tourists flock here, hoping to catch a glimpse of a kappa.

From time to time a master kappa fisherman appears at Kappabuchi, equipped with a handmade fishing pole baited with cucumbers, to fish for kappa. Unman Haruo represents the second generation of master kappa fishermen.

Haruo has never seen a kappa, but his predecessor, the first master kappa fisherman, claimed two and one-half sightings. The first time he saw something with a dish-like thing on its head, and the second time he spied a red face. On the occasion of his final, half sighting, he heard a noise in the bushes and saw something from behind as it fled. Maybe the kappa really still are somewhere in Tono.

The kappa of Tono were very mischievous, and in olden times one of them tried to pull a horse that had been led to the river into the water. The kappa apologized to the horse's owner, who forgave it, and then became a god protecting mothers and children. There is a small shrine on the bank of the Kappabuchi devoted to kappa, and it is said that pregnant women who pray at the shrine will have milk in abundance.

According to another story that has been handed down, when a fire broke out at the Jokenji temple the kappa used water from the containers on their heads to put out the blaze. It seems as though the kappa watch over and protect this city and its people.