The Most Terrifying Monsters in Japanese Mythology Explained

The Most Terrifying Monsters in Japanese Mythology Explained The kappa is one of the most well-known creatures in all of Japanese folklore, and it is also one of the most deceptive, because nothing about its description sounds particularly threatening until you understand what it actually does. Imagine something roughly the size of a child, with greenish scaly skin, a beak where its mouth should be, webbed hands built for dragging things underwater, and a shell on its back like a snapping turtle. On top of its head sits a shallow water-filled dish called a sara, and that dish is the source of everything the kappa can do. Let it dry out, and the creature is helpless. This is where the kappa's one famous weakness comes in: it is, by nature, compulsively polite. Bow to a kappa and it will bow back, spilling the water from its dish and losing its power entirely.