Talk:Kappa (folklore)

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Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 4 September 2018 and 9 January 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Jtlamoreaux7.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 01:37, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Content forking

Oops. I just posted an article I'd written while away from the internet: Kappa (Japanese folklore). It's considerably more detailed than this one, but this one does have a few details mine does not. What's the procedure to merge these suckers? Amcaja 22:08, 18 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Okay, I merged them. Amcaja 07:23, 19 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Final Fantasy

The article mentions that these creatures are common in Final Fantasy games. Are they known under a different name in the US versions, or did I miss them? - DropDeadGorgias (talk) 20:42, Apr 27, 2004 (UTC)

They're renamed "Imps" in the US translations. -Sean 03:44, 28 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Lombre and jaken

I -guess- Lombre looks like a kappa.. but Golduck is actually said to be confused for one in its description. Also, Jakken is a kappa? I'd never heard that before, but I suppose he isn't too unlike one. Takahashi is pretty bad at making creatures look like you'd expect them to.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.245.29.229 (talk • contribs) 00:29, 14 March 2005 (UTC)

Update: Jaken is definitely not a kappa. In the Inuyasha episode "Chokyukai and the Abducted Bride" there is a kappa, and it looks totally different from Jaken and the other examples of his race, so Takahashi's kappa are definitely different from Jakken. Fortunately the article seems to have revised it and just said that the show has kappa in it.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.92.176.164 (talk • contribs) 05:42, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

See Also

I removed the link to Kappabashi-dori as that has nothing to do with the kappa. It's a coincidental homophony Nik42 05:07, 27 July 2005 (UTC)

I simply annotated it with an alternate name for Kappa (Gataro) that I came across in my studies. I haven't found much mention of this name outside of the old Oumi region, (present-day Shiga). I also mentioned a current cartoon show airing on Japanese TV.-Cadmus Kyrala

Adults vs children

Evan1975 recently reworded part of the article to make it sound like kappa were invented by adults to scare children away from places they might drown. Lacking a source, I reverted. It's my understanding that adults have historically believed in kappa just as much as children have, so the change does not seem warranted. If there's a source citation to back it up, I have no problem with it. — Amcaja 23:27, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

I tend to take Amcajas side in this. Adults were just as scared of kappa in the olden days as children were, and the idea that adults made kappa up to scare children is somewhat farfetched, IMO. The two sources given are not of the best quality - one has an unnamed local city official as the source of this claim (granted, the local city in question is Tōno, but still...), and the other only has a link to the first source. I have moved the claim here, pending better sources (a historian or ethnologist would be nice. Better than some city official, anyway).

*Another theory is that the kappa were invented to scare children[1][2] away from rivers or rice paddies, using the swollen anus common in drowning victims as "proof" of having one's shirikodama stolen.

(btw, this talk page is a mess...) — TomorrowTime 19:51, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

... Why... would drowning... cause your anus to swell up? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.73.70.113 (talk) 00:36, 24 August 2010 (UTC)

Harry Potter

I've read all the Harry Potter novels to date, and to my knowledge, kappa play little to no role in the series. The fact that they are mentioned is hardly notable enough to include that information here, in my opinion. Therefore, I've re-removed this bit: "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them also mention kappa." — Amcaja 15:04, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Kappa and Haruki Murakami

The INKlings in the Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World are only kappa in the translation. The japanese version has them as the Yamikuro, a made-up word, meant to imply darkness and lurking. The translator chose to call them INKlings for a similar reason and at one point explains the INK stands for Infra Nocturnal Kappa. This is however exclusive to the english translation, not mentioned anywhere in the Japanese. I'm torn here: they are not kappa in the original, so atributing Haruki Murakami with having written about kappa is wrong. They are however, portrayed as kappa in the translation, so it would probably be in order to at least mention this in the article. Any suggestions as to what should be done? I'll remove the reference, if nobody speaks up in about a week or so. 213.172.254.113 16:25, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

Kappa meaning raincoat

Kappa is also the Japanese word for raincoat, taken from the little beasie itself.

But I can't figure out where it would fit on this page...

— MightyAtom 03:35, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Actually, the world kappa "raincoat" comes from Portuguese capa "cloak", another loan from Portuguese sailors and missionaries of the 16th Century. Whether the mytical creature's name also comes from the same source (as the article suggests, though this etymology looks rather dubious) is another story.— 201.21.202.46 07:09, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Mythology?

I think the kappa is arguably more a creature of folklore than mythology - maybe the name of the article should be changed? Just a thought. Kotengu 20:18, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

Alright, if nobody objects, I'm moving the article. Kotengu 07:31, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

I object. Westerners not understanding East Asian religion isn't a reason to ignore it or its importance. Placing this at 'folklore' pretends that there's some kind of a throughline between popular European belief as opposed to the official Christian religion and a completely mythological creature from East Asian animism.

That said, obviously this has sat at the wrong place for over a decade now so others would need to join in to actually move it back to the correct namespace. — LlywelynII 01:40, 9 April 2023 (UTC)

"Undoubtably"

Yikes! How many times is this strong word used when talking about modern cultural references to kappa. The use of such a word should be avoided with EXTREME PREJUDICE IMHO in Wikipedia. You can either allege a fact, or back it up (thus removing any chance of doubt - except in your source). For instance I doubt Psyduck's kappa like nature as it is a platypus pokemon.--ZayZayEM 01:59, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Lambda?

If a kappa is a turtle-monster, is a lambda a sheep-monster? Or is it a headcrab? --Damian Yerrick (☎) 08:55, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Oh dear oh dear oh dear... is there any precedent for calling WP:ISNOT (subsection: Talk boards) a respository of horrendous jokes? :D 193.63.174.211 (talk) 17:56, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

Origin of Term Kappa

Can you two stop wasting time edit-warring for a moment and maybe try to track down a reliable source on the topic instead? I'm pretty sure the information came from here. If I find anything better I'll let you know. Kotengu 小天狗 06:33, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

A search on google scholar turns up a paper on JSTOR which I can't access, which refers to a word "kappa" coming from the Portuguese "capa", but I'm guessing it's referring to "kappa" as in a straw raincoat rather than "kappa" as in a water imp. Kotengu 小天狗 06:44, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

The original reference for Kappa as "water leeches", meaning aborted fetuses dumped into the river, comes from the Tono Monogatari, written by Yanagita Kunio. I'm not sure why this was discredited as a reference, as it is one of the most important books on Japanese folklore ever written. For a discussion on the book, which also talks about the origin of the kappa, here is a link from a paper by Takayuki Tatsumi,Ph.D of Keio University. However, this was also dismissed out of hand as a random google search. With references like this, I am honestly don't understand why it is in dispute.MightyAtom 14:03, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

http://www.uri.edu/artsci/english/clf/n5_a1.html

The link you provide above is a perfectly sound source for the kappa-fetus connection, so feel free to add that back in. Just be sure to include the reference in the article as well. As for the Tono Monogatari, it should be fine as a source, too, but it's not enough to just list the name and author in the article as a reference. We need the information to be easily verifiable by a third party, so it's important to indicate what specific published version of that book you got the information from (i.e., give the author, title, date, publisher, and page number). Let me know if I can help. — Amcaja (talk) 22:38, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

Kappah

Could someone please include the character "Kappah" who was a hidden boss in the 1996 arcade and Playstation release(by CAPCOM) "Star Gladiator?" I remember his sigil was a crossed pair of cucumbers. Thanks. -Ryuseimaru — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.151.171.176 (talk • contribs) 09:36, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

Finny the Fish character

also, if we're talking vidgames, in finny the fish and the seven waters for ps2, kappa is the master of the waters. and he is sweet. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.142.18.139 (talk • contribs) 09:31, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Is it real?

Are these creatures real??? 69.181.141.140 (talk) 01:54, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

Depends on who you ask, but most sources regard them only as mythological. — Dulcem (talk) 01:58, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

IT'S A MOGWAI!!!

The whole article is wrong. The picture and all the facts are of the Mogwai except for the bowl on the head. I want this article to be renamed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.42.150.43 (talk) 20:49, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

Kappa in Media

In a tokusatsu TV series Kamen Rider Ryuki, Kamen Rider Ouja's hybrid monster, Genocider, is strongly resemblance to Kappa.

In the PC game Throne of Darkness, Kappa was among the many monsters appeared in the game. In the game, it possesses brute strength and poisoned tipped claws. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Firerat45 (talk • contribs) 07:42, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

Koopa

Under "See also", the article mentions a type of enemy from Nintendo's Super Mario video game series, Koopa Troopa. It states that its name is derived from kappa (though they look like generic anthromorphized turtles rather than kappa). However, that is its name in the West, its original Japanese name is Nokonoko (literally "unconcernedly"). Its western name is derived from Kuppa (the anglicized spelling "Koopa" has also been adopted to Japanese), the Japanese name of the character Bowser. As far as I know, the character's creator Shigeru Miyamoto never said that Koopa Troopa/Nokonoko and Bowser/Koopa are based on kappa in any way, but he told indeed about the origin of the name Kuppa (Koopa): the character was named after the Korean dish of the same name (source). No word about kappa there.

A game guide of Prima Games told that Bowser/Koopa is based on kappa, but that is hardly reliable, since those guides also told about relations (siblings, cousins) of Mario series characters never mentioned in any game and named debut games of certain characters wrong, and there are several other mistakes. Regarding their appearance alone, those video game characters hardly resemble kappa at all, and the name Koopa (Kuppa) does officialy come from the Korean dish, not kappa. So, any comments, should this line be removed until there is an official statement from Nintendo (if there will ever be one)? --Grandy02 (talk) 18:01, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

That entry was added in the last week. I support its removal. Flatscan (talk) 22:49, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

No one opposed, so I removed the entry. When someone got official proof that the word "Kuppa" is also derived from kappa, the entry can be recovered. --Grandy02 (talk) 19:49, 19 January 2009 (UTC)

Sightings

If there are supposed sightings of the kappa then why not a section about some sightings?Abomasnow (talk)

As far as I'm aware, no one seriously believes the Kappa may actually exist and they are solely folklore creatures. I'm tempted to remove the offending statement, as well as the crypto category unless some reliable sources are provided. bridies (talk) 03:54, 7 February 2009 (UTC)

Appeances in media

This section is not acceptable, per WP:OR. It contains blatant personal commentary (such as "in a way meant to be comedic while loosely adhering to actual kappa folklore"; "in a suggestive manner") based on primary sources i.e. the game/show itself. Primary sources are not sufficient references: secondary sources are required to show that this piece of otherwise trivia is even worthy of note. While this entire article is unsourced, there is no such glaring policy violation as this one. bridies (talk) 23:30, 9 August 2009 (UTC)

Kappa Signs

Just because signs near to water have kappa on them, this doesn't imply a literal belief in kappa the way the article seems to suggest. All kinds of signs have cartoons on them in Japan. A sign with a dog scooping up after itself doesn't imply a literal belief that dogs can clean up after themselves by handling scoops. The 'Even today' sentence and the 'modern' sign say more about the credulity of people who want to believe in superstitious Japanese villagers than the credulity of the villagers themselves.--Rsm77 (talk) 01:03, 31 July 2010 (UTC)

But a sign with a dog scooping up after itself does imply a literal belief that dogs exist. Your overall point isn't completely wrong, but it's similarly mis/overstated. Of course there are some credulous people with premodern supernatural beliefs. We have them in the west too. — LlywelynII 01:53, 9 April 2023 (UTC)

Plural?

"Kappa" and "Kappas" are used as plural for Kappa throughout the article. Are both acceptable? Also, why is kappa italicized in many places within the article? The whole thing becomes disjointed as a result. Validusername (talk) 09:11, 27 February 2012 (UTC)

Japanese language does not traditionally have plurals.ZayZayEM (talk) 05:49, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

Which isn't important in English translation: One kappa, two kappas, a kappa, the kappa... — LlywelynII 01:50, 9 April 2023 (UTC)

Kappa bowing trick

I had heard of this tactic as well. The bow to a kappa and it will bow back - thus, spilling the water from the bowl shaped depression in their heads. However, the way I heard it was that the used that water to be able to "breath" when they were out of the water. So if that water was depleted or drained out, the Kappa would have to rush back to water or die - as if they had gills in that bowl shaped depression on their heads. I had also heard that one of their prankster like tricks was to steal or free fish from fisherman's hooks and nets. I believe I found this information at some point from some source of Japanese folklore, but it was so long ago that some of it might have come from some translation of a manga (and, therefore, who knows how accurate to folklore it actually was versus a modern writer's creativity). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.140.49.57 (talk) 22:05, 6 June 2013 (UTC)

External links modified

In the Behavior section I am adding "While younger kappa are frequently found in family groups, adult kappa live solitary lives. However, it is common for kappa to befriend other yōkai and sometimes even people." under this section because it doesn't say anything about how kappa are one of the only few yokai that befriend other yokai. In the Appearance sectionI am adding "Clumsy on land, they are at home in the water, and thrive during the warm months." and "Inhuman traits include three anuses that allow them to pass three times as much gas as humans," and "Kappa are generally the size and shape of a human child, yet despite their small stature they are physically stronger than a grown man."from yokai.com/kappa because it shows how strong the kappa is despite its size and to add more to the "appearance" section since it is lacking this information. In the In Media section I am adding "These yokai also represent Japan as a nation, featuring in advertisements for a range of products from a major brand of sake to Tokyo-Mitsubishi Bank’s DC Card (a credit card). In their explicitly commercial conceptions, yokai are no longer frightening or mysterious—the DC Card Kappa, for example, is not a slimy water creature threatening to kill unsuspecting children but a cute and (almost) cuddly cartoon character." because it represents more of how the kappa is incorporated in Japanese culture and a different point of view of the kappa and their appearance/behavior. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ericsowards (talk • contribs) 00:16, 2 May 2020 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion:

• Kappa in world cup uniform.jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 11:07, 4 August 2019 (UTC)

9 not 12

The image with 12 kappa types are actually only 9 kappa. Two front and back and one on all fours and while standing. 85.144.246.247 (talk) 08:48, 2 April 2022 (UTC)

Chinese and Scottish nonsense

The Japanese folklore creature ''Kappa'' is known in Chinese folklore as 神水 ''shuǐguǐ'' "water-ghost", or [[water monkey]] and may also be related to the [[kelpie]] of Scotland and the [[nixie (folklore)|nixie]] of Scandinavia.{{citation needed|date=May 2018}}

There's probably some connection to Chinese popular religion (/"folklore") but those characters are shenshui—"divine water"—and have nothing to do with the word gui or any form of ghost. The correct term 水神 would be a water god like Mazu and not anything to do with kappas. If there is an actual Chinese term, include it with the correct characters and transcription and source it. Similarly, the Japanese folklore has absolutely nothing to do with Norse or Scottish figures beyond the fact that all three places have water and imaginative people. Rephrase to something more accurate or just leave them entirely out of the article. — LlywelynII 01:45, 9 April 2023 (UTC)

What is the deal with these sources?

I just added a citation for the Foster 2015 book. It was cited by page before in the References section. Do you guys think we should clean this up so it is clear it is all from one book? Also, what citation style should we be using on this page? ImperialSquash (talk) 19:05, 23 June 2023 (UTC)

Kappas vs. Koopas

Neither this article nor Koopa Troopa has any discussion of whether or not there is a connection between the two. Given that both creatures are based on turtles and have similar names, it seems like something that people would speculate about. It’s also possible that the creator of Koopas (called “nokonoko” in Japanese) wasn’t thinking about the kappa, but whoever came up with its English name later on _was_. 2604:2D80:6984:3800:0:0:0:77FB (talk) 12:24, 5 October 2023 (UTC)

Inuyasha section

there's a section under pop culture about Inuyasha that is wildly out of place and almost unintelligible but I'm not sure whether it should be removed entirely or shortened and cleaned up. I think it goes into too much detail but is also poorly written and doesn't make much sense.

As an aside, it might be worth mentioning Kawamatsu, a Kappa from One Piece introduced fairly recently. Its one of the longest and most well known anime and he deserves a mention. 2601:1C0:CA00:A0A0:C4D4:1D56:24F9:D25F (talk) 06:27, 11 October 2023 (UTC)

"Kappa (folklore" listed at Redirects for discussion

The redirect Kappa (folklore has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2024 April 8 § Kappa (folklore until a consensus is reached. Utopes _{(talk / cont)} 01:33, 8 April 2024 (UTC)

Kappa is a yokai

Where are we getting this thing in the introduction that kappa are categorized as kami? The Japanese version of this article says yokai, not kami. If you are going to try to include it in the shinto pantheon, please provide a convincing source of this assertion. 106.185.152.187 (talk) 12:15, 18 November 2024 (UTC)