Wakasa Mermaid (
Appearance[]
Wakasa Mermaid resembles the traditional depiction of a Ningyō, being a large fish with the head of a human or an oni. She has green scales on her body with light blue skin on her face, two pairs of light blue fins, six spines protruding on her back, each becoming shorter the previous spine and a white underside that has a bubble-like texture with two pairs of leaf-like appendages; in Shigeru Mizuki's illustration based on the descriptions from the original lore, she possesses multiple eyes along her torso. She has long purple hair, a pair of small, pale yellow horns on top of her head, sunken, black eyes with small pale blue pupils, her mouth has pink lips and is filled with small pointy teeth.[1]
Personality[]
History[]
2007 Anime[]
Wakasa Mermaid activating the power of the 47 Yōkai Warriors in GeGeGe no Kitarō: Nippon Bakuretsu!!.
The Wakasa Mermaid appears in the 2008 movie GeGeGe no Kitarō: Nippon Bakuretsu!!. She is one of the chosen 47 Yōkai Warriors and represents Fukui Prefecture. During the battle against Yato-no-Kami, Yobuko calls for help from all over Japan, the remaining 47 Yōkai Warriors are revealed once their mark begins to shine. Among those are Waksa Mermaid, who looks her tail when her mark appears. Afterwards her power is sent to aid Kitarō in defeating Yato-no-Kami.[1]
Due to the fifth anime adaptation's sudden cancellation at 100 episodes, she is among the 23 Yōkai Warriors that were not revealed aside from the movie.
Powers and Abilities[]
Legend[]
Illustration of Wakasa Mermaid by Shigeru Mizuki.
Illustration of Jinja-hime by Shigeru Mizuki.
There have been multiple lore regarding Mermaids from Sea of Japan coasts especially the Fukui Prefecture and its vicinity, including the Jinja-hime.
The nun Yaobikuni is known for consuming a flesh of a mermaid, and gained longevity for over 800 years. A fisherman caught the Wakasa Mermaid and served it to his guests, all of whom refused to eat it and threw their pieces away fearing that they would be cursed should they do so. One of the guests, Yaobikuni’s father, got drunk and forgot to throw his piece away, so he took it home with him, where Yaobikuni ate the ningyo piece which granted her eternal youth.
In some cases, they were depicted to be large, multi-eyed, monstrous beings to perform pyrokinesis and fire-breathing and trouble fishermen and coastal communities, leading a federal's attempt to hunt her down, although some literatures point the possibility that she, like Jinja-hime, is a sacred being to serve Dragon Palace, and hence was trying to protect fish from the humanity. The legend of the Jinja-hime was, like Amabie, also speculated to be initially created as a part of a boom to produce Yōkai-related illustrations as amulets for anti-plague purposes.
There is also a story in which a fisherman slaughtered a Wakasa Mermaid who was sleeping on a rock, then his village was repeatedly struck by major earthquakes and skyquakes, therefore people believed the phenomena as a curse by the mermaid.[2]
Trivia[]
- While not making direct appearances, Jinja-Hime was also one candidates for the 47 Yōkai Warriors of Saga Prefecture in the 2007 anime adaptation.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 GeGeGe no Kitarō: Nippon Bakuretsu!!
- ↑ Arihiro Shimura, Feburary 28, 2011, 日本ミステリアス 妖怪・怪奇・妖人事典, p.71, Bensei Publishing