[CHAPTER XXIX: SUPERNATURAL BEINGS]
The Kappa
The Kappa is a river goblin, a hairy creature with the body of a tortoise and scaly limbs. His head somewhat resembles that of an ape, in the top of which there is a cavity containing a mysterious fluid, said to be the source of the creature's power. The chief delight of the Kappa is to challenge human beings to single combat, and the unfortunate man who receives an invitation of this kind cannot refuse. Though the Kappa is fierce and quarrelsome, he is, nevertheless, extremely polite. The wayfarer who receives his peremptory summons gives the goblin a profound bow. The courteous Kappa acknowledges the obeisance, and in inclining his head the strength-giving liquid runs out from the hollow in his cranium, and becoming feeble, his warlike characteristics immediately disappear. To defeat the Kappa, however, is just as unfortunate as to receive a beating at his hands, for the momentary glory of the conquest is rapidly followed by a wasting away of the unfortunate wayfarer. The Kappa possesses the propensities of a vampire, for he strikes people in the water, as they bathe in lake or river, and sucks their blood. In a certain part of Japan the Kappa is said to claim two victims every year. When they emerge from the water their skin becomes blanched, and they gradually pine away as the result of a terrible disease.
In Izumo the village people refer to the Kappa as Kawako ("The Child of the River"). Near Matsue there is a little hamlet called Kawachi-mura, and on the bank of the river Kawachi there is a small temple known as Kawako-no-miya, that is, the temple of the Kawako or Kappa, said to contain a document signed by this river goblin. Concerning this document the following legend is recorded.
The Kappa and his Victim.