Doesn’t it bug you that in so many cryptid encounters no one is carrying a gun or a camera, and if they are by chance carrying said gun or camera they are usually a lousey shot with both (apart form the Shunka Warak’in!)?

It could be an unidentified snake or lizard, but I think that the reports throughout the ages cannot all be put down to misidentification or imagination. Too many times we presume observers ignorant or stupid because what they relay seems to fantastical. Not sure about a metre long skink though!

I am of the mind that the claws on the back end of boas and pythons have always been used for mating, and were never co-opted from legs. What mechansim would turn back legs into ‘gripping’ claws could only be described out of the bounds of empirical science. That would seem to me to require some sort of reasoning or intelligence beyond chance driven by environment, mutations or punctuated equilibria nonsense.

Flame821- If you mean creatures or yokai(Japanese folkloric entities) that are considered to be possibly real creatures, then I can certainly think of one that might resemble a “devil.” The winged Tengu could possibly be seen as possessing attributes that could be considered devil-like, or similar in some respects to the oni of Japanese lore. “Oni” directly translates to “devil” or “demon,” although they are variously described as being sort of the Japanese equivalent of trolls, ogres, or goblins.

Ceroill- Yes, I was actually going to mention the Tatzelwurm in this article. The Notzuchitokage is very similar in many respects to the European Tatzelwurm. It makes me wonder if a similarly evolved animal could be behind both of these far flung cryptids. I know, for example, that Loren has put up an article on the Tatzelwurm here on Cryptomundo that also mentioned the possibility of something like two legged worm lizards, the Bipedidae being at the core of those stories. Similar traditions to the Hoop snakes are definitely present in Tsuchinoko reports as well. I agree that it is fascinating to consider the similarities between creatures from completely separate cultures across the globe.

Alligator- Thank you for your kind words. It means a lot coming from another commenter who I also to be very logical and rational in their approach to these things, in your case especially reptile related ones.

A general comment to no one in particular I’d like to make in order to clarify what I meant about the skinks I mentioned here. I am not sure if these animals were ever traded here in Japan in medieval times. As a matter of fact, I find it perhaps unlikely and actually meant my mention of it in this article as a reason I find the skink explanation questionable. I find it somewhat hard to swallow that blue tongued skinks would have been traded and managed to find their way into the wild in those ancient times. Since tales of the Tsuchinoko are present in even Japan’s oldest written texts, it seems doubtful that any sort of pet trade could have started this folklore to begin with.

I think more likely is that modern day witnesses have maybe seen these skinks and likened the strange (to them) sight to a well known fantastic animal that most resembles it, the Tsuchinoko. This cryptid is so well known in Japanese society that it is entirely plausible for someone to make that jump. However, those ancient stories of Tsuchinoko had to have started from something, and I think that blue tongued skinks were perhaps not it.

Maybe the skinks were traded back in those days, but not that I am aware of. I suppose that it could have be a type of native lizard similar to a skink that is either now extinct or is still out there undiscovered.

I didn’t know skinks had been kept as pets for that long in Japan. Another very interesting tidbit.

Thanks again for keeping us informed.

Thank you so much for taking the time to write these articles. I truly enjoy learning about cryptids from other areas and I am especially fascinated with Japanese Folklore.

Besides the Kappa, are there any other cryptids that resemble the ‘demons’ of the old folktales?

It actually might be a skink indeed, although a giant one.

It is interesting to consider that the skink might have been brought to Dai Nippon by medieval traders.
I didn’t know skinks were “tradeable” stuff back then

Whatever it is, it is certainly thought-provoking. It would be wonderful if it turned out to be a survivor from prehistoric times.

Would certainly “turn a lot of heads.” Yes, indeed.

Keep up the good work.