Alligator- I’m not sure the exact connection between the giant movie monsters of Japan and folklore, but there seem like there are probably at least some influences. Baby Godzilla looked just like a Kappa, for instance. A place where you will see a definite connection with these mythical creatures is in many monsters and characters depicted in Japanese anime. The work of Hayao Miyazaki, for instance, is brimming with references to a wide range of creatures from traditional Japanese folklore.

The connection between these folkloric creatures and the giant Daikaiju seems like it would be worth exploring, and I’ll look into it a little more. Maybe I’ll do a piece on it sometime.

Several years ago, I was fishing off a rocky shore in Rhode Island. This was before harbor seals had made a come-back in that area. The waves were very high but there was little wind and I was surrounded in thick fog. Suddenly a dog rose out of the water before me, apparently chasing my lure. I yanked the line out of the water so as not to hook the poor thing.

It disappeared beneath the waves but I knew what I had seen. It was a German Shepard that had somehow gotten into the water and would drown without my help.

You see where this is going?

I ran down to a small rocky beach, all the while looking for wood or anything that would float with the idea that I would try to rescue the drowning dog.

Another wave rose and the “dog” again stuck it’s head above water. It was looking at me curiously. That’s when I recognized that I was looking at a seal. The first one I had ever seen in the wild.

That was a thrill of course, but my point is the fact that I was completely sure of my German Shepard identification. I did not expect a seal so my mind apparently filled in the gap with what it knew.

Fascinating stuff.

I’ve been wondering, how much of a relationship is there between daikaiju 大怪獣 of the Japanese movie genre (Godzilla, Rodan, Ghidora, Gamera etc. etc.) and those of traditional Japanese folklore?

Some of those beasties of the movies really have odd abilities then when I read your reports about Japanese cryptids and mythic creatures, there seems to be some common threads. That might be worth an article in and of itself.

Wonder when are you going to cover the Kappa, Brent?

It’s just that otters are so cool that I want it to be a new species of otter .

Dogu4- Yes, sea otters are to me a reasonable culprit if one was large enough. The thing is, why wasn’t it reported as a sea otter? Seals have been found in rivers here in Japan, and they were reported as seals. I imagine that unless this was a particularly odd or large otter, people would say “Hey, there’s a sea otter in the river!” But here we have a case of around 100 witnesses seeing the creature with not a single one of them describing it as an otter. That seems curious to me.

Otters I suppose could be seen as looking “cat-like” and perhaps an out of place or unknown large type could be behind the reports, but I still find the descriptions interesting. The Matsudodon was usually described as a “cat that looked like a seal.” I’m not sure how much that matches a typical otter, and so I tend to think that maybe a new type of pinniped was seen. Interesting to speculate about, though.

I’m under the impressions that whatever it was, it traveled there from the sea, so I’m just as willing to consider an unknown type of pinniped as I am an unknown otter.

Also, what was that thing in 1834?

While kayaking with a small group on a lazy sunny morning, just drifting along a shoal and watching the sealife through the clear water moving about in the shallows below us, we started to hear a kind of “mewing” and noticed that all around us were otters, probably 50 or more, in some kind of social chorus, enjoying the sun just like we were, and undoubtedly the abundant tanner-crab, chiton and urchin. We eventually drifted out of their presence and went on to explore other areas of the surrounding waters while the weather was so fine.

I wonder if in Japan certain coastal areas that are not open to or amenable for commercial fishing or other harvesting activities aren’t beginning to repair themselves so that they again support a semblence of the kind of habitat that sea otters can colonize. They eat a prodigious amount of crab and/or urchin and/or any other delicious nutrient rich sealife each day so you can see why a colony would need to have the right conditions before making the leap to new grounds.

Of course the entire story of human interaction with sea otters in modern times is a sad and cautionary tale but their resurgence is a lesson in just how tenacious and prolific these guys can be if given the time and spared the pressure of commercial harvest.

I’ve seen a group of otters swimming in a line and they look remarkably like some of the traditional depictions of sea serpents. Maybe otters are the animals behind some of the lake monster and sea serpent legends.

Here’s some more information about giant otters.