You are absolutely right about the Kawaii factor. I mean, even I find myself getting caught up in it I’ve bought tons of Kappa dolls and figures since I moved here and I think they are simply adorable. However, what most don’t know about Kappas is that they were water demons that would eat your soul after pulling it out of you through your anus….

That’s another Cryptid I would like to look into as well. It’s said that it was based on crocodiles, however, Crocodiles are not known to have existed here in Japan so why would there be a Japanese demon based on them? It’s interesting to say the least There were two Caimans caught in Kanazawa but they were said to be pets that were released… Could be that they have been living there all along….

Anyway, keep em coming!

Now how about mysterious sacred cats of Japan!

Keep them coming. I have a lot of faith in the wild things of Japan. I may get to Hokkaido, some day; but it’s nice to know there’s wild in many other places there.

Honshu wolf, anyone?

I think that some of these attributes could have started with a kernel of truth and were not necessarily just made up. For example, someone may have heard an unusual sound, or voices from an unseen person at the same time they came across this rare and unusual looking real snake, then mistakenly attributed the sound to the snake itself. The jumping could have been an instance of the snake making a spectacular strike at prey, which was seen and exaggerated by an eyewitness. The hoop rolling might have originated in someone seeing a snake fall from a ridge and tumble down a hill. This may be a rare enough occurrence to witness that the person was left with the impression that the snake could move by rolling along.

Often in simpler times, people would attribute things they couldn’t explain to the supernatural, or try to rationalize what they saw in some other way that may not jibe with our current scientific understanding of the world. So I think that while some of the Tsuchinoko’s characteristics could have a grain of truth buried under all the folklore, it is important to try and look at this creature in terms of what it could be biologically realistic to be.

Considering that, I am left with the impression that we could perhaps be dealing with a new type of snake (or a known one under certain circumstances) that just happened to get spruced up by all of the old stories. Like you humorously said, real snake, false pokemon type talent. I am certain that it is feasible a new type of snake could be present in Japan. I just wish there was more tangible evidence.

Interesting info on the cotton mouth in North Carolina. I had never heard of that before.

There are also mythological creatures that have still maintained their image as horrible and frightening such as the Japanese trolls, ogres, and “Oni” (devils).

What I find interesting as well is that, where snakes have typically always been presented as evil and scary in most cultures, the Japanese have always regarded the Tsuchinoko as mostly benign, and not known to attack people at all.

I could go on, but those are the basics.

It seems the transformation of some folkloric animals such as the Tsuchinoko into cute characters, (or “cuteification” if you will ) is mostly a modern phenomena here in Japan. I think one of the driving factors behind the trend for making these creatures cuddly and cute is what I like to call the “Kawaii factor”. “Kawaii” means “cute” in Japanese and popular culture here puts a high premium on cuteness. If you go to Japan, you are sure to hear groups of girls loudly and constantly gushing “Kawaii!” about all manner of things, and there is a big marketing incentive to make things as cute as possible. So what you end up having is creatures like the tsuchinoko, kappa, tanuki (a real animal), and many others being made into cute, cuddly characters. One only needs to look at Japanese merchandise for young people and animated programs featuring these animals to see what I mean. So in that respect, it seems to me to be a cultural phenomena particular to Japan.

Interestingly, although the Tsuchinoko was historically never seen as a menacing creature, if you look at old legends and folklore you will see that other “cute” characters are based on creatures that were quite dark and ominous at one time. I think one could argue that there is a parallel to what happened with the something like the Grimm fairy tales, and how these actually very dark and scary stories were changed over time into cuter, lighter versions for younger or more modern day audiences (Disney anyone?). It seems at least possible that fairy folk underwent the same sort of process, however I do know that the drive to make things cute in Japanese culture is a major reason for the current portrayal of some of these creatures.

I don’t know a whole lot about British folklore, but it is interesting to speculate if there was a similar cultural trend going on with what happened to the fairy folk you mentioned. Perhaps someone here with a good knowledge of old British folklore could give us some insights.

Hope this was helpful!