Gappa (yea, they got the name wrong in the first one)featured island natives, which were Japanese actors in black face and afro wigs.

A rather bizarre yokai legend from Japan surrounds the kappa. There is as sushi called kappa sushi. It is made with cucumber. According to the old legend you would toss a cucumber into a body of water before swimming, crossing, or bathing to appease the monster. Otherwise the kappa would grab you and seize your liver via your. er, uh, well, I guess I could say hind end to keep this clean. I doubt that part of the legend appears in these movies, I hope.

Putting aside the movie that obviously deviates from the traditional kappa, these cryptids are actually quite interesting to study about and the folklore surrounding them is sometimes as amusing as it is insane.

Want to get the best of a kappa? Indulge them in a wrestling match (which they are prone to challenging travelers to do) and merely make sure you knock the water out of the cup on their head, from which they derive their power. Want to bribe one? Try cucumbers (their favorite food) or ply them with shiny objects. Have a broken bone? No problem. The kappa were said to be expert bone-setters. Odd for a creature that was alternatively described as benevolent bone-setters to mischievous imps, to downright scary monsters that would pull people under the water to their deaths and suck the organs from various orifices.

Despite all of these folkloric elements, much like many cryptids worldwide that are similarly seeped in myth kappa are actually considered a legitimate cryptozoological phenomenon to those in the field over here.

I suppose just as Americans have their ridiculous Bigfoot movies, so the Japanese have “Death Kappa.” I’ll have to check this out.

As kids we loved watching “Godzilla Movies” Creature Double Feature on Channel 56 in Boston.