Dec 19, 2014 - 1 min read

Kizakura Kappa Museum

Sake brewery with evidence of the mythological kappa!

By Cathy Cawood

Community writer

Artwork of a samurai surrounded by playful kappa

Sign at the entrance

A sculpture of a swimming kappa couple outside the museum

You can see the webbing between the fingers of this kappa hand

Locations where the kappa artifacts in the museum were found

Model of a kappa in front of an explanation poster

Cartoon drawing of kappa school. Notice the young kappa are seated on cucumbers, which are kappas' favorite food.

Large wooden vat that was once used for fermenting sake mash

Local people still fill water bottles at the spring here

Kanji sign and crests of the sake brewery

Some tools used in the sake-making process

Kizakura's stamp showing the water that sake making depends on

Water basin and bamboo spout

Japanese mythology has a creature known as a 'kappa' - a sort of water goblin with a plate shaped indentation on its head. However perhaps it is more than a myth... if you visit this brewery in Fushimi, Kyoto, make sure you check out the kappa artifacts in the small but fascinating museum there!

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Cathy Cawood

By Cathy Cawood

Community writer

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Mandy Bartok

Mandy Bartok 11 years ago

That kappa skeleton is quite the sight, isn't it?

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Justin Velgus

Justin Velgus 11 years ago

To see evidence and a scientific approach to the understanding the kappa is very rare indeed.
Maybe it is just me, but I am fairly certain the first picture is with a sumo wrestler, not a samurai.

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