NINGYO 人魚

Pronunciation: NEEN-gyoh

Translation: Human Fish, Mermaid

Etymology: The word is literally the characters for “human” and “fish.”

Also known as: Teijin (低人)

Similar to: Hatsugyo (髪魚), Hair Fish; Jinjahime (神社姫), Shrine Princess; Himeuo (姫魚), Princess Fish; Ainusokki (アイヌソッキ), mermaid of the Ainu, Hokkaido’s Indigenous people; and the prophetic yōkai

Overview

Japanese mermaids aren’t the curvy, flaxen-haired, bronze-skinned, seashell-bikini-topped visions that they are in the West. As a matter of fact, they’re kind of the opposite—they’re scary looking. Ningyo mummies in museums or enshrined in temples across the country show them more closely resembling Fiji (or Feejee) mermaids, those grotesque little mummified creatures with razor-like teeth that appear to have died screaming and made the rounds in the Barnum & Bailey Circus back in the 1800s. In artwork and legends, however, there are quite a few variations. There is everything from beautiful armless creatures with perfect Japanese hairstyles; to red-bellied, horned, serpent-like creatures; to a cross between a fish and a child that bawls when you catch it.

An ancient story describes how 1,400 years ago, in Shiga Prefecture, Prince Shōtoku (C.E. 574–622) was strolling along the shore of Lake Biwa when a ningyo popped up and told him how, in a previous life, it had been a fisherman. As payback for all the sea creatures it took, it had been reborn as a mermaid. It pleaded with the prince to display its horrible mummified remains after it died as a reminder to others to not kill all the time, because life is precious. The water beast then died right there.

Prince Shōtoku scooped it up and granted the creature’s last wish. Today, that same mummy is said to reside at the Tenshō Kyōsha Shrine (天照教本社) in Fujinomiya City.

Mermaids or human-fish combinations have an incredibly long and interesting history in Japan, sometimes bestowing good luck, sometimes bringing or predicting disaster. Sometimes they were released to avoid problems; other times they were killed out of fear. At least once, a mermaid was eaten.

Background and Popular Stories

Undoubtedly, the best-known mermaid story in Japan is the legend of Yaobikuni (八百比丘尼). Her name means “Eight-Hundred-Year-Old Nun,” and her story goes something like this. Once upon a time, a man caught a very strange fish. He took it home and invited over all his friends and relatives to eat it with him. Everyone waited while he was preparing the meal. One guest was particularly eager to see what was so special about this fish. He peeked into the kitchen and saw that the animal being readied had a human face! He returned to the others and warned them, telling them not to eat it.

The fisherman brought out the meal all cut up on a platter, and everyone feigned joy as they plucked up pieces with their chopsticks and pretended to eat them, but they were really hiding the horrid meat in their clothes to dispose of later.

After the party, one of the members returned home very drunk. When he walked in, his daughter ran up to him excitedly, asking where her souvenir was. Without thinking, he pulled out the mermaid flesh and gave it to her. The little girl popped it into her mouth and swallowed.

Her father tried to stop her, but it was too late. He felt horrible and kept an eye on her, thinking she’d been poisoned, but nothing happened. The little girl grew up and got married.

But then things changed after that. Suddenly, she stopped aging. Everyone around her grew old and died, but she stayed young. She outlived her husband, married again, and again. She then decided to become a nun and lived the rest of her life traveling to various countries, until finally, at the age of eight hundred, she returned home and died.

In rare instances, humans have killed ningyo. For example, back in 1805 in Shinminato City, Toyama Prefecture, a ningyo emerged from the sea and threatened some fishermen. The men claimed they had to kill it to save their lives. It took a combined 450 guns to defeat the 36-foot-long (11-meter) golden-horned ningyo who had a red underbelly and a face that resembled a hannya (般若) mask, which has two sharp horns, metallic eyes, and a horrific expression that represents a jealous female demon in Noh theater. The sea monster’s dying cries were reported to be heard up to 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) away. Posthumously, they called it Kairai (海雷), or Sea Thunder. After all the excitement died down, it was guessed that perhaps it might have been a jinja-hime (see the Amabie entry) sent by the dragon god, Ryūjin, who lives under the sea, and wanted to deliver an important message—only, now they’d never know.

Another aquatic yōkai that’s similar but considered a kind of pre-ningyo because it’s so old is the disturbingly named hair fish, or hatsugyo (髪魚). This is a fish with a face that is eerily humanlike, made all the more unsettling because it also has long hair on its head. Sometimes this creature cries like a baby when caught. One story of a hatsugyo comes from the reign of Empress Suiko (C.E. 592–628). It describes a suspicious fish that appeared in the Gamō River in Ōmi (now Shiga Prefecture). It was described as looking like a cross between a child and a fish.

Another hatsugyo tale tells of a man who was fishing in a large pond and caught a fish with shining white scales and hair on its head. He brought it home and put it in a tub, covering it with a lid. That night, though, he had a vivid dream in which the self-proclaimed “god of fish” appeared and scolded him, saying, “Why did you imprison my relative?” The next morning when he went to check on his strange human-haired fish, it was gone. In more recent times, it’s believed this mysterious aquatic critter might have been a rarely seen oarfish, which is shiny and has long hairlike strands on its head.

In Modern Stories

The Studio Ghibli film Ponyo (2008) is about a cute little human-faced fish. Yaobikuni appears as a gorgeous creature in the game Onmyoji, in the manga Air, and as an old nun in Blade of the Immortal. Also, the manga and anime series Mermaid Saga is all about ningyo.