A long time ago the mystery of the “mummified mermaid” resisted and populated the Japanese folk imagination. The 30 cm creature was “caught” in the Pacific Ocean.on the island of Shikoku (Japan), between 1736 and 1741so the first reports.
With a grimace on his face, sharp teeth, two hands and hair on his head and forehead, he has a strangely human appearance except for its fishy lower half.
The “mermaid” from the 18th century stood for about 40 years kept in a temple in the Japanese city of Asakuchi. Locals have worshiped and believed in the mysterious creature for years bestowed immortality on anyone who tasted its flesh. The temple’s chief priest, Kozen Kuida, told The Asahi Shimbun newspaper that they even worshiped her in hope “Help to contain the corona pandemic”.
But last year, researchers at Kurashiki University of Science and Arts took the mummy for tests and CT scans to unravel its mysteries. And that’s what experts have now found out The creature is entirely artificial and was made in the late 19th century. That is, even the period in which the supposed creature was found coincides with reality.
There is no evidence of a skeleton. Instead of this, the “mermaid” is made of paper, fabric and cotton.
That’s what the scientists said The lower half of the body is from a fishtail, probably added by whoever created it. Your The jaws and teeth were taken from a fish and the hair was originally from a mammalthe researchers found, according to the Sun.
Analysis of the “Mermaid Mummy” Photo: Reproduction/Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts
After launching the project last year, Hiroshi Kinoshita of the Okayama Folklore Society said the creature may have religious significance.
“Japanese Mermaids Have a Legend of Immortality”he said. “They say if you eat a mermaid’s flesh you will never die. In many parts of Japan there is a legend that a woman accidentally ate the flesh of a mermaid and lived 800 years. This legend of YaoBikuni is also kept near the temple where the mermaid mummy was found. I heard that some people who believed the legend ate the scales of mermaid mummies.added the scientist.
He believes it was made sometime during the Edo period an era of Japanese history that spanned from 1603 to 1867.
“I think this was made during the Edo period for export to Europe or for shows in Japan. The legend of the mermaid lives on in Europe, China, Japan and around the world. So I can imagine that people at the time were also very interested in it.”explained Kinoshita.