Ningyo
Encyclopedia
is a fish
-like creature from Japan
ese folklore
. Anciently, it was described with a mouth like a monkey
's, small teeth like a fish's, shining golden scales, and a quiet voice like a skylark
or a flute. Its flesh is pleasant-tasting, and anyone who eats it will attain remarkable longevity. However, catching a ningyo was believed to bring storms and misfortune, so fishermen who caught these creatures were said to throw them back into the sea. A ningyo washed onto the beach was an omen of war or calamity.
once caught an unusual fish. In all his years fishing, he had never seen anything like it, so he invited his friends over to sample its meat.
One of the guests, however, peeked into the kitchen, noticed that the head of this fish had a human face, and warned the others not to eat it. So when the fisherman finished cooking and offered his guests the ningyo's grilled flesh, they secretly wrapped it in paper and hid it on their persons so that it could be discarded on the way home.
But one man, drunk on sake, forgot to throw the strange fish away. This man had a little daughter, who demanded a present when her father arrived home, and he carelessly gave her the fish. Coming to his senses, the father tried to stop her from eating it, fearing she would be poisoned, but he was too late and she finished it all. But as nothing particularly bad seemed to happen to the girl afterwards, the man did not worry about it for long.
Years passed, and the girl grew up and was married. But after that she did not age any more; she kept the same youthful appearance while her husband grew old and died. After many years of perpetual youth and being widowed again and again, the woman became a nun and wandered through various countries. Finally she returned to her hometown in Wakasa, where she ended her life at an age of 800 years.
on a regular basis. They look like humans with fish features and are obviously inspired by the ningyo. Fishman is written like ningyo but with the characters switched. (人魚, Ningyo -> 魚人, Gyojin) appear in the series too. These are more peaceful of nature than the Fishmen and, like the mermaid
s and mermen
of folklore, their upper half is that of a human while the lower half is that of a fish.
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
-like creature from Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
. Anciently, it was described with a mouth like a monkey
Monkey
A monkey is a primate, either an Old World monkey or a New World monkey. There are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent. Unlike apes, monkeys...
's, small teeth like a fish's, shining golden scales, and a quiet voice like a skylark
Skylark
The Skylark is a small passerine bird species. This lark breeds across most of Europe and Asia and in the mountains of north Africa. It is mainly resident in the west of its range, but eastern populations are more migratory, moving further south in winter. Even in the milder west of its range,...
or a flute. Its flesh is pleasant-tasting, and anyone who eats it will attain remarkable longevity. However, catching a ningyo was believed to bring storms and misfortune, so fishermen who caught these creatures were said to throw them back into the sea. A ningyo washed onto the beach was an omen of war or calamity.
Yao Bikuni
One of the most famous folk stories concerning ningyo is called or Happyaku Bikuni. The story tells how a fisherman who lived in Wakasa ProvinceWakasa Province
was an old province of Japan in the area that is today southern Fukui Prefecture. It is also known as or .The province's ancient capital was at Obama, which continued to be the main castle town through the Edo period.-Neighboring Provinces:...
once caught an unusual fish. In all his years fishing, he had never seen anything like it, so he invited his friends over to sample its meat.
One of the guests, however, peeked into the kitchen, noticed that the head of this fish had a human face, and warned the others not to eat it. So when the fisherman finished cooking and offered his guests the ningyo's grilled flesh, they secretly wrapped it in paper and hid it on their persons so that it could be discarded on the way home.
But one man, drunk on sake, forgot to throw the strange fish away. This man had a little daughter, who demanded a present when her father arrived home, and he carelessly gave her the fish. Coming to his senses, the father tried to stop her from eating it, fearing she would be poisoned, but he was too late and she finished it all. But as nothing particularly bad seemed to happen to the girl afterwards, the man did not worry about it for long.
Years passed, and the girl grew up and was married. But after that she did not age any more; she kept the same youthful appearance while her husband grew old and died. After many years of perpetual youth and being widowed again and again, the woman became a nun and wandered through various countries. Finally she returned to her hometown in Wakasa, where she ended her life at an age of 800 years.
Ningyo in popular culture
, often incorrectly referred to as Mermen, are a race who appear throughout the entire anime/manga series of One PieceOne Piece
is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since August 4, 1997; the individual chapters are being published in tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, with the first released on December 24, 1997, and the 64th volume released as...
on a regular basis. They look like humans with fish features and are obviously inspired by the ningyo. Fishman is written like ningyo but with the characters switched. (人魚, Ningyo -> 魚人, Gyojin) appear in the series too. These are more peaceful of nature than the Fishmen and, like the mermaid
Mermaid
A mermaid is a mythological aquatic creature with a female human head, arms, and torso and the tail of a fish. A male version of a mermaid is known as a "merman" and in general both males and females are known as "merfolk"...
s and mermen
Merman
Mermen are mythical male equivalents of mermaids – legendary creatures who have the form of a human from the waist up and are fish-like from the waist down.-Mythology:...
of folklore, their upper half is that of a human while the lower half is that of a fish.
- The manga/anime series, Mermaid's Scar and Mermaid Forest by Rumiko TakahashiRumiko Takahashiis a Japanese manga artist.Takahashi is one of the wealthiest individuals, and the most affluent manga artists in Japan. The manga she creates are popular worldwide, where they have been translated into a variety of languages...
is based on the Happyaku Bikuni myth, in which the main characters become immortal by consuming the flesh of a mermaid. - There is a fake ningyo sample in National Museum of Ethnology, JapanNational Museum of Ethnology, JapanThe National Museum of Ethnology in Japan, is the Japan's largest research institute in the academic disciplines of humanities and social sciences, which was established in 1974 and opened to the public in 1977. It is built on the former grounds of Expo '70 in Suita, Osaka...
. - In Okinawa, people said eating ningyo would be unlucky. They do not eat dugongDugongThe dugong is a large marine mammal which, together with the manatees, is one of four living species of the order Sirenia. It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest modern relative, Steller's sea cow , was hunted to extinction in the 18th century...
. - Ponyo in the film of the same name is a ningyo or "human-faced fish".
- The primary antagonistAntagonistAn antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
of the video game SirenSiren (video game), known as Forbidden Siren in Europe and Australasia, is a survival horror video game developed by SCE Japan Studio for the PlayStation 2 in 2003.-Plot:...
is based on the character of Yaobikuni, and the background of the story is loosely based on the Yaobikuni legend. - One of the "monsters of the day" in Tensou Sentai GoseigerTensou Sentai Goseigeris the title of Toei Company's thirty-fourth entry in its long-running Super Sentai Series of Japanese tokusatsu television series. It joined Kamen Rider W as a program featured in TV Asahi's Super Hero Time programming block, until the premiere of Kamen Rider OOO...
is "Jogon of the Ningyo". - Seto no Hanayome (My Bride is a Mermaid) are a manga and an anime based with mermaids many of the main characters being mermaids.
- The CCG and roleplaying game Legend of the Five RingsLegend of the Five RingsLegend of the Five Rings is a fictional setting created by the John Wick and published by Alderac Entertainment Group in 1995. The setting primarily involves the fictional country of Rokugan, though some additional areas and cultures have been discussed. Rokugan is based roughly on feudal Japan...
has Ningyo characters as members of the Mantis Clan.