The Kappa Landing Stone at Yatsushiro

What is there

Where the Maekawa, the northern arm of the Kuma river’s mouth, passes under the Maekawa bridge in Honmachi, a monument of two stacked stones stands on the bank with the words Kappa Landing Stone cut into it. This was Tokubuchi-no-tsu, the river port that was the town’s gate to the sea for centuries, five hundred metres south of the castle ruins. The people of Yatsushiro call the kappa garappa, and the two stones are the garappa stones. On the first Sunday of June the river festival that the tale says the kappa themselves asked for is still held: children are purified at a temple nearby, one of them swims across the pool to plant a paper wand on the far bank, and the others throw aubergines and sweets into the water for the kappa. The articles’ yamawaro, the mountain child who is the kappa’s winter form, was recorded in the hills of this city.

Why here

A book of 1746 tells it: kappa from the Yellow River came over the sea with their clan and settled in the Kuma, grew to nine thousand under the chief Kyūsenbō, and plagued the country until the castle lord set the monkeys of Kyushu on them. They surrendered, promised to do no harm until the two stones wore away, and asked for a festival once a year in return; then they went north to the Chikugo and took service with the water god at Kurume. The record in the kappa article from this prefecture, and the yamawaro recorded in these hills in 1951, are the folklore behind the tale.

Yokai you will meet

• Kappa 河童 — The landing place of the kappa clans of Kyushu, and the June festival they are said to have asked for.
• Yamawaro 山童 — The mountain child of the Kuma valley, recorded in the hills of Yatsushiro in 1951.

Getting there

Yatsushiro Station (JR Kagoshima Main Line and Hisatsu Line). About ten minutes by bus to Yatsushiro-gū-mae and a few minutes on foot to the bridge; about forty minutes on foot.

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