Kappa-buchi and Jōkenji

What is there

Behind the Zen temple Jōkenji in Tsuchibuchi, a path leads through the graveyard to a bend of the Ashiarai stream. The water is shallow and clear, the banks are shaded, and this is Kappa-buchi, the kappa pool. A small shrine stands on the bank, hung with cloth offerings; women once prayed here for milk. Fishing rods lean against the fence with cucumbers on their lines, left by visitors trying their luck, and the tourist office sells a kappa-catching licence to go with them. In the temple grounds the pair of guardian lions have hollows in their heads that hold rainwater, like the dish on a kappa’s skull.

Why here

The tales written down in 1910 put the kappa of Tōno in the Sarugaishi river and the streams that feed it, and give them red faces instead of the green ones of other provinces. A kappa child is born to a family in a village by the river; a kappa is caught trying to pull a horse into the water and let go. None of the tales names this pool. Kappa-buchi is where the town chose to put them, and the stream, the shrine and the temple lions have grown into the place over the past century.

Yokai you will meet

• Kappa 河童 — The pool the town names for its red-faced kappa; cucumbers on the fishing lines and a catching licence from the tourist office.

In manga: Tono Monogatari

Getting there

Tōno Station (JR Kamaishi Line). Hayachine bus (Tsuchibuchi line) to the Denshōen stop, then five minutes on foot; about 5 km from the station.

The pool is about five kilometres from Tōno station; the Hayachine bus stops at Denshōen, five minutes away on foot. The pool, the temple and Denshōen can be seen in an hour.

• Open in Google Maps (external link)
• Open in OpenStreetMap (external link)
• Official site (external link)