Gakkou no Kaiden:
Beware of the Water Demon!

The mountain village of Satoyama is surrounded by thousands of small rice paddies that are fed by countless streams that flow down from the snow capped mountains that surround the village. In the hot, humid summer months the children of the village often play in the cool streams. Be it swimming, fishing or just lounging in the shadow of a tree that has grown by the waters edge. These nameless streams are often a popular escape from the heat of summer.

But did you know that the clear, cool waters of these mountain brooks are the hunting grounds of a water demon? The demon is said to take the form of a  humanoid turtle that is around the size of a child, and often looks like a cross between a turtle and a monkey. The creature is called the Kappa and is often said to lurk in the reeds and its favorite type of prey are careless swimmers and fisherman that cross its path. Indeed it is often said to carry them off to some hidden water cave where it drowns them before feasting on them. 

Now the story I'm going to tell you was told to me by an old fisherman called Matsumi Miyazaki. Miyazaki-San is a tall man, taller than the rest of the villagers, and countless seasons of fishing the nameless streams of mountains for his supper have turned his skin the color of old leather. It is with his permission that I share this story he told me one summer's evening as he and I sat on his front porch.

When Matsumi Miyazaki was a young man he would spend any and all free time searching the mountains for streams that would yield a rich harvest of trout that he would sell in the village market. Miyazaki-San was also something of a mountain man who in the autumn would search the mountain of mushrooms to sell and in the winter would search the snow covered mountain in search for downed trees that he would chop up and sell for firewood.

Now around to Miyazaki-San one day about forty two years ago he was fishing has he normally does in the summer for trout to sell at the evening market. He was having no luck and his wicker fishing basket was empty. As he hiked along the waters edge he noticed how inviting the water seemed. How cool and refreshing it seemed and so thinking that since the fish weren't biting that afternoon he would instead take a dip and refresh himself.

And so Miyazaki-San started to strip himself down to his bare skin, when he noticed a around, black shape appearing in the water in front of him. Miyazaki-San was quickly overcome by curiosity and leaned over the bank to get a closer look at the large black shadow that seemed to move under the water.

A mount later, a strange turtle-like creature popped out of the water and wrapped its webbed hands around Miyazaki-San and quickly pulled him into the water. Now Miyazaki-San was not a weak man by any means and he tried to fight the creature, but even his strength seemed to fail him as he tried to break the iron grip of the creature.

Then something happened. The strange turtle-like creature, peered into Miyazaki-San's eye and seemed to smile and in perfect Japanese said. “I will save you for later. You're too handsome to eat. Also your flesh is too tough. It must age some more before I dine on you.” And with that it released Miyazaki-San from its grip and swam away.

Stunned, though grateful Miyazaki broke the surface of the water and clawed his way up a nearby bank. Then panting like a dog, he discovered the river had carried him far away from where he left his gear. Now, how to end this story. A few weeks ago Miyazaki-San stopped by my place and told me he was going fishing in the mountains and he invited me to come along with him. I was sick at the time with a horrible head cold and so I had declined his offer. He understood and wished me a quick recovery. That was the last time I saw him. Or the last time any of the villagers saw him. His gear was discovered by a stream a few days later. Something had snapped his fishing pole in half, and smashed his fishing basket. His fishing hat with all his lure was later found a dozen miles downstream.

Some say he must have slipped and fell into the water. Yet his body was never recovered. I think the Kappa came back to claim him after all these years. After all, what is forty years to a water demon? If you liked this story, please read on. There are more Kaiden just around the corner. Just around the next page.