Case file · Folklore / legend
Kappaya Kihachi and the kappa of Kappabashi
Tokyo's Kappabashi district is linked to a legend that kappa from the Sumida river helped the merchant Kappaya Kihachi dig a drainage canal in the early 1800s.
1814 CE · 35.72, 139.79 · status: legend
The account
Sōgen-ji temple nearby, known as Kappa-dera, keeps a dried 'kappa hand' and Kihachi's grave. Another explanation for the name is that samurai of the area hung their raincoats (kappa) on the bridge to dry.
The sceptical view
The kappa story is a local legend; the canal was a real public work, and the hand is unexamined.