Case file · Cryptid
The Enju-in 'mermaid mummy' studied
In 2023 researchers from Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts reported that a 30 cm mermaid mummy kept at Enju-in temple in Asakuchi, Okayama, was a made object.
2023 CE · 34.53, 133.58 · status: explained
The account
A note in its box said it was caught off Kōchi between 1736 and 1741, and believers prayed to it for long life. CT scans showed paper, cloth and cotton inside, pufferfish skin on the upper body and croaker skin on the tail, with a fish jaw and no skeleton.
The sceptical view
It is one of many Edo-period 'mermaid' curios made for sale or display; radiocarbon dating suggested it was made later than the note claims, around the 19th century.
Connections in the atlas
- The kappa mummy of Imari
- The creature of the Gamō river
- Barnum's 'Feejee mermaid'
- The sea monk of the Øresund