Case file · Cryptid
The creature of the Gamō river
The Nihon Shoki records that in 619 something 'shaped like a child, neither fish nor human' was found in the Gamō river in Ōmi, the oldest written mention of a ningyo (mermaid) in Japan.
619 CE · 35.10, 136.20 · status: legend
The account
Later sources record more ningyo sightings, often as omens; eating ningyo flesh was said to give long life. The entry sits in the reign of Empress Suiko, alongside the career of Prince Shōtoku.
The sceptical view
Likely a giant salamander or other river animal, read as an omen by court chroniclers.