Japanese Mermaid Lore

The basic concept for mermaids in Takahashi's Mermaid Saga is very different from Occidental (Western) traditions.

Takahashi's mermaids are monsters ("bakemono"), part fish and part monster. If a human eats the flesh of the mermaids (the fishy part), they either become immortal, or they are transformed into monsters themselves called "lost souls" or the "poisoned". This transformation is permanent.

These mermaids are ALL female, and are able to take on the features of a human girl if they do two things:

#1. Take a human girl and make her immortal by feeding her the mermaid flesh. This requires the sacrifice of one of their own mermaids for the girl's food.
#2. Eat the flesh of the human girl

Mermaids age normally when they become "humanized", so every hundred years or so they search for another girl to "raise" for their food. In the Mermaid Saga the most recent of these girls is Mana, who is saved from her fate (after she has already become immortal) by Yuta.

Many of the "human form" mermaids look excatly the same because they have all taken on the features of the same immortal human girl. Mermaids look like humans and walk on two feet, yet they return to their half-fish form if they go in the water. If a mermaid remains in the water too long she loses her ability to return to human form and eventually loses her stolen beauty and takes on monstrous features.

Partial use of mermaid skin, ashes, bones, livers, etc. can be used to achieve "partial" immortality, as is seen in several of the Mermaid Saga stories (a liver for Natsumi in Mermaid's Dream, Nao is preserved in Mermaid ashes in Mermaid's Promise, etc.) Yuta believes that a mermaid can also grant normal humanity back to an immortal; but the indications of many of Yuta and Mana's travels indicate that this is not true. Yuta refuses to give up hope, however ^_^;;


Historical Information:

I used The Anime Companion by Gilles Poitras (Stone Bridge Press, 1999) as a reference. Thanks Peter for lending it to me!
"There is a ledgend of a young maiden in the 5th century named Yaohime who ate meat that her father had been given by a strange man. It was the flesh of a mermaid, and for 800 years Yaohime continued to look like a 15-year-old girl. After her death, a shrine was built in her honor and later other shrines to her were constructed around Japan."

Other Information:

"Yaohime" is not the most common of names for this legendary figure ^_^; More common is "Ybao-kuni" or "Yao-kuni". This is the same legend as Yaohime, except it is said that she spent the rest of her life wandering around Japan as a nun. She never stayed anywhere too long, as people would start to notice that she did not age. "Ybao-kuni" has appeared in SEVERAL popular Japanese anime and manga series. The most prominent that I can think of at the moment are in Blade of the Immortal (thanks Casey for this referece) where the main character is given his "blood worms" by Ybao-kuni. Another example is in Blue Seed, volume 8 Sea Devils, where Kunikida finds his old friend was married to Ybao-kuni for awhile. Ybao-kuni was killed by some village men, and after her death (yes she revives) Kunikida's friend became a "Kappa" (water monster) a la Mermaid Saga because of it.

Other Legends:

- It is said by some in Japan that mermaids cry pearls, instead of tears.
- Many of the "traditional" style mermaids are fish with human heads... no torso. This is a common Japanese variant of the mermaid legend.


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