Facts About 300-Year-Old Mummified Mermaid in Japan Temple

The discovery of the "300-year-old mermaid mummy" in Japan once shook the world. After a period of research, scientists think that this is an artificial product of a monkey and a fish?

300-Year-Old Mummified Mermaid in Japan

Mummy Mermaid in Japanese Temples

Recently, a research team at Kurashiki University of Science and Art, Okayama city, Japan announced a plan to research and find a solution to the extremely famous mermaid mummy once kept in Japan. Enjuin temple - famous sacred in Asakuchi city.

The mummy of the strange creature makes people think of the legendary mermaid with a human-like face and a textured tail of a fish.

This mummy is just over 30 cm long, was first found between 1736 and 1741 on the island of Shikoku, on the Pacific coast.

At the time of fishing, in the social context of 3 decades ago, Japanese people at that time firmly believed that this was the mermaid's remains and they considered it as a god, worshiped. solemnly worship in the temple.

Dr. Hiroshi Kinoshita - leader of this research said that the 300-year-old strange creature was of great spiritual value to people in the past and over the years, people have assumed this mummy as a god and is no longer interested in scientific explanations.

Check: The Scariest Anecdotes About the Evil Mermaid in History

Facts About 300-Year-Old Mummified Mermaid in Japan

The mummy has a human-like face structure, 2 hands and even hair, but the bottom part is a fish tail

"Japanese mermaids are considered to represent immortality. The ancients believed that by eating just one piece of mermaid's meat, humans would never face death again," Mr. Hiroshi said.

100 years ago, the former owner of this strange mummy even wrote a letter with mysterious colors put in the box of the mermaid. This makes the mummy even more mysterious and famous. This letter states that the mermaid was caught in the Kochi region, handed down as a family heirloom, and then wandered to Enjuin Shrine.

This mummy was previously displayed in a glass cabinet at the temple for visitors to pray. However, for the past 40 years the mummy has been kept in a fireproof safe inside the temple to prevent it from deteriorating.

The ancient letter confirms this is a "real" mermaid

Facts: The mermaid is a product between a monkey's head and a fish's body

In the immediate future, the research team will conduct CT scans and DNA tests to try to solve the truth about this mysterious mermaid creature. Dr. Hiroshi immediately commented: "I certainly do not believe that this is a mermaid. I predict it to be a strange creature or mummy that has been "designed" by humans from living animals. About mermaids are everywhere, from Japan, China to Europe, so it's not surprising that people at that time were interested and created products like this."

The Okayama mermaid mummy is suspected to be a hybrid of two species, possibly a primate such as a monkey and a fish. Photo: Ashahi Shimbun

This "mermaid" mummy bears some resemblance to two mythical creatures from Japanese folklore: Amabies - mermaids with beaks instead of mouths and three distinct tail fins, and Ningyos - who resemble creatures fish with a human head.

Both types of creatures are associated with miracle stories in healing and increasing longevity.

According to research results, this mermaid mummy may consist of the body of a monkey sewn into the bottom half of a fish.

However, people do not believe in the results of scientific research and still believe that there are real fairies in life.

More mermaids in Japanese temples

Similar mummies of two mermaids have been worshiped at two other shrines in Japan.

These "fake" mermaids were likely created by locals to sell to curious Western tourists.

A similar hoax, known as the "Fejee mermaid", was sold to Dutch tourists in Japan in the 1810s and then resold to British merchants.

In the end, this "mermaid" was transferred to the famous collection of merchant PT Barnum. This 91cm-long "mermaid" is said to have been created from the body of an orangutan and the tail of a salmon.