Tsuchinoko

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"Hammerspawn" (tsuchinoko )

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: Topic
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation



Japanese Resource
with many illustrations according to the sightings in parts of Japan
http://www.d1.dion.ne.jp/~k_nozaki/maborosi.htm


nozuchi 野槌 / tsuchinoko ツチノコ
五八寸 / 杵の子蛇 / 鋤の床蛇 / こうがい蛇

About the size of a beer bottle. Light black with spots. Sharp eyes and ears. Snors when sleeping. Smells terribly bad. Rolls to the side (korokoro コロコロ) and then runs (dotandotan ドタンバタン). Poisonous bite.

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The Tsuchinoko (ツチノコ or 槌の子)
literally translating to "hammerspawn," is a legendary snake-like cryptid from Japan. The name tsuchinoko is prevalent in Western Japan, including Kansai and Shikoku; the creature is known as bachi hebi (バチヘビ) in Northeastern Japan.

Tsuchinoko are described as being between 30 and 80 centimeters in length, similar in appearance to a snake, but with a central girth that is much wider than its head or tail, and as having fangs and venom similar to that of a viper. Some accounts also describe the tsuchinoko as being able to jump up to a meter in distance.

According to legend, some tsuchinoko have the ability to speak and a propensity for lying, as well as a taste for alcohol. Legend also records that it will sometimes swallow its own tail so that it can roll like a hoop, similar to the mythical Hoop snake.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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History
Drawings resembling tsuchinoko on stoneware dating back to the Jomon Period have been discovered in Gifu and Nagano. An encyclopedia from the Edo Period contains a description of the tsuchinoko under the name yatsui hebi. Accounts of the tsuchinoko can also be found in the Kojiki.

In 1989 the town of Mikata, Hyogo Prefecture offered a reward of 330 square meters of land to anybody who could capture a tsuchinoko and, in 2001, it put a large black snake on display under the claim that the creature was a tsuchinoko.


Theories
Excluding Hokkaido and the southern Japanese islands, tsuchinoko sightings have been reported all over Japan. As an actual tsuchinoko has never been formally cataloged by science, there is some speculation that other animals have been mistaken for the creature. Some believe the tsuchinoko legend to be based on encounters with snakes that recently swallowed a meal. The blue-tongued lizard, which became legal to own in Japan in the 1970s, also seems to be easily mistakable for a tsuchinoko; its only major difference in appearance is its four legs.

source
http://www.monstropedia.org/index.php?title=Tsuchinoko



ツチノコの民俗学―妖怪から未確認動物へ

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Findings of these mythical reptiles have been made is some parts of Japan, for example in Mikata, Hyogo prefecture and Yoshii, Okayama prefecture.

tsuchi no ko are already mentioned in the old records of the Kojiki.

Towns where these snake-like reptiles have been found were soon producing many artefacts and even food in the name.

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tsuchinoko goheimochi つちのこ五平餅


source
http://www.47news.jp/topics/b-gourmet/2009/05/

from the "Tsuchinoko Festa" 「つちのこフェスタ」
岐阜県加茂郡東白川村神土426-1, Gifu Prefecture, in May 2009
The Town of Higashi Shirakawa has even opened a small museum,
tsuchinoko kan つちのこ館.
. . . CLICK here for Photos !


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chokoeggu tsuchinoko チョコエッグ　ツチノコ
chocolate eggs "tsuchi no ko"
from Furuta


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tsuchinoko wain つちのこワイン "tsuchinoko wine"
from Akaiwa city　赤磐
Akaiwa City, located in southeast Okayama Prefecture
http://www.city.akaiwa.lg.jp/tutinoko/syohin.html


and from Yoshii Town, in Okayama, where this animal has been sighted too, we have



tsuchinoko senbei つちのこせんべい
Sembei a la Tsuchinoko


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tsuchinoko manjuu つちのこまんじゅう bean paste cakes
From Itoigawa, Niigata


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It seems this littlel monsterlin has spawned a lot of gourmet thinking.

槌の子 Tsuchi no Ko Yokai Monster



Character from GEGEGE no Kitaro
http://www.toei-anim.co.jp/tv/kitaro/charactor/subchara.html

. Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro (ゲゲゲの鬼太郎) and Daruma San


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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way

. Legends and Tales from Japan　伝説 - Introduction .

. Gero Onsen 下呂温泉 Gero Hot Spring Spa legends .

. shakuhachihebi 尺八蛇 Shakuhachi Serpent .


source : nazo108.sblo.jp/article

40 legends to explore
- source : yokai database -


. Legends about animals 動物と伝説 .


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HAIKU and SENRYU

tsuchi no ko ya
do I find you in my garden
or in my kitchen ?

Gabi Greve, June 2010

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Related words

***** WASHOKU : General Information


. Japanese Monsters and Ghosts

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