Post by JoannaL on Mar 8, 2022 5:45:04 GMT -5
Scientists to Examine Mummified 'Mermaid'
An ancient mummified “mermaid,” allegedly caught off the Japanese island of Shikoku between 1736 and 1741, is set to be examined by a team of scientists. Currently located in a temple in the city of Asakuchi, the flesh of such creatures supposedly grants immortality to anyone who tastes it.
Researchers at the Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts will perform a CT scan of the creature to see if it is an actual marine animal or if, like a similar mermaid exhibited by P. T. Barnum, it was created by sewing the head and torso of a monkey onto the tail end of a fish. The creature has a human-looking face, the tail of a fish, two hands, hair on the top of its head and sharp, pointy teeth.
According to Hiroshi Kinoshita of Okayama Folklore Society, the specimen could be religiously significant. “Japanese mermaids have a legend of immortality,” he told reporters. “It is said that if you eat the flesh of a mermaid, you will never die. There is a legend in many parts of Japan that a woman accidentally ate the flesh of a mermaid and lived for 800 years. I heard that some people, believing in the legend, used to eat the scales of mermaid mummies. There is also a legend that a mermaid prevented an infectious disease.”
A 1903 letter, believed to have been penned by a former owner of the mummy, stored with the creature indicates the mermaid was caught in a net, however, the fisherman did not realize what he had and took it to Osaka to be sold as an unusual fish. “My ancestors bought it and kept it as a family treasure,” the letter reads.
It is unclear how the mummy came to be displayed at the temple, but the chief priest said it was put on display in a glass case some 40 years ago. “We have worshiped it, hoping that it would help alleviate the coronavirus pandemic even if only slightly,” he explained.
Kinoshita has a more pragmatic view of the creature, believing it was manufactured during the Edo period, an era of Japanese history stretching from 1603 to 1867. “Of course, I don’t think it’s a real mermaid,” he explained. “I think this was made for export to Europe ... The legend of mermaids remains in Europe, China and Japan, all over the world. Therefore, I can imagine that people at that time were also very interested in it. I think it is made from living animals and we would like to identify them by CT scans or DNA testing. It looks like a fish with scales on the lower body and a primate with hands and a face on the upper body.”
The scientists examining the mermaid will publish their findings later this year.
Sources: Mia Thompson, Sunday Vision, March 6, 2022; The New York Post, March 3, 2022; and Jeff Parsons and Michael Havis, Metro News, March 3, 2022.