SumiKappa, the Japanese river monster, in kanji (河童)
A kappa (河童) is a water creature from Japanese folklore, one of the yokai, and its kanji spell out what it is: 河, river, and 童, child. A river child. The name itself is a squeezed-down form of kawa-wappa, “river child” in older Japanese.
What the kanji say
河 (kawa, or ka) is a river. The 氵 on its left is water, and 可 on the right gives the sound, ka. Everyday Japanese usually writes river as 川 (kawa), and 河 is mostly met in compounds: 運河 (unga), a canal, and 銀河 (ginga), the Milky Way, literally the silver river.
童 (dou, or warabe) means child. Today’s shape looks like 立, standing, on top of 里, a village, and a child standing in the village is a handy way to remember it. Its real history is darker. The oldest form of 童 seems to show a person’s eye being put out, a punishment for slaves in ancient China, and the Shuowen Jiezi, a Chinese dictionary from around 100 CE, defines 童 as a male slave or convict. How it came to mean “child” is uncertain.
Where the name kappa comes from
The kanji give the meaning, but the sound comes from two old Japanese words: かわ (kawa), river, and わっぱ (wappa), child, which is one of the old readings of 童. Kawa-wappa was squeezed into kappa. Dictionaries still list かわっぱ (kawappa) as another reading of 河童.
So the two kanji still match the two halves of the old word, river and child, even though the sound has been squeezed almost out of recognition.
What a kappa is like
In most stories a kappa has a beak, a shell like a turtle’s, and webbed hands and feet. On top of its head is a hollow like a dish, a 皿 (sara), full of water. Kappa are said to drag horses, cattle and people into rivers, so the video’s “Mind your ankles” is good advice, and stories about them were used to warn children away from deep water.
They have two weak spots. Kappa are obsessed with politeness: bow deeply, and the kappa bows back, the water spills out of its dish, and it’s stuck until the dish is refilled. And kappa are said to love cucumbers. People still leave cucumbers at some shrines to keep them happy, and that love of cucumbers is the usual explanation for why a cucumber sushi roll is called かっぱ巻き (kappamaki).
How to use it
川には河童がいるから、気をつけて。
Kawa ni wa kappa ga iru kara, ki o tsukete.
Be careful, there are kappa in the river.
かっぱ巻きをお願いします。
Kappamaki o onegai shimasu.
A cucumber roll, please.
弟は泳ぐのが上手で、河童みたいです。
Otouto wa oyogu no ga jouzu de, kappa mitai desu.
My little brother swims so well, he's like a kappa.
河童の川流れだね。
Kappa no kawanagare da ne.
Even experts slip up sometimes.
- 河童の川流れ (kappa no kawanagare), “a kappa swept away by the river”, is a proverb: even an expert can make a mistake. Say it kindly when a skilled friend slips up.
- 河童 can also mean a strong swimmer, so calling someone 河童みたい (kappa mitai), “like a kappa”, is a compliment.
- かっぱ can also mean cucumber. On a sushi menu, the cucumber roll is usually written with kana, かっぱ巻き, rather than 河童巻き.
Words with the same kanji
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 銀河 | ginga | the Milky Way, a galaxy |
| 運河 | unga | canal |
| 河川 | kasen | rivers |
| 童話 | douwa | fairy tale, children’s story |
| 児童 | jidou | children, schoolchildren |
| 童謡 | douyou | children’s song |
Remember it
Picture a child (童) splashing in a river (河), with a dish of water on its head. If you meet one, bow politely, and keep your ankles out of reach.
The kanji in this lesson
Tap Draw it to watch the stroke order. Numbers show where each stroke starts.