The Most Bizarre Mystery Phantoms and Monsters of Japan | TopS

Share on Facebook

Posted by TopS

Thursday, June 14, 2018

Japan has rightly earned itself a reputation as a wellspring of the weird, of that there can be no doubt. Of special interest here is all of the strange creatures and entities said to inhabit this land, ranging from mysterious monsters, to phantoms, to everything in between. Many of these odd tales blur the lines of myth, legend, and reality, but all of them are incredibly bizarre facets of a land already brimming with the weird and the unusual. When talking about strange Japanese cryptids perhaps it makes sense to start with one of the more well-known mystery creatures of the islands. One of the most famous of the Japanese cryptids is a type of snake known as the Tsuchinoko, also known by a plethora of other regional names such as nozuchi or bachi-hebi (in Northern Honshu), tsuchi-hebi (in Osaka), and many others. The Tsuchinoko is said to inhabit the deep, remote mountains of Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu islands as well as some parts of the Korean peninsula, and is reported to be around 2 to 3 feet in length, most commonly described as being a mottled black or rust color, and with a bright orange belly in many cases. The scales are said to be large and prominent, the mouth resembles a grin, and horns or ears above the eyes are often mentioned. The eyes themselves are usually described as being very large and sometimes as being somewhat mesmerizing. Perhaps the most unique trademark characteristic of the Tsuchinoko is the shape of the body, which is somewhat flat, bulging and rounded in the middle, and tapering off to a short tail often described as looking like the tail of a rat. Some reports describe the body as being triangular in the middle rather than round. It is said to be highly poisonous, with the ability to spit corrosive venom a considerable distance, yet is nevertheless peaceful and more likely to flee from aggressors than attack. Another odd trait worth mentioning is that they are reported to have a particular odor like that of chestnut tree flowers. The Tsuchinoko is noted as having some peculiar ways of getting around. It is reported to move ahead in a straight line, spine undulating up and down as it goes rather than the side to side undulations seen in most other snakes. The snake is also famous for making spectacular leaps of up to a few meters, often leaping along in one enormous hop after another. Even more bizarre than this are some stories that describe the Tsuchinoko putting its tail in it mouth and rolling along like a wheel, or even tumbling along end over end. They are also supposedly good swimmers that are very fond of water. Tsuchinoko This mystery snake also supposedly exhibits an incredibly wide range of vocalizations. It has been said to make barks, chirps, snores, grunts, groans, moans, squeaks, snarls, growls, and to even mimic human voices on occasion. Some old legends claim it could actually remember a rather large vocabulary and even converse with people to some extent. In fact, the Tsuchinoko was mostly