Japanese Folklore,The Kudan

 

Japanese folklore is full of interesting creatures from oni and spirits to any number of fantastic yokai..

Today we talk about the Kudan, a yokai that takes the form of a fortune telling bovine.

Thought not as old as some other yokai legends like the Nine Tailed Fox or the vicious Oni, the Kudan can be traced back at least as far as the later part  of the Edo period.

 Stories of kudan being born on rural farms where reported in newspapers all over Japan with sightings continuing through the 1940s.

 Because they have a supernatural ability to predict the future and they're predictions  always comes true, a kudan's prophecy was considered absolute truth. During the Edo period, newspaper's would try to increase the credibility of their stories by adding the words “kudan no gotoshi,” or, “as if a kudan had said it” to their articles. This phrase remains in use in the Japanese language today as a way of assuring the reader of the truth of a story.

This yokai has such a respectable reputation  for honesty that images of kudan were used as charms  for good luck, prosperity, and protection from sickness and disaster. Newspapers would tell their readers to hang the printed images of kudan on their houses for protection and good fortune. 

Kudan were such popular yokai that their mummified remains were often carted around in traveling sideshows similar to PT Barnum's sideshow and circus in America.

 These kudan where taxidermy creations made from deformed stillborn calves, or from combined animal parts stitched together to create a chimera-like stuffed animal, one popular example of these kind of creation is the "Fiji mermaid " a taxidermy monkey and fish combo.

 People would  pay a small fee to look at these specimens and hopefully receive some of their good luck. A few of these mummified remains can still be found in museums today.

According to legend, Kudan are able to speak human languages from the day they are born.

Most of them don't live for more than a few days at most, the are said too give  one or more prophecies right after birth and then sadly they die. 

Their prophecies can be any number of subjects ranging from historical events, crop harvest (good or bad), droughts, famines, war, plages or pretty much anything else and no matter what it is the  prediction of a kudan always  comes true. 

Most Kudan are human faced cows, though in very rare occasions they can be cow faced humans 

They can appear anywhere in Japan, but seem to be more prevalent in Kyushu and western Japan..

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