Nearly 300 years later, the mystery of Japan’s sacred ‘mummified mermaid’ is finally solved : In Japan, there is a legend that eating the flesh of a mermaid will grant immortality and grant healing powers.
The mysterious object in the picture has been displayed for four decades at the Enjuin Temple in Asakuchi.The 12-inch creature was allegedly caught in the Pacific Ocean, off the Japanese island of Shikoku, between 1736 and 1741
.The creature has two hands reaching up towards its grimacing face. Hair is still visible on its head and it has the remains of sharp, pointy teeth in its mouth. But its body gives way to a distinctly fish-like tail. Last year, researchers from the Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts took the mummy for tests and CT scans in a bid to unravel its secrets.
They subjected the ‘mermaid’ to tests to determine if its an organic creature or not. , they have now discovered that the creature is completely artificial,made in the late 1800s.
It has no skeleton as its body is made of paper, cloth, and cotton.The lower portion of the body was indeed from a fish’s tail, according to the scientists, but they thought that it had only been added later. Its head was from a mammal, and its jaw and teeth were also taken from fish.
Hiroshi Kinoshita, a board member of the Okayama Folklore Society, became aware of its existence after seeing a photo of the bizarre creature in a mythical encyclopedia. It still remains a mystery how the mermaid mummy ended up inside the Okaya temple.
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