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Suiko (folklore)

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Suiko depicted in a shunga print by Kitagawa Utamaro.
"Suiko" from the Wakan Sansai Zue by Terajima Ryōan.
"Suiko" from the Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki by Toriyama Sekien.

Suiko (水虎, "water tiger") is a legendary creature said to have inhabited rivers in places like Hubei Province, China. It is described as being the size of a three or four-year-old child. The name "Suiko" derives from the creature possessing physical characteristics reminiscent of a tiger (虎, ko/tora).

In Japan, particularly during the Edo period, the term "Suiko" was often used by intellectuals as a general term for river-dwelling yōkai, similar to the Kappa.

Overview

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The Suiko is said to be the size of a 3- or 4-year-old child, its body covered in hard scales like those of a pangolin (鯪鯉, ryōri or senzankō[a]) that are supposedly impervious even to arrows. In autumn, it is said to bask itself on sandy riverbanks.[1][2]

Information about the Suiko became widely known through its inclusion in the Ming Dynasty pharmacopoeia, the Bencao Gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica; specifically volume 42 of the Siku Quanshu edition). The original source cited is the Xiang Mian Ji (襄沔記, Records of Xiangyang and Mianyang, early 8th century). This text states that the Suiko lived at the confluence where the Suokui River (涑水, Sùshuǐ[b] ) flows into the Mian River (沔水, Miǎnshuǐ; the Han River) in 中廬県 (Zhonglu County, now Xiangcheng District in Xiangyang, Hubei).[3][4][2]

Interpretations of the Suiko's appearance described in the Bencao Gangmu have evolved. A later interpretation suggests it has a tiger-like head and knees (or tiger-like claws on its palms/paws[4]), but these features are usually hidden underwater, with only its kneecaps exposed above the surface for humans to see. It is said to bite children who try to prank it.[5][4][6]

However, the traditional interpretation in Japan holds that the Suiko has tiger-like claws attached *to its kneecaps*. This is how it was described and illustrated in Terajima Ryōan's Wakan Sansai Zue (Illustrated Sino-Japanese Encyclopedia of the Three Realms, 1712).[3][7] Subsequently, Toriyama Sekien's Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki (Illustrated Supplement to the Hundred Demons of the Past and Present), which referenced the Wakan Sansai Zue[9], also depicted the creature according to this interpretation.[10]

Regarding what happens when a Suiko is caught alive, the Bencao Gangmu states[1] that by pinching its nose, one can make it perform small tasks (小小使之, xiǎo xiǎo shǐ zhī). This has been the conventional understanding in Japan.[11][3][c]

However, this passage is now often interpreted in a medicinal context. Modern translations suggest something like: "When humans catch them alive, and take off/extract their nose, it can be used for some trifles".[12][4] This is somewhat vague, but other commentaries provide more specific details:

Texts such as the Tongya (通雅) by Fang Yizhi clarify that the part removed from the live Suiko is actually not the "nose" (鼻, bí) but the gàoyàn (皋厭),[13] described as the creature's "yin" (陰) or "potency/genitals" (勢, shì).[14][15][4] Removing the gàoyàn is thus equated with castration (勢去, shìqù),[16] meaning the collection of its genitalia.[17] According to the Tongya and other sources, this part was used as an aphrodisiac (媚薬, bìyào).[14][4][d]

Suiko in Japan

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A "Suiko" (depicting a Kappa) supposedly captured in Hida, Bungo Province during the Kan'ei era (1624–1644).

From the Edo period onwards, knowledge of the Chinese "Suiko" spread in Japan through books on honzōgaku (natural history/pharmacognosy) like the Bencao Gangmu. Terajima Ryōan's Wakan Sansai Zue, which cited these works,[3] included an illustrated entry for the Suiko. Because it was a creature living in rivers, the term "Suiko" came to be used, primarily among physicians and scholars, as a general designation for river-dwelling beings like the Kappa.[19][20] Consequently, drawings allegedly depicting captured Kappa were often titled using the word "Suiko", such as Suiko-zu (水虎図, Suiko Diagram), Suiko Setsu (水虎説, Discourse on the Suiko), or Suiko Kōryaku (水虎考略, Brief Study of the Suiko).[21][22] Similarly, the sections "Ōmi Suiko-go / Hizen Suiko-go" (Tales of the Suiko of Ōmi / Hizen) in Yanagihara Norimitsu's Kansō Jigo (閑窓自語)[23] simply use the kanji "水虎" (Suiko) to refer to the Kappa of Lake Biwa and Kyushu.

While Japan originally had no yōkai with the exact characteristics of the Chinese Suiko, due to the conflation arising from using "Suiko" as a general term for Kappa (where the kanji 水虎 became customary even when discussing Japanese Kappa), the word "Suiko" is sometimes used locally as another name for Kappa. This usage can be found in various regions, including Tōhoku and Kyushu. The Suijin worship known as Suiko-sama (水虎様) found in Aomori Prefecture is another example of the term's repurposed usage.[11]

Suiko and Kappa in Japanese Honzōgaku

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Terajima Ryōan's Wakan Sansai Zue, after discussing the "Suiko", presents "Kawatarō" (川太郎, a common name for Kappa) in a separate, subsequent entry. By noting differences in appearance and other characteristics, Terajima implies that the Japanese Kappa is somewhat distinct from the Chinese Suiko.[3] The Wakan Sansai Zue often discusses discrepancies between Japanese species and their purported Chinese counterparts named in classical texts, and this is one such example. Although "Suiko" was used as a general term for river creatures, there was an awareness of the differences between the Suiko and Kappa, as also shown by Ono Ranzan in his Honzō Kōmoku Keimō (本草綱目啓蒙, Enlightenment on the Compendium of Materia Medica).[24] Ranzan primarily describes the Japanese Kappa in the main text, while relegating quoted information about the Chinese Suiko to footnotes.

Toriyama Sekien's entry for Suiko in the Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki states: "The Suiko's form is like that of a small child. Its shell is like that of a pangolin (senzankō), and its kneecaps resemble tiger claws. It is said to live near the Suokui River in China (Morokoshi) and constantly exposes its shell on the sandy banks." This text directly follows the content of the Wakan Sansai Zue, clearly illustrating the Chinese Suiko, not a standard Japanese Kappa.[10]

Notes

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  1. ^ The Japanese translation of the Bencao Gangmu by Suzuki (pp. 323–324) does not give a reading for "鯪鯉" under the Suiko entry, but the entry for "鯪鯉" itself (p. 361) gives the name "senzankō". The Kō Yamato Honzō (広大和本草) lists "鯪鯉 (senzankō)". Toriyama Sekien also uses the reading "senzankō" in his Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki.
  2. ^ The exact identity of this "Suokui River" is unclear. Rivers named "Suokui" appear in texts like the Shui Jing Zhu, but they are associated with Wenxi County and thus likely different.
  3. ^ The Wakan Sansai Zue gives the Japanese reading "kozukai to subeshi" (小使とすべし, "can be made into a servant/errand runner"). Suzuki's translation renders it as "If caught alive and its nose is pinched and led around, it becomes somewhat manageable".[2]
  4. ^ The term "xiǎo shǐ" (小使, small use/task) itself might also relate to reproduction. The Zhengzitong equates "小使" with "小通" (xiǎo tōng). Ono Ranzan quotes the Han Shi Waizhuan where "小通" refers to males reaching generative potential (sexual maturity) at age sixteen and females at fourteen.[15] An English translation of this passage interprets the male "xiǎo tōng" as "semen" and the female's as "bodily fluids".[18]

References

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  1. ^ a b 李時珍 (1782)『本草綱目 (四庫全書本)』「巻42 蟲之四 溪鬼蟲〈拾遺〉水虎」:"時珍曰襄沔記云中廬縣有涑水注沔中有物如三四歳小兒甲如鱗鯉射不能入秋曝沙上膝頭似虎掌爪常没水出膝示人小兒弄之便咬人人生得者摘其鼻可小小使之名曰水虎"。Note: The Jinling edition (李時珍 (1596) 『本草綱目』「蟲之四 溪鬼蟲 水虎」) writes "鯪鯉".
  2. ^ a b c Suzuki trans. 1930, pp. 323–324.
  3. ^ a b c d e Terajima Ryōan (1712), "水虎 (Suiko)", 和漢三才図会 (Wakan Sansai Zue) (in Japanese), vol. 27 of 81, (Self-published?), 巻之40 (Vol. 40), Folio 17 verso - 18 recto
  4. ^ a b c d e f Higashi Mutei (東 聚) (1920), Kokubu Takatane (國分高胤); Ikeda Shirōjirō (池田四郎次郎) (eds.), "鉏雨亭随筆 (So'utei Zuihitsu)", 日本詩話叢書 (Nihon Shiwa Sōsho) (in Japanese), vol. 5, Bunkai-dō Shoten, pp. 292–293
  5. ^ Unschuld trans. (2021), p. 499: Based on the text punctuated as "膝頭似虎，掌爪..", translated as "Their knees and their heads resemble those of tigers; their claws are always submerged in the water, and only their knees are visible to humans". However, this translation renders "掌爪" simply as "claws", leaving ambiguity whether it refers to front paws, back paws, or both.
  6. ^ Ishikawa Jun'ichirō (1985). Shinpan Kappa no Sekai (New Edition: The World of the Kappa) (in Japanese). Jiji Tsūshin Shuppankyoku. pp. 52–53. ISBN 9784788785151.
  7. ^ Terajima Ryōan (1987), "水虎 (Suiko)", Wakan Sansai Zue, Tōyō Bunko 466 (in Japanese), vol. 6, Shimada Isao; Higuchi Motomi; Takeshima Atsuo (trans. & notes), Heibonsha, pp. 158–159, ISBN 978-4-582-80447-8, 秋になると沙上に身を曝すが、膝頭は虎の掌爪に似ている。つねに水にもぐっていて膝を出して人に見せる。小児がこれにいたずらをしかけると咬みつく。うまく生け捕りにすることができれば、その鼻を摘んで使い走りさせることができるとある、と。
  8. ^ Toriyama, Sekien (2017), Japandemonium Illustrated: The Yokai Encyclopedias of Toriyama Sekien, translated by Hiroko Yoda; Matt Alt, Courier Dover Publications, p. 91, ISBN 9780486818757
  9. ^ "Suiko, Water-Tiger.. His illustration is new but the description paraphrases the one in the Illustrated Sino-Japanese Encyclopedia of the Three Realms (水虎.. [石燕]の絵こそ新しいが、解説は『和漢三才図会』のそれを意訳したものである).[8]
  10. ^ a b Takada Mamoru (supervisor), Inada Atsunobu & Tanaka Naohiko (eds.), ed. (1992). Toriyama Sekien Gazu Hyakki Yagyō (in Japanese). Kokusho Kankōkai. p. 114. ISBN 978-4-336-03386-4. {{cite book}}: |editor= has generic name (help)
  11. ^ a b Murakami Kenji, ed. (2000). Yōkai Jiten (Yōkai Encyclopedia) (in Japanese). Mainichi Shimbunsha. p. 196. ISBN 978-4-620-31428-0.
  12. ^ Unschuld trans. (2021), p. 499
  13. ^ Fang Yizhi (1805), Yao Wenxie [in Chinese] (ed.), 通雅 (Tongya) (in Chinese), vol. 47, Kuwana, p. 19b–20a
  14. ^ a b Fang Yizhi, Tongya (in Chinese), vol. 47, ¶38
  15. ^ a b Ono Ranzan (1844), "(Appendix) 水虎 カッパ (Suiko / Kappa)", in Ono Mototaka (ed.), 重修本草綱目啓蒙 (Jūshū Honzō Kōmoku Keimō) (in Japanese), vol. 28, Hishiya Kichibē, Folio 18 verso – 20 recto (National Diet Library Digital Collection link)
  16. ^ Jang Do-bin (張道斌) [in Korean]; Gwon Sang-ro (權相老) [in Korean], eds. (1982), 고사성어사전 (Gosa Seong-eo Sajeon - Dictionary of Historical Idioms) (in Korean), Hakwonsa (学園社), p. 528
  17. ^ "Jiuzhou yaoguai lu:shuihu" 九州妖怪录│ 水虎 [Records of the Nine Provinces' monsters: shuihu]. Tencent News 腾讯新聞 (in Chinese). 2020-11-25. Retrieved 2021-07-03. 方以智《通雅》中却引："孙汝澄云：皋厌者，水虎之势也，可为媚药，善使内也，皋厌与鼻相讹物类相感"以纠正"皋厌"是指男性生殖器而非鼻子。
  18. ^ Han Ying [in Chinese] (1952). Han Shih Wai Chuan: Han Ying's Illustrations of the Didactic Application of the Classic of Songs. Translated by Hightower, James Robert. Harvard University Press. p. 28. ISBN 9780674370005. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  19. ^ Kurokawa Dōyū 『遠碧軒記』(Enpeikenki) in 『日本随筆大成』(Nihon Zuihitsu Taisei) 1st series, vol. 10, Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 1975, p. 117.
  20. ^ Yamazaki Yoshinari 『三養雑記』(Sanyō Zakki) in 『日本随筆大成』(Nihon Zuihitsu Taisei) 2nd series, vol. 6, Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 1974, pp. 122-123.
  21. ^ Takagi Shunzan 『江戸博物図鑑2 本草図説 水産』(Edo Hakubutsu Zukan 2: Honzō Zusetsu Suisan), Riburoport, 1988, pp. 98-100.
  22. ^ 谷川健一監修 (1987). 別冊太陽 日本の妖怪. Heibonsha. pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-4-582-92057-4.
  23. ^ Yanagihara Norimitsu 『閑窓自語』(Kansō Jigo) in 『日本随筆大成』(Nihon Zuihitsu Taisei) 2nd series, vol. 8, Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 1974, pp. 297-298.
  24. ^ Ono Ranzan, 『本草綱目啓蒙』(Honzō Kōmoku Keimō), vol. 3, Heibonsha (Tōyō Bunko), 1991, pp. 183-184.

Cited Works

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