This version looks closely at the form and nature of the kenmun—kin to the kappa, yet bearing colors all its own from Amami. It stands about as tall as a child, its skin tinged with red, its body covered in ape-like hair, with hair that is black or red. In the dish on its head it holds the water that is its source of strength, and its fingertips, its drool, and the dish itself are said to glow faintly. Where the mainland kappa is bound to rivers and pools, the kenmun makes its home in old banyan (gajumaru) trees and moves between sea and mountains with the seasons—a distinctive character rooted in the nature of the southern isles.
Its range, too, spreads from island to island, with its own tellings handed down on Amami Ōshima, Kakeroma, Tokunoshima, Okinoerabu, and elsewhere. In the tales of older generations it was most often a harmless spirit that helped people, but as the ages passed its mischievous, menacing side came to the fore. As the island life lived alongside the forest fades, the kenmun’s own place, too, is slowly drawing away.
Character Profile
This section is our own creative profile for storytelling. It is not historical fact or scholarship.
Yokai Type - Traditional Yokai
Category - Water Spirits
Rarity - Uncommon
Personality - A spirit that loves sumo and challenges others to tests of strength, capricious as a child. Above all it loathes any intrusion on the gajumaru it calls home.
Compatibility - Those who revere nature and cherish the islands’ old way of life and their forests
Abilities - Loves sumo and tests of strengthTransforms into humans, beasts, or plantsGlowing fingertips, drool, and head-dishMoves between sea and mountains with the seasonsFishes with a fondness for the eyes of fish
Weaknesses - Rendered powerless once the water in its head-dish is lost
- detests octopuses
- shuns abusive words and talk of foul smells
Habitat - Amami Ōshima, Kakeroma Island, Tokunoshima, Okinoerabu Island, old banyan (gajumaru) trees
🔮Yokai Compatibility Test
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