Comme ça du Japon

Copyright Hayashima
This the third installment of the serie of articles dedicated to Japan’s UMA (Unidentified Mysterious Animal) also known as 未確認動物 (MiKakuNinDôButsu) “unidentified animals”. The first article was about 河童 (KapPa) “Kappa”, a swamp biped creature, whereas the second article was about ツチノコ (TsuChiNoKo) “Tsuchinoko”, a creature a sort of lizard-snake. This time we will learn about a japanese cousin of Nessie : イッシー (IsShi-) “Issie”.

Issie, the monster of the Loch Ikeda

Copyright Kickturns
The homophony between Issie and Nessie, the monster of the Loch Ness, is not fortuitous as Issie is also a lacustrian monster; 池田湖 (IkeDaKo) “the lake Ikeda” in the vicinity of 指宿市 (IbuSukiShi) “Ibusuki town” in 鹿児島県 (KaGoShimaKen) “the prefecture of Kagoshima”. In this particular case, many believe that the monster is a plesiosaurus that miraculously survived. However, this explanation falls short for the lake Ikeda as it was formed after a major eruption that occured only 20 thousands years ago.

Photo: Eesti
License: Creative Commons
The monster was first observed in 1961 but it is not until 1978 that the story was taken seriously. On September the 3rd of that year, the 20 attendants of 法事 (HôJi) “a memorial service” testified that they saw the monster. The tourism office of Ibusuki quickly put up a reward of 100000 yens for the first photography of the monster. A few months later, the reward had been attributed and the picture made the first page of the local newspapers. On January the 4th of 1991, the story of Issie got the attention of the national press as a japanese family successfully took a video of the monster.

Sounds eels

Copyright Marck Despain
From the different documents, it seems that Issie is 10 to 20 meters long and that it has a 瘤 (Kobu) “hump”. Contrary to Nessie, nobody saw Issie sticking his head out of the water. That’s about everything we know about Issie. Issie was only observed a few times, always at 夕暮れ (YûGuRe) “dawn” and numerous attempts at submarine photography failed miserably due to the 濁った水 (NigotTa Mizu) “muddy water” of the lake. Add to this that the lake is famous for its 2 meters long オオウナギ (OOUNaGi) “big eels” and you naturally wonder if this is not a prank like it seems to be for Nessie. Even if Issie turns out to be an eel of more than 4 meters, that would not be less extraordinary. I can already see the numerous 屋台 (YaTai) “stalls” selling 巨大うなぎ丼 (KyoDaiUnaGiDon) “giants eels on rice” all around the lake during 土用 (DoYô) “the dog days”.

Copyrighted photos used with the permission of their authors.