The Water Transportation in the Kanto Plain and the "Piracy" there (9)

     Let’s go back to Kanto Plain.  Ushiku Lake of Kinu river system is rich with folklore of kappas.  For example, a man caught a harmful kappa, tied it to a pine tree.  As it mended its way, he set it free.  Later on, the kappa helped him mow weeds.

     Those kappa stories suggest that kappa folklore has various types of origins.  Some of them obviously represent river people and even river pirates who were harmful to other local land people.  It is interesting that, as sea pirates flourished more in Western Provinces than in Eastern Provinces, so the Western kappas sound more like gangs of river pirates when Eastern kappas sound more like petty thieves.