Scientists study 300-year-old mermaid mummy said to grant immortality

Scientists in Japan have begun probing the origins of a bizarre 300-year-old mummified ‘mermaid’-like creature.

Measuring around 12 inches, the mummified creature has a grimacing face, pointed teeth, two hands, and hair on its head and brow, giving it an eerie, but admittedly human-like appearance. What sets it apart, though, is its scaly, fish-like lower half, which has led people to call it a mermaid.

What do we know about the mummy?

The creature, reportedly discovered between 1736 and 1741 off the Japanese island of Shikoku, had been preserved in a temple in the city of Asakuchi, but scientists had not conducted tests on it up until now.

A 1903 letter from a former owner of the mummy reveals that it the ‘mermaid’ was caught in a fishing net in the sea off Kochi Prefecture, and that it was subsequently sold in Osaka as an unusual fish. The letter-writer’s family had purchased it then, and had preserved it as a family treasure.

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While it is unclear how the mummified mermaid made it to the temple in Asakuchi, it was put in a glass display some 40 years ago, and now remains in a fireproof safe.

“We have worshipped it, hoping that it would help alleviate the coronavirus pandemic even if only slightly,” head priest Kozen Kuida told Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun.

What are scientists looking to uncover?

The project to conduct tests on the mummified creature is being carried out by researchers from the Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts, and is headed by Hiroshi Kinoshita of the Okayama Folklore Society.

“Japanese mermaids have a legend of immortality,” Kinoshita told the press explaining the cultural significance of the creature, adding, “It is said that if you eat the flesh of a mermaid, you will never die.”

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“There is a legend in many parts of Japan that a woman accidentally ate the flesh of a mermaid and lived for 800 years. This ‘Yao-Bikuni’ legend is also preserved near the temple where the mermaid mummy was found. I heard that some people, believing in the legend, used to eat the scales of mermaid mummies,” Kinoshita further said.

However, the lead researcher explained that immortality is not the only thing associated with mermaids in Japanese folklore.

“There is also a legend that a mermaid predicted an infectious disease,” Kinoshita went on to say, but stopped short of predicting anything ominous.

Kinoshita, however, does not buy into the folklore and believes that the tale of the creature’s origin is far more grounded in reality.

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“Of course, I don’t think it’s a real mermaid,” the lead researcher said, adding that he believes it is not a creature at all but a manufactured item.

“This was made for export to Europe during the Edo period, or for spectacles in Japan. The legend of mermaids remains in Europe, China and Japan all over the world. Therefore, I can imagine that people at that time were also very interested in it,” Kinoshita explained.

“I think it is made from living animals and we would like to identify them by CAT scans or DNA testing. It looks like a fish with scales on the lower body and a primate with hands and a face on the upper body,” Kinoshita went on, explaining the goal of the project.

The scientists are expected to publish the findings of their study later this year.