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Japan: A 'wild woman' with scaly skin and webbed hands and feet. From the Kaikidan Ekotoba Monster Scroll, mid-19th century.

Japan: A 'wild woman' with scaly skin and webbed hands and feet. From the Kaikidan Ekotoba Monster Scroll, mid-19th century.

The 'wild woman' shown here appears to be an aquatic humanoid with scaly skin, webbed hands and feet (each with three fingers and toes), long black hair, and a large red mouth. People claim to have encountered the creature in the 1750s in mountain streams in the Asakura area of Fukuoka prefecture. The Kaikidan Ekotoba is a mid-19th century handscroll that profiles 33 legendary monsters and human oddities, mostly from the Kyushu region of Japan, but with several from other countries, including China, Russia and Korea. The document, whose author is unknown, is in the possession of the Fukuoka City Museum.

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