The upper half of the body is a monkey, the lower half of the body is a fish "Mermaid's Mummy" But its true identity is

At a temple in Asakuchi City, Okayama Prefecture, a dried-up mummy with the upper body of a monkey and the lower body of a fish that resembles a mermaid is carefully preserved.

A research group at a university or other institution investigated the mermaid's true identity and found that it was not a real mermaid, but a human-made one around the 19th century.

In Asakuchi City's "Enju-in Temple," along with the inscription "mermaid dried fish," it has long been preserved as a dried-up creature with a total length of about 30 centimeters.

The upper body has a face and hands that make it look like a monkey, but the lower body has fish-like fins, so it is called a "mermaid mummy".

A research group consisting of Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts and the Kurashiki City Museum of Natural History has been conducting scientific research since February last year, such as photographing the interior with X-rays, in order to find out if it is a real mermaid. We held a press conference on the 7th as things were settled.

According to this, it was confirmed that the upper body is made of paper and cloth without a skull or ribs, and the lower body is scale-shaped, which is a characteristic of the croaker fish that inhabits the coasts of Japan.

The scales were measured using ``radiocarbon'', which decreases over time, and were estimated to be from the late 1800s.

A folklore analysis was also conducted, and the research group concluded that it was artificially created around the 19th century as a spectacle, not an object of worship, and then brought into the temple.

Professor Takashi Kato of the Faculty of Life Sciences, Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts, said, "Multiple 'mermaid mummies' have been found in Japan and overseas, but little scientific research has been conducted. By conducting similar research and comparing it, it would be good if it led to the clarification of the creators who were not understood this time."

Priest of Enju-in Temple, Kusuda "Protecting and handing down the 'mummies'"

Hiroyoshi Kuda, the chief priest of Enju-in Temple in Asakuchi City, which owns the 'Mermaid Mummy', said, 'This 'mermaid mummy' is made by people who made it, people who preserved it, and people who entrusted their prayers and wishes to it as a rare object. , Various people's thoughts are dwelling in it.Since that feeling will continue into the future, I want to protect this 'mummy' and pass it on."