Kawahara Keiga’s mermaid belongs to the Japanese folkloric tradition of the ningyo, a creature often translated as “mermaid,” but conceptually closer to the world of yokai, supernatural beings that inhabit the boundary between the natural and spiritual realms. Unlike the graceful mermaids of Western mythology, Japanese ningyo were frequently imagined as strange hybrid creatures whose appearance could foretell misfortune or extraordinary events. Such images reflect the Edo-period fascination with the marvelous, the monstrous, and the unexplained.
Figures of mummified ningyo, like the one depicted in Keiga’s painting, were sometimes produced and sold as curiosities for foreign visitors in the nineteenth century. These objects were part of a broader trade in exotic specimens that intrigued travelers encountering Japan during the late Edo and early modern periods. Recent scientific research has shown that many of these so-called ningyo were carefully fabricated objects, constructed from the body parts of monkeys and fish stitched together, then dried and lacquered to resemble preserved mythical creatures.
A comparable example appears in the sketchbooks of Katsushika Hokusai. In the illustrated compendium Hokusai Manga, Hokusai includes a curious mermaid-like figure that blends human and aquatic features in a playful yet uncanny way, demonstrating how such hybrid beings circulated widely within Edo period visual culture.
This visual tradition extends into modern Japanese subculture. The revival of yokai imagery in manga and animation—most famously in GeGeGe no Kitaro by Mizuki Shigeru—reintroduced many classical supernatural creatures to contemporary audiences. Seen in this light, Keiga’s mermaid can be understood as part of a long imaginative lineage in which Edo-period depictions of strange beings evolved into the rich yokai culture that continues to shape modern manga, anime, and Japanese popular culture.