"Ningen": a bizarre Japanese cryptid
Behold the “Ningen“. Meaning literally “Human“, it’s allegedly a very large unknown animal sighted by Japanese fishers, which bares an uncanny resemblance to us. Not only a face, but other reports include even arms and hands.
Continue reading for more pictures and even videos. All artistic illustrations, but being Japanese, they are extremely nice, and as imagined sea monsters, they sure are terrifying.
One could speculate that a sea creature, even a known one, could be mistaken for a “Ningen”. Skates and rays, for instance, have nostrils and mouths that look like a face. In fact, they look so “human” that they are often mistaken or sold as devils or extraterrestrials — and Japanese fishers know that for centuries.
But the Ningen is allegedly 20 to 30 meters in length. And we may not even have to bother considering it very seriously, because this cryptid seems to be nothing more than a modern Internet legend.
There are no verifiable names for the alleged sightings. In fact, there are no names nor actual sightings, only vague reports that the creature was seen near the Antarctic Ocean. From the artistic interpretations in this page, you can also see that its appearance is pretty much up to the artist’s imagination.
Acknowledging that, though, we can appreciate what’s surely a nice modern version of the old sea monsters legends. Here are some more illustrations:
And the videos. Not very impressive, but interesting nevertheless:
Maybe Loren Coleman over at Cryptomundo could tell if such descriptions of sea monsters resembling humans is actually old, and this is just a repackaging. I suspect it is, afterall, mermaids are in a way related cryptids. Maybe the size detail is the only difference.
Almost all the graphics on this post were taken from this Japanese page.
All your Ningen needs may be supplied by searching on Google. In Japanese, of course: look for “????“.
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Wonderful. Something new for the Japanese to kill besides dolphins.
I can already tell they’re fake. The pictures are just edited.
[...] “Ningen”: a bizarre Japanese cryptid - Forgetomori.com [...]
funny!
Every picture there looks so obviously shopped. It’s fake.
guys, didn’t you read what it said? The detailed pictures are artist’s depictions and the out of focus ones may be what it’s talking about, they may be stingrays. The point is, you idiots that say “it’s so obviously shopped” are, like I said, idiots, of course it’s shopped, it’s an artist’s depiction.
Too true…
He’s right, you know.
Who else is thinking of Neon Genesis Evangelion ?
If they were real the Japanese would breed them and use them as sex toys or something.
Yes!, the first thing that came up to my mind. The End of Evangelion!!.
For some reason I’m reminded of those cool Japanese crabs, whose shells are often seen shaped like classical samurai
faces. Sometimes, we breed our own mer-people.
[...] of cryptids, I wish the Internet had more to say about Ningen. Maybe next time I visit home I’ll see if anyone can point me to anyone who has a story to [...]