Japanese scientists used radiocarbon dating, X-rays, and computer tomography to examine a mermaid mummy on display for decades at the Asaguchi City Yuengjoo Institute in Okayama Prefecture. They found that the mummy, which is said to be nearly 300 years old, is an “artificial product” and not a real mermaid.
The Free Times quoted the archaeological news site Ancient Origins as saying that paleontologist Takafumi Kato of Kurashiki University of Science and Arts, who took part in the study, said, “Based on our analysis of the manufacturing history of Japanese mummies, we can only conclude that the mermaid mummy may have been made.” Kato’s theory has been proven true by scans of the mermaid mummies.
X-rays show that the fake mermaid mummy has no internal structure or skeleton. The body is filled with cotton and fabric, the jaw and teeth are from some fish, the lower body is also filled with some fish bones, the arms, shoulders, neck, and cheeks are covered with fish scales, and the upper body has five features like a small monkey.
A letter from 1903 that is on display at the Yujuin says that this 30 cm long mermaid mummy was caught in the water of Kochi Prefecture on Shikoku Island between 1736 and 1741. Radiocarbon dating, on the other hand, was made in the 1800s. So, scientists think that artisans made the fake mermaid mummy during the Edo period (1603-1868).
About a dozen “mermaid mummies” have been found in Japan at different times and places. They are thought to be from the Edo period when Japan had terrible epidemics like smallpox and measles. Mermaid mummies may have been made into god idols and amulets to stop these terrible diseases.
This special mermaid mummy has been kept and cared for well at the Yuanzhuin, where the abbot and the local people worship it. Now that we know the truth about where it came from, we are still determining if it will be treated the same way in the future as it was in the past.
A Japanese cultural historian named Hiroshi Kinoshita oversaw the research on the mummy of the mermaid at the Yuanzhuin. Before the study started, Hiroshi Kinoshita told the media that he didn’t believe in mermaids and that he didn’t think the study would prove anything. But he still thinks this study is critical because it will help him learn more about how these mermaid mummies are made.
