The curious case of the ‘mermaid bones’ at Japan’s Ryuguji temple

Legend has it that in the early 13th century a mermaid washed ashore in Hakata Bay on the Japanese island of Kyushu.

Blessed by a shaman and declared a good omen, the piscine harbinger of prosperity was buried at the underwater palace of the dragon god. Some 800 years later, those unearthed "mermaid" bones are on display at Ryuguji Temple in Fukuoka.

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By Toriyama Sekien

A ningyo from Toriyama Sekien's Konjaku Hyakki Shūi

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The bones at Ryuguji are often attributed to a dugong – but this particular sea-cow "origin story" didn't hold up when we checked in with the experts. "These bones are definitely not dugong," says Dr Daryl Domning of Howard University, who specialises in Sirenian palaeontology.

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