Ningen (folklore)

Short description: Mythical creature

Ningen

Artist’s impression of the Ningen

Country| Antarctica
Region| Subantarctic, Antarctica

In modern Japanese folklore since the mid-2000s, the Ningen (ニンゲン) is an aquatic humanoid whale-like creature supposedly inhabiting the subantarctic oceans. It was invented by Japanese internet users.[1]

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Description
* 3 See also
* 4 References

## History

The legend surrounding the Ningen began in 2002 on a forum post on the Japanese online forum website, 2Channel, which claims that the members of a whale research ship witnessed the creature as it surfaced near their ship off the Antarctic coast.[citation needed] Originally thinking it was a submarine, the crew went to take a closer look, but the "submarine" vanished into the waves.[citation needed]

In 2005, Google Earth captured what many people supposed to be a Ningen near the Southern Ocean. Many skeptics believe that the "Ningen" was actually an iceberg that coincidentally looked like the sea monster.[2]

In 2010, a Japanese ocean research company published a YouTube video showing the ocean life that they observed. Near the end of the video, a large creature with small eyes and a large, smiling slit-like mouth can be spotted lying on the ocean floor. Though most people think that the infamous Ningen was spotted, some people say that it is most likely a snaggle-toothed snake eel.[3] Sometime around the 2010s, an unknown user posted underwater footage depicting a large humanoid sea creature which many believe to be the Ningen.[4]

## Description

The Ningen is described as a whale-like creature that has anatomical similarities to humans. The creature has a face, and in some stories it is said to have extremely large limbs and/or arms and hands, about 20–30 m (65–100 feet) long. The pigmentation of this creature is said to be pale white. The creature has a large, slit-like mouth and either small or large gaping eyes.[5]

## See also

* List of cryptids
* List of legendary creatures from Japan

## References

1. ↑ Greenland, Felicity; Hayward, Philip (23 September 2020). "NINGEN: The generation of media-lore concerning a giant, sub-Antarctic, aquatic humanoid and its relation to Japanese whaling activity.". Shima: The International Journal of Research into Island Cultures 14 (1): 133–151. doi:10.21463/shima.14.1.10. ISSN 1834-6057.
2. ↑ Novak, Cael (2019-10-14) (in en). Supernatural: 300 Horror Stories, Mysteries and Urban Legends. Cael Novak. https://books.google.com/books?id=cwy1DwAAQBAJ&q=2channel+the+ningen&pg=PA31.
3. ↑ "深海特集4 深海のお土産ホッスガイ - The souvenir of the deep sea" (in en). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_S4YwHDtvI.
4. ↑ O'Neill, Kara (18 March 2016). "What is this mysterious 'monster human' seen swimming in the ocean?" (in en). http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/mysterious-blubbery-monster-human-caught-7581808.
5. ↑ "'Ningen' humanoid sea creatures of the Antarctic". 6 January 2010. http://pinktentacle.com/2010/01/ningen-humanoid-sea-creatures-of-the-antarctic/.

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