Heike Crabs - The crabs with a human face
June 2, 2017 11:32 AM Subscribe
On the 24th of April, 1185 AD, two powerful Samurai clans fought to the death on the Dan-no-ura bay of Japan’s Inland Sea, and created a story so powerful that it the monster it spawned would inhabit the nightmares of coastal fishermen for generations.
This monster is the Heikegani crab (平家蟹). Sometimes known as the Samurai crab, the crab has a distinctive shell that looks like a human face. The crab, as a monster was supposedly created when two warring clans, the Taira clan (later known as Heike), and the Minamoto clan fought over the Kanmon Straits (google map link) for dominance of the imperial courts, in a sea battle called Dan-no-ura no tatakai (壇ノ浦の戦い) .
On April 25, 1185, the Minamoto clan fleet, led by Minamoto no Yoshitsune, defeated the Heike clan fleet. The 7 year old Emperor Antoku was one of those who perished amongst the Heike nobles. The battle turned sour for the Heike fleet when one of their own generals turned traitor and attacked from the rear, specifically targeting the ship the boy emperor was on. The Emperor's own troops and family threw Emperor Antoku overboard to drown him rather than let him fall into enemy hands. His grandmother fell into the waters after him in grief.
Many Samurai were lost in the battle slipping into the waves, as well as two sacred treasures of the Imperial Regalia of Japan: the sacred jewel and the sword Kusanagi, also known as "Grasscutter". (The tale of losing and finding these items is excellently told in a Usagi Yojimbo story called "Grasscutter" which I highly recommend!)
The tale states that when the samurai died, their souls were transferred to the crabs that bear their clan's name - the Heike crab. Their gnarled faces are forever etched onto the crab's back as a grim reminder of the battle and the loss of life from it. Today the crab still looks as mean and tortured as it did then, and this human face on it's shell may have contributed to its survival; as well as serving as inspiration for many artists. Fishermen who caught the crab were reminded of the souls of the dead, and threw the crabs back into the sea, creating a lack of artificial pressure on the species. Carl Sagan used the crabs as an example of natural selection at work.
Pareidolia is a term used to describe the way the human brain sees visual patterns in things to make them more familiar. Seeing faces in object, land formations, toast and even crabs, makes them stand out, and to our brains acts as a way of recognizing, and sorting danger in a faster way. The crabs hit our human-face-recognizing-part-of-our-brain pretty hard, and it's not hard to find the face of an angry samurai.
Today we understand that the face on the crab is serves a very functional purpose as sites of muscle attachment. Similar patterns are found on species in many parts of the world, including fossil remains. But the story of them is so much more fascinating, don't you think?
This monster is the Heikegani crab (平家蟹). Sometimes known as the Samurai crab, the crab has a distinctive shell that looks like a human face. The crab, as a monster was supposedly created when two warring clans, the Taira clan (later known as Heike), and the Minamoto clan fought over the Kanmon Straits (google map link) for dominance of the imperial courts, in a sea battle called Dan-no-ura no tatakai (壇ノ浦の戦い) .
On April 25, 1185, the Minamoto clan fleet, led by Minamoto no Yoshitsune, defeated the Heike clan fleet. The 7 year old Emperor Antoku was one of those who perished amongst the Heike nobles. The battle turned sour for the Heike fleet when one of their own generals turned traitor and attacked from the rear, specifically targeting the ship the boy emperor was on. The Emperor's own troops and family threw Emperor Antoku overboard to drown him rather than let him fall into enemy hands. His grandmother fell into the waters after him in grief.
Many Samurai were lost in the battle slipping into the waves, as well as two sacred treasures of the Imperial Regalia of Japan: the sacred jewel and the sword Kusanagi, also known as "Grasscutter". (The tale of losing and finding these items is excellently told in a Usagi Yojimbo story called "Grasscutter" which I highly recommend!)
The tale states that when the samurai died, their souls were transferred to the crabs that bear their clan's name - the Heike crab. Their gnarled faces are forever etched onto the crab's back as a grim reminder of the battle and the loss of life from it. Today the crab still looks as mean and tortured as it did then, and this human face on it's shell may have contributed to its survival; as well as serving as inspiration for many artists. Fishermen who caught the crab were reminded of the souls of the dead, and threw the crabs back into the sea, creating a lack of artificial pressure on the species. Carl Sagan used the crabs as an example of natural selection at work.
Pareidolia is a term used to describe the way the human brain sees visual patterns in things to make them more familiar. Seeing faces in object, land formations, toast and even crabs, makes them stand out, and to our brains acts as a way of recognizing, and sorting danger in a faster way. The crabs hit our human-face-recognizing-part-of-our-brain pretty hard, and it's not hard to find the face of an angry samurai.
Today we understand that the face on the crab is serves a very functional purpose as sites of muscle attachment. Similar patterns are found on species in many parts of the world, including fossil remains. But the story of them is so much more fascinating, don't you think?
Between these monstrous crabs and the cuddly panda, it's interesting to think of the species who have survived because they tickled the fancy of humans.
posted by Apocryphon at 11:52 AM on June 2, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Apocryphon at 11:52 AM on June 2, 2017 [3 favorites]
the sword Kusanagi, also known as "Grasscutter".
Hold up. So the name of the main character in Ghost in the Shell (Maj. Motoko Kusanagi) literally translates as "Lawnmower Child?" Talk about cyberpunk!
posted by Strange Interlude at 12:09 PM on June 2, 2017 [3 favorites]
Hold up. So the name of the main character in Ghost in the Shell (Maj. Motoko Kusanagi) literally translates as "Lawnmower Child?" Talk about cyberpunk!
posted by Strange Interlude at 12:09 PM on June 2, 2017 [3 favorites]
Tangential but the kanji for Kusanagi Motoko are 草薙 素子 where Motoko actually translates as "element" or "device", so it means "Kusanagi Device".
posted by fraula at 12:19 PM on June 2, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by fraula at 12:19 PM on June 2, 2017 [6 favorites]
Eponiwhat?
posted by blue_beetle at 12:21 PM on June 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by blue_beetle at 12:21 PM on June 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
Kusanagi Device is just as cyberpunk!
posted by HakaiMagazine at 12:24 PM on June 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by HakaiMagazine at 12:24 PM on June 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
Grasscutter was a name that was given to the sword in folk tales. Kusanagi, in the context of the sword's name, translates into something like" Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven"
posted by HakaiMagazine at 12:26 PM on June 2, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by HakaiMagazine at 12:26 PM on June 2, 2017 [4 favorites]
Excellent, well-constructed post.
posted by painquale at 12:33 PM on June 2, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by painquale at 12:33 PM on June 2, 2017 [4 favorites]
So is this where the infamous Giant Enemy Crab comes from, then?
posted by NMcCoy at 12:50 PM on June 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by NMcCoy at 12:50 PM on June 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
What an interesting piece of history. Battles, mythology, science. A little bit of everything.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 1:12 PM on June 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 1:12 PM on June 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
What are you talking about, I don't see a face....OH GOD THERE IT IS...WHHYYYYYY GOD !?!?!!!
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 1:52 PM on June 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 1:52 PM on June 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
The Emperor's own troops and family threw Emperor Antoku overboard to drown him rather than let him fall into enemy hands.
Guys, guys...I think a brief interlude as a prisoner will be fine. No, really, guys, stop. Goddammit. SPLASH
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 1:54 PM on June 2, 2017 [4 favorites]
Guys, guys...I think a brief interlude as a prisoner will be fine. No, really, guys, stop. Goddammit. SPLASH
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 1:54 PM on June 2, 2017 [4 favorites]
Between these monstrous crabs and the cuddly panda, it's interesting to think of the species who have survived because they tickled the fancy of humans.
It amuses me to see how our own children play this same game.
posted by sneebler at 2:10 PM on June 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
It amuses me to see how our own children play this same game.
posted by sneebler at 2:10 PM on June 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
It's interesting to see how this doesn't just look like a face, it looks specifically like many samurai masks, and somewhat like certain kabuki masks, to the point where I wonder if the masks weren't somehow patterned after the crab. The curved teeth in the corners of the mouth in particular are pretty unmistakeable, and show up on lots of samurai masks, as well as kabuki demon masks.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 2:21 PM on June 2, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 2:21 PM on June 2, 2017 [3 favorites]
Mod note: A couple comments removed. HakaiMagazine, as far as I can tell this account and this post are both basically above board but I need to be super clear that (a) participating on MetaFilter with a really explicitly branded account is unusual and likely to raise eyebrows just from the word go, and (b) tossing links to your own work in comments in a thread you started while narrowly okay at a baseline level starts to look sketchy quick when combined with that whole Hi, I'm A Branded Account thing. If you need to clarify anything here or there's something more complicated going on, please drop me a line at the contact form; otherwise, it just needs to not ever look like you're participating here specifically to promote the organization you work for.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:23 PM on June 2, 2017 [15 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:23 PM on June 2, 2017 [15 favorites]
It's interesting to see how this doesn't just look like a face, it looks specifically like many samurai masks, and somewhat like certain kabuki masks, to the point where I wonder if the masks weren't somehow patterned after the crab.
Uncanny, isn't it.
posted by HakaiMagazine at 2:31 PM on June 2, 2017
Uncanny, isn't it.
posted by HakaiMagazine at 2:31 PM on June 2, 2017
jfc it looks like a giant tick consumed an entire person and the human's face is still stuck in its abdomen
posted by Hermione Granger at 5:57 PM on June 2, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Hermione Granger at 5:57 PM on June 2, 2017 [3 favorites]
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posted by w0mbat at 11:35 AM on June 2, 2017 [2 favorites]