Japanese Mermaid Illustrations Drawn in 19BC Are too Eerie!

November 25, 2010 - Art, Culture - Tagged: Artist, Painting, Women

Picture by isao

When you imagine a mermaid, you will draw a beautiful long-haired woman with a fish tail. But illustrations drawn by the Japanese in the 19th century is way different from the prototypical mermaid.

This is one of them.

Isn’t it eerie? This anonymous illustration was owned by Duch trader, Jan Cock.

Why is it so hairy? I think it needs wax, and braces for the teeth…

And here is another mermaid illustration.

This was drawn by a Japanese historian, Baien Mouri.

It is naturally ugly, but why is it making itself look uglier by pulling its eyelid down?

These illustrations are very shocking to us who have seen a lot of beautiful mermaid images.

Lastly, this is a mermaid painted by a Japanese artist, Kasho Takabatake in the 20th century. In the 100 years, I guess they learned more about mermaid.