The Crabs with Samurai Faces
In the strait where a samurai clan was defeated, fishermen catch crabs whose shells look like angry human faces.
What was reported
In 1185, at the sea battle of Dan-no-ura, the Heike clan was destroyed by its rivals, the Genji. Many Heike warriors drowned, along with the young emperor. Ever since, local legend has said the drowned samurai live on as crabs on the seabed.
The crabs, Heikegani, have ridges on their backs that look remarkably like a frowning warrior's face, and fishermen say they throw them back into the sea out of respect.
Explanations offered
The ridges are where the crab's muscles attach to its shell, and other crabs have similar patterns. The astronomer Carl Sagan suggested that fishermen throwing back the most face-like crabs might have made the faces more common over time, but biologists point out that the crabs are rarely eaten anyway, so the faces are probably just chance.
- When
- Legend since the 1185 battle
- Where
- Dan-no-ura, Shimonoseki, Japan
- Witnesses
- Fishermen of the Inland Sea
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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