Hairen

A hairen (海人, "sea-human") is a sea-dwelling human or humanoid in Chinese lore, also called kaijin (海人) by Japanese sources.

A kaijin or "sea-human"
― Hirokawa Kai, Nagasaki bunkenroku.[1]

According to a Chinese texts which were actually authored by Europeans, the hairen was human-like overall but possessed webbed feet and hands, and one was captured in Holland, who had loose drooping skin on her whole body, almost like she wore a piece of garment (specifically a paofu or long robe). This refers to the "marine woman" captured in 1403 (Mermaid of Edam) recorded in various sources,[2] though Dutch sources said she was covered with some aquatic substance (later assumed to be sea moss or seaweed).

The account of the "sea-humans" also recurred in Japanese sources dating to the Edo Period, such as Kaibara Ekken's Yamato honzō, which describe the creature as having skin that hangs down to the ground, like a pair of hakama trousers being worn.

China

Ming and Qing dynasties

Books written by Europeans and published in the Chinese language during the Ming and Qing dynasties mention the hairen. Italian Jesuit Giulio Aleni (Chinese name: Airulüe 艾儒略) wrote in his Zhifang waiji (simplified Chinese: 职方外纪; traditional Chinese: 職方外紀, "Records of Regions beyond the Jurisdiction of the Imperial Geographer", 1623) that there are two types of hairen.[5] Flemish Jesuit Ferdinand Verbiest (Nan Huairen 南懐仁) wrote a closely similar descritpion in his Kunyu waiji (simplified Chinese: 坤舆外纪; traditional Chinese: 坤輿外紀, "Records of the Foreign World", c. 1670).[6]

The first type was overall human-like, with both beards and eyebrows,[lower-alpha 1] but having hands and feet which were webbed, like those of wild ducks.[lower-alpha 2] An individual was captured in the Western (European) sea, and presented to a certain king, but ate nothing, and having failed to tame it, the king was forced to release it back to sea, and the liberated creature clapped its hands and laughed loudly.[5][7]

The second type was exemplified by the (female) individual captured 200 years before (i.e., 15th century): "her entire body was covered with a drooping skin [which touched the ground], as if she were dressed in a non-removable cloth [a paofu 袍服 or traditional Chinese long robe] rather than [being] naked". She was clothed and fed, and lived for a number of years and worked for a living (i.e., spinning yarn[lower-alpha 3]). She would bow respectfully before a crucifix, but did not gain ability to speak.[5][10]

This female hairen has been determined to be the one captured in Holland in 1403 (the so-called Mermaid of Edam), described in a number of 17th century European works.[10] For example, this "marine woman" (Latin: mulier quaedam marina) or "siren" was caught in 1403 by fishermen, having been cast into the sea by storm according to Petrus Scriverius (d. 1660)'s Respublica Hollandiae, et urbes ("The Commonwealth and Towns of Holland").[11] While Petrus's Latin text stated she was "found naked and dumb", his work written in Dutch states she was found "covered in green moss" (Dutch: met groen mosch bewassen)[lower-alpha 4] in the Purmer Lake or IJe (river) of Edam.[lower-alpha 5][8]

An older work (1470) stated more vaguely that some "watery substance clung to her",[14] A later chronicler (1517) added layers of detail, so that she was represented as a wild woman who "covered with watery material such as moss and other slime".[16] Generally it is explained that she was covered in green seaweed but it got washed off.[17]

The element of this mermaid venerating the crucifix is always mentioned by European sources, but omitted by Chinese sources such as Nie Huang (聂璜)'s Haicuotu (海錯圖, "Book of Strange Ocean Creatures").[10] The illustrated creature here is designated a hairenyu (海人魚, "marine human-fish") but also equated with the hairen of the aforementioned source, Zhifang waiji.[10]

Song dynasty

Shaozi (邵子) aka Shao Yong (邵雍) during the Song dynasty is cited as source for the account of the hairen found in the Caomuzi (zh:草木子)[18] and other second-hand sources.[20] The author observes that "whatever lives on land, there necessarily exists [its counterpart] in water", and therefore "sea-humans" must exist.[18] He had heard from sea merchants that the South Sea (South China Sea?) is known for appearances of hairen, which "have the shape of a monk, a human quite small". When it boards the ship, the crew must be strictly instructed to remain silent and wait for it to leave and dive back into water. If this is not obeyed, a show of rowdiness will invite a great wind, and the ship is sure to be capsized.[18][21][24]

The hairen described by Shaozi has been equated with the umibōzu ("sea-priest")[26] or with the umikozō[19] ("sea acolyte priest"). This is just another local variant name for umibōzu.

Jurchen Jin dynasty

A second example of a manikin appearing from the sea [27] (or mere[29]) is given by the Caomuzi.[18][21]

During a later period when the Song dynasty wa replaced by the Great Jin, a dragon in its capital city Yanjing (燕京, today's Beijing) from the old lake system known as Tangluo (塘濼), and in its foreclaws held a young child. The child was formally dressed in "red robe and jade belt (hongpao yudai; 紅袍玉帯) as if he were a zhongguan (中官). It disappeared back into water after three shi (6 hour[?])'s time.[18][21]

Dressed merfolk

Whereas the hairen described by the Jesuits had dangling folds of skin resembling a pao or paofu (袍服) robe-attire, the child held by the dragon in the Jing dynasty account supposedly wore a scarlet pao robe.

Another anecdote which may be related to hairen[30] was the account of the female witnessed by an emissary named Zha Dao (査道) dispatched to Korea (cf. Mermaid§Chinese folklore, hairenyu). She is said to have worn a scarlet skirt (chang, 裳) and grew a scarlet mane.[22] Zha Dao identified this lady as a renyu ("human-fish"). The episode is attributable to the Chinese source Cuyiji ("Records of Bygone Extraordinay Things").[31][32]

Japan

The creature's name pronounced hairen (海人, "sea-human") in Chinese is read as kaijin in Japanese.[33]

According to Kaibara Ekken's Yamato honzō (1709), the kaijin closely resembles a human in appearance, with a head of hair, eyebrows, and beards, and webbing between the toes and fingers of its four limbs. It never ate food or drink provided by humans, and did not speak any human-like language. And "one type had, all over the body, [folds of] fleshy skin, which drooped from around the waist, like hakama [trousers]". But once brought out of the sea, it could only live on land for a few days.[37]。

The Nagasaki kenbunroku (aka Nagasaki bunkenroku, published Kansei 12/1800) also contains a similar description.[40] Ono Ranzan's Honzōkōmoku keimō (1803) also drew information secondhand from the Yamato honzō.[lower-alpha 6][42][41]

Whereas Tanikawa Kotosuga's Japanese dictionary Wakun no shiori (和訓栞, publ. 1777–1887) which also describes the woman captured in the sea of Holland[43] (correctly) stated that her she lived and worked for many years, and her drooping skin was as if "she wore a hōfuku 袍服", i.e., paofu attire, as in the Chinese source Zhifang waiji.[lower-alpha 7][45]

Yamamura Saisuke (d. 1807), in his posthumously published work Seiyō zakki (西洋雑記) also (correctly) describes the sea woman of Holland as being captured in Purmer Lake[lower-alpha 8] and then taken to Haarlem,[46] as recorded in Dutch sources.[lower-alpha 9] Yamamura used the term strange/wondrous thing (異物, ibutsu) instead of a kaijin or sea woman, but Mozume Takami observed it to be the same as the hairen described in the Kunyu waiji. He added these were beings which European sources called zei mensen (ゼイ・メンセン（海人）) (i.e., Dutch: zee-mensen, "mer-man") or zei mensen (ゼエ・フロウー（海女）) (i.e., Dutch: "Zee-Vrouwe",[8] "mer-maid").[44]

According to some, the kaijin was actually a misidentified sea lion or seal.[39]

See also

Explanatory notes
  1. Chinese: 須/眉鬚眉
  2. Chinese: 鳧.
  3. According to Western sources (in Latin), assuming she was the Mermaid of Edam, as will be discussed momentarily. Magnani's paper quoting Petrus renders Latin nere as "knit", but Petrus's history in Dutch reads "leerde sy spinnen" so she "learned to spin",[8] and other sources also agree she became known for her spinning.[9]
  4. Petrus's history in Dutch sources Hadrianus Junius's Batavia (1588), which is quoted in Latin and also states "covered in green moss" (Latin: viridis mosca turpe).
  5. Text gives "Purmerye", where Ye is old variant of IJe.
  6. Ranzan also knew or read the Chinese source Kunyu waiji, since he cites it concerning the tusk of the walrus (海馬) in a passage below.[41]。
  7. Also, Zhifang waiji transliterates Holland as 喝蘭達 (Helanda) which is unusual, and the same transliteration is used in this Japanese work ( pronunciation supplied as "Karanda").
  8. Japanese: "ピュルメル・メエル".
  9. Petrus's history also notes the capture occurred at "Purmer-Meer" and that she was taken to Haarlem.[8]

References
Citations
  1. Fujisawa, Morihiko [in Japanese] (1925). "Ningyo densetsu kō" 人魚傳説考. Nihon densetsu kenkyū 2 日本伝説研究二. Daitōkaku. p. 30, Fig. 8, Fig. 14.
  2. Japanese scholar Mozume Takami (1922)noted the Dutch woman found in Purmer Lake was the same as hairen described in the Kunyu waiji. Arianna Magnani's 2022 paper observed the hairen in Zhifang waiji referred to the 1403 event (marine woman found in a lake in Holland).
  3. Ai Rulüe 艾儒略 (1843) [1623], "Sihai zonghuo: haizu" 四海総説: 海族 [General theory of the Four Seas: mer-folk], Zhifang waiji 職方外紀, vol. 5
  4. Zou (2017), pp. 129–130.
  5. Zhifang waiji, juan 5, "General Theory of the Four Seas 四海総説", section on "Marine folk 海族".[3][4]
  6. Kunyu waiji (simplified Chinese: 坤舆外纪; traditional Chinese: 坤輿外紀, "Records of the Foreign World", c. 1670), "Chapter haizu 海族 sea-folk", beginning: "海人有二種". In: Wu Zhengfang [in Chinese], ed. (1825), Shuo ling 說鈴, vol. 3, Ju xiu tang cang ben
  7. Magnani (2022), p. 97.
  8. Petrus Scriverius (1677). Hollandsche, Zeelandsche ende Vriesche Chronyk, ofte een gedenckwaerdige beschryvingh van den oorsprong, opkomst en voortgang der selver landen: soo onder de regeeringe en successie der Graven, wegens hare geslachte en verrichtinge, van Diederick den I. tot Philips den III... Johan Veely en Jasper Doll. pp. 43–44.
  9. Peacock (2020), p. 686.
  10. Magnani (2022), p. 99.
  11. Magnani (2022), p. 93.
  12. Jan Gerbrandsz (1470), apud Vosmaer (1786), pp. 90–91.
  13. Peacock (2020), p. 685.
  14. Johannes a Leydis (1470). "waterachtige stoste, die haar aankleefde".[12][13]
  15. Cornelius Aurelius [in Dutch] (2011) [1517], "Van een wilde vrouwe dye in dye zee gevangen worde. Dat LVII capittel.", Die cronycke van Hollandt, Zeelandt ende Vrieslant, met die cronike der biscoppen van Uutrecht (Divisiekroniek), DBNL (KB, nationale bibliotheek), p. 239v
  16. Cornelius Aurelius (1517), Die cronycke van Hollandt, Zeelandt ende Vrieslant. As paraphrased by Peacock (2020), p. 686. The original Dutch reads: "..als mosch, sliver ende ander slijm, al ruych bewassen;"[15]
  17. Peacock (2020), pp. 685–686.
  18. [[:zh:葉子奇 (明朝)|Ye Ziqi 叶子奇 (葉子奇)]] [in Chinese]. "Juan 1, second part, Guanwu piān" 卷之一下「观物篇」. Caomuzi 草木子 – via Wikisource. 邵子曰。...尝闻海贾云。南海时有海人出。形如僧。人颇小。登舟而坐。至则戒舟人寂然不动。少顷复沈水。否则大风翻舟。
  19. Amano, Sadakage [in Japanese] (1907) [c. 1697]. "Kan-no-61 Umikozō" 巻之六十一 海小僧. Zuihitsu shiojiri 隨筆塩尻. Vol. 2. Teikoku shoin. p. 164.
  20. Guanchao pian Shaozi [?] or Kanshō hen Shōshi (観抄篇邵子)[19] is also cited, possibly an abridged edition.
  21. Yamaguchi, Nobue (1993). "Kugutsu no Sumiyoshi-no-ōkami: Koyō-jinja taisai" 傀儡子の住吉大神―古要神社大祭― (PDF). Shakai bunseki (Social analysis) (21): 291.
  22. Kōtei shujin Shushushi 恒亭主人守株子 [Tsunoda Ryōan 角田亨庵]. Banbutsu yawa 萬物夜話（ばんぶつやわ）. Kan-no-2, fol. 14v. doi:10.20730/100387507.
  23. Mozume, Takami [in Japanese] (1922a). "Kaijin" 海人（かい志゛ん）. Kōbunko 廣文庫. Vol. 4. Kōbunko kankōkai. pp. 473–474.
  24. Banbutsu yawa (万物夜話), vol. 2, page 14.[22][23] Same text, from an undisclosed source, is given here in a translated form (yomikudashi or kanbun kundoku).
  25. Ikeda, Shirōjirō (1913). "Kaijin" 海人（カイジン）. Koji jukugo daijiten 故事熟語大辭典. Hōbunkan. p. 197.
  26. Japanese: "海人（カイジン）..俗にいふ海坊子（ウミバウズ）なり".[25]
  27. Yamaguchi quotes the two examples from the Caomuzi, prefacing that "of the humans appearing out of the sea, they are said to be small in form[stature] 海から現れる人としてその形容は小さいとしている".[21]
  28. Zhang, Zhibin; Unschuld, Paul Ulrich, eds. (2015). "Tang luo" 塘濼. Dictionary of the Ben Cao Gang Mu, Volume 2: Geographical and Administrative Designations. Univ of California Press. p. 295. ISBN 9780520291966.
  29. The body of water in the second example, Tangluo actually referred to lakes in Hebei.[28] Yamaguchi apparently includes it as umi (sea), but this is somewhat justifiable in Japanese (Lake Biwa was originally known as Ōmi/Afumi (淡海)).
  30. The Banbutsu yawa,[22] by a Confucian physician of the Edo Period, provides account of the hairen (as according to Caomuzi), immediately followed by this account of the lady from the sea, though this Japanese work does not name its Chinese sources.
  31. [[:zh:陳夢雷|Chen Menglei (陳夢雷)]] [in Chinese], ed. (1726). 博物彙編/禽蟲典/第144卷 䱱魚釋名. Qinding Gujin Tushu Jicheng 欽定古今圖書集成 – via Wikisource.
  32. Zheng, Jinsheng; Kirk, Nalini; Buell, Paul D.; Unschuld, Paul Ulrich, eds. (2018), Dictionary of the Ben Cao Gang Mu, Volume 3: Persons and Literary Sources, University of California Press, p. 87, ISBN 9780520291973
  33. Japanese: "カイジン";[25] "かい志゛ん".[23]
  34. Kaibara Ekken (1709). "Kaijin" 海人. Yamato honzō 大和本草. Vol. Furoku kan no 2. Nagata Chōbei. ndljp:2557361/36.
  35. Kaibara Ekken. "Yamato honzō" 大和本草 (PDF). Nakamura gakuen daigaku toshokan 中村学園大学図書館. Nakamura Gakuen University. p. 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2010-03-07.
  36. Kuzumi (2006a), p. 61.
  37. Kaibara Ekken. Yamato honzō, furoku-kan-no-2 [supplementary volume 2]. "kaijin 海人".[34][35][36]。
  38. Hirokawa Kai (1797). "Kaijin, kaijo" 海人・海女. Nagasaki kenbunroku nukigaki 長崎見聞録抜書（ぬきがき）. doi:10.11501/2536412.
  39. Sasama, Yoshihiko [in Japanese] (2005). Uribō, Susumu (ed.). E de mite fushigi! Oni to mononoke no bunkashi 絵で見て不思議! 鬼ともののけの文化史. Yūshikan. p. 188. ISBN 978-4-946525-76-6.
  40. "全身に肉皮（にくひ）ありて、下に垂るること、袴に似たる...", i.e., "has fleshy skin all over the body, and droops down below, like unto a hakama".[38][1][39]
  41. Kuzumi (2006a), p. 65.
  42. Ono Ranzan (1844), "Teigyo" 䱱魚, in Ono Mototaka (ed.), Jūshū honzō kōmoku keimō 重修本草綱目啓蒙 (in Japanese), vol. 30, 菱屋吉兵衛, fol. 13v–15v(National Diet Library copy)
  43. Japanese: "喝蘭達〔カランダ〕にて海中にて一女人を得" Karanda nite kaichū nite nyonin wo e.
  44. Mozume (1922b), p. 41.
  45. Tanikawa Kotosuga. Wakun no shiori: kōhen 倭訓栞 後編, apud Kōbunko.[44]
  46. Yamamura Saisuke 山村才輔. Seiyō zakk 西洋雑記. Dai-2-kan, page 5, apud Mozume (1922b), p. 41.
Bibliography
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