Jinmengyo

Jinmengyo
人面魚
Character Data
AKA		Ghost Koi
Romaji		Jinmengyo
Debut		Kemono Friends (2015 Game)
Cryptid Data
Classification		Cryptid
F.R.A.		Unknown
Based On		Carp
Read More		Jinmengyo (Japanese)
Conservation
Jinmengyo's Merchandise

Jinmengyo

Anime

KF3

Nexon Game

Gallery

Jinmengyo is a mythological Friend that first appeared in the original Kemono Friends mobile game.

Appearance

Jinmengyo has gray hair attached with a black ribbon to form a long ponytail that drop all the way to her neck. She has rounded grey eyes, her pupils are drawn like she has circles instead. Her top is composed of a matching blue, black and white Yukata which is a kimono made with straight seams and wide sleeves, a traditional black Obi, and high black Geta which are sandals with an elevated wooden base held onto the foot with a fabric thong to keep the foot well above the ground. She owns two fins on the sides of her head and a fish tail to her back, as the original Jinmengyo's myth, she wears on her head a mask that take the form of a fish face.

Series Appearances

Appearances In Kemono Friends Media

Media		Role

Origins

The jinmengyo (人じん面めん魚ぎょ jinmengyo, lit. human face fish) is a Japanese cryptid characterized as a carp which has the face of a human. While the concept had existed much earlier in art, the cryptid experienced brief popularity in 1990, when a photograph of a supposed jinmengyo was sent in to the Japanese tabloid magazine Friday (フライデー furaidē), starting a minor fad. The fad caused many to visit the location of the sightings, which allowed the area to capitalize on the fad and sell jinmengyo-themed merchandise and food. During this fad, jinmengyo were also supposedly found in Korea. Later, in 2005, Jinmengyo were supposedly spotted in China and Korea, with Korea even reporting the sightings on television.

Sighting of a black jinmengyo in a moat in front of the prefectural government office in Taki-machi, Yamaguchi City. Reported by Asahi Shimbun Digital on April 9, 2008.

Though true jinmengyo are merely fantasy, the phenomenon of carp having the appearance of a human face is real. Some varieties of koi have been known to have the appearance human-like facial features when seen from the front, despite lacking a true human face. In nearly all cases, this is not due to a facial deformity, but caused by the arrangement of the markings on the carp resembling human facial features such as front-facing eyes, a nose ridge, or a mouth. In fact, this occurrence is not only possible, but far from rare. In 2010, woman spoke to the Daily Mail, a UK-based tabloid magazine, who published an article on a human-faced ghost koi, which lead to a response by Practical Fishkeeping, an aquarium-focused magazine also based in the UK.