What does it look like?
The tsuchinoko is described as a snake-like creature with a body as fat as a beer bottle and a thin head and tail. It is said to be 30 to 80 centimeters long, and is often credited with abilities ordinary snakes lack: jumping several meters, rolling along the ground, and even snoring.
Local names and old records
It has many regional names, such as nozuchi, bachi-hebi and tsuchikoro. The Edo-period encyclopedia Wakan Sansai Zue describes a mallet-shaped snake called the “nozuchi-hebi.”
The tsuchinoko boom of the Showa era
In the 1970s, books by a writer who searched for the tsuchinoko, along with manga, set off a nationwide boom. Search events were held in places such as Higashishirakawa in Gifu Prefecture, and some local governments even offered rewards. Skeptics suggest sightings were snakes swollen after swallowing prey, young yamakagashi or mamushi snakes, or introduced lizards.
