TSUCHINOKO

Lore

Tsuchinoko (ツチノコ) literally means “hammer child,” a reference to the snake’s distinctive outline: the body swells abruptly in the middle like a sledgehammer or bottle, while the head and tail stay relatively thin.

Appearance is described as follows: a snake 1—3 feet (30—80 cm) long, with an unusually thick mid-section. Its scales are a brown-gray mottled pattern, the belly a shade lighter. The head is triangular, very much like a viper’s. Legends credit the creature with traits no normal snake has: it can pronounce a few human words and emit a piercing cry—“dee!”—and is said to carry venomous fangs whose toxin rivals that of the Japanese mamushi, a small yet highly poisonous pit viper.

Its signature move is an explosive vertical jump of up to 3 feet (1 m); in mid-air it can thrust again, achieving a combined leap of roughly 6 feet (2 m). The Tsuchinoko uses powerful trunk muscles for this burst: it bends sharply, launches off its tail, and arcs through the air to bite a victim’s legs or torso. When it needs to travel fast, it supposedly swallows its own tail, coils into a ring, and rolls downhill like a wheel. This blend of leaping and rolling makes the beast unpredictable.