Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: 犀, Water Rhinoceros, Suixi
Category: Turtle
The Myth
The Sai is a legendary rhinoceros depicted in traditional Japanese art as a water-dwelling beast with the body of a water buffalo, hooves, a large horn on its head, and a shell covering its back. It was regarded as a sacred creature believed to ward off fires. Its image appeared in temple and shrine carvings, as well as in traditional paintings and illustrated scrolls. Rhinoceros horn was also valued for medicinal purposes, contributing to the reverence surrounding its depictions.
Chinese texts distinguished between three kinds of rhinoceros: the mountain rhinoceros, which lived in forests; the water rhinoceros, which entered and left the water and was described as having a beaded shell on its back; and the female rhinoceros, which was said to possess a single horn. The water rhinoceros was particularly associated with the sacred, fire-protecting creature depicted in Japanese art.
A tale from Sado Kaidan Moshio-gusa tells of a farmer in Ogawa Village on Sado Island whose bull repeatedly disappeared at night. The farmer secretly followed it to the coast, where it met a strange, bull-like beast with a single horn on its forehead that leapt from the sea. The two fought with their horns for hours, but neither could win. Believing that his bull’s tail was preventing victory, the farmer cut it off. The following night, the one-horned beast threw the bull several jō through the air, causing it to strike a rock and die. The creature then returned to the sea, leaving the farmer to realise that his intervention had been mistaken.
Sources
“Rhino.” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1079588568.html