Their birth
- Japanese Mermaid
But how did these mermaids come into being?
One theory is that the Japanese were only able to start producing these misleading mermaids in the late eighteenth century. By then, techniques of taxidermy had been introduced from the West, which would have made it possible to assemble and preserve organic materials. Sources from this timeframe, post late 18th century, confirm that these objects existed at the time. For example, they are mentioned in the writings by the German physician Philipp Franz von Siebold, who resided in Japan between 1823 and 1829.
The knowledge of techniques of taxidermy could have been transferred from scholars of natural history to the burakumin, members of the lower classes often employed as butchers and tanners and therefore accustomed to working with skins and furs. But it has also been argued that if the organic elements, such as fish skins, were simply dried by using salt, then their manufacturing might even predate the 18th century.
Either way, what we know is that such mermaids were being made in Japan by the 18th century by ingenious creators who combined a variety of materials and techniques to create these mysterious and misleading objects.