Here be Hibagon

An interesting but somewhat eclectic YouTube "documentary" about a supposed cryptid primate in Japan, here called Hibagon. I say "supposed", since it´s not entirely clear whether we are even dealing with a cryptid in the strict cryptozoological sense, or simply a troll or fairy (known as Oni) from traditional Japanese folklore. 

Of course, there isn´t a necessary contradiction. Folkloristic creatures are frequently modernized and turned into "cryptids". To the skeptic, this simply proves that cryptids are a form of modern folklore and hence just as fictitious as their fairy forebears. The cryptozoologists for their part say the opposite: ancient superstition was about real animals still unknown to modern science.

I can´t help thinking that the sightings of the Hibagon (alias Yamagon and Kuigon) in the Hiroshima Prefecture are modelled on the modern Bigfoot phenomenon. The creatures are said to be gorilla-like, they leave human-like footprints, smell like shit, and are observed almost everywhere. There is even a very controversial photo of a supposed cadaver, once again identified as that of an unknown primate. The observations are from the 1970´s and 1980´s (when the Bigfoot craze was going strong in the US). Curiously, no observations of the Hibagon has been documented after 1986.

Ironically, even the skeptical explanation is the same as in the Pacific Northwest: misidentified bears. The Japanese black bear live in the Hiroshima area, and at least some of the footprints attributed to the fairy cryptid are bear-like. 

One of the people interviewed in the clip is Kyle Brink, who I assume is an American expatriate living in Japan. He has apparently written an entire book about Hibagon from a cryptozoological angle and also retells his own encounter with the beast in the dead of winter (when bears are hibernating). He has also looked into the folkloristic aspect, arguing that the Oni were always depicted as more animal/monkey-like in southern Japan.

Could be of some interest on a rainy afternoon.