In 2000, Yoshii, Okayama, Japan was in the news again, as people were flocking to the region to hunt for the tsuchinoko, a chirping reptile-like cryptid bearing at least some resemblance to a snake or a long, thick lizard. A 20 million yen reward from the Yoshii Municipal Government was the source of all the excitement.

Tsuchinoko fever hit Yoshii on May 21 after a farmer cutting grass swore he saw a snake-like creature with a face resembling the cartoon cat Doraemon slither across his field. The farmer slashed the creature with his weed whipper, but it fled into a nearby stream and escaped. Four days later, 72-year-old Hideko Takashima was talking with a couple of friends in Yoshii when she found what she thought was one of the creatures lying dead next to the stream a tsuchinoko reportedly had dived into to escape from the farmer. She picked it up and buried it.

Yoshii Municipal Government officials heard the rumors of a tsuchinoko and headed out to look over the local woman's find. They exhumed the body and forwarded it to Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare to be examined. Kuniyasu Sato, the professor who analyzed the reptile, said that the animal may indeed have been the tsuchinoko, but "scientifically speaking, it was a kind of snake."

Meanwhile, Mitsuko Arima, an 82-year-old from Yoshii, says she saw a tsuchinoko swimming along a river on the morning of June 15.

"I was surprised. I just pointed at it and asked 'Who are you? Who are you?' It didn't answer me, but just stared. It had a round face and didn't take its eyes off me. I can still see the eyes now. They were big and round and it looked like they were floating on the water," Arima says. "I've lived over 80 years, but I'd never seen anything like that in my life."

No one collected the reward in 2000.

I'm just curious to know if there any other reports/encounters with this creature since 2000

I haven't heard of this thing until now. That's a pretty weird looking snake. It's kinda cool.

Check this site out: http://www.youkaimura.org/tsuchinoko.htm

Here it is:
Tsuchinoko
Snake Creature

Pronunciation: tsuh-chi-noh-koh

Areas Found: Forests, tall grasses

Special Powers: Leaping

Danger Level: Generally harmless

Likes: Unknown

Dislikes: Those who annoy it

Profile
Often elusive but just as often spoken about is the tsuchinoko, a particular kind of creature that resembles a plump snake with a head that can only be described as adorable. With features said to be most like the long-beloved anime hero Doraemon, people have spotted tsuchinoko for hundreds of years. They seem to be generally peaceful and solitary creatures who dislike undue attention and will flee at a moment's notice; they can, as well, use their bodies to leap great distances, unlike their snakelike appearance might indicate.

Although some are quick to point out that the appearance of a tsuchinoko may be misleading, and that they exhibit terrible ferocity, it is entirely unlikely this is true; almost nobody believes them to be harmful or vicious, and there has not been a notable or well-known story of anyone being harmed by one. They do, however, appear to be quite flighty and will not usually remain where humans are for very long. This may have something to do with the fact that so many hunters attempt to find tsuchinoko to bring back.

Certainly tsuchinoko are among the most lovable and interesting of youkai, but like some others very little is known about them. Perhaps one day we will know more.

Media Appearances
- Castlevania: Minuet of Dawn/Aria of Sorrow (GameBoy Advance) - Tsuchinoko appears in only one room in this game and is difficult to find, but once found the entry in the monster encyclopedia is that Cruz proved its existence at last.

Notes
The first time I heard of tsuchinoko, I laughed because I couldn't imagine a plump snake with the head of Doraemon. I tried to reproduce this amusing mental picture in the image above, with results that satisfied me. Surely any creature with an appearance this lovable must be wonderful indeed.

Some other sites:

http://www.100megsfree4.com/farshores/c04snake.htm

http://www.100megsfree4.com/farshores/c_tsuchi.htm

Some peoples sketches/models of what they believe the Tsuchinoko looks like:








I really wouldn't know what to say. I would say it sounds fictional, but I can't based on peoples encounters, etc.

Weird looking snake you would almost say the frist attachment is photoshopped, the tail is attached after a few centimeters or something.

I would also call it fictional.
But it is a really cool snake indeed, not so long.

If their were a picture to be proven real, only a picture though, than I just might, just might believe it.

well in theory this creature could just be an undiscovered species of snake...

and thats not really that hard to believe....

new species are found all the time.....

True - but this specific snake Tsuchinoko:

- Has an adorable, cute face?
- Has the ability to leap?
- Likes peace?
- Harmless?
- Effectionate Snake?

It is possible to be true, but these features don't match a typical snake.

Never heard of this before but it's weird Japan is always in news for some strange lizards thing....


haha

Another media occurance of the Tsuchinoko is in Metal Gear Solid 3, where it is possible to catch it. Its even possible to eat it and apparently it tastes great, but you get a special bonus if its kept alive till the end.

Yeah, on my previous post, I included:

Media Appearances
- Castlevania: Minuet of Dawn/Aria of Sorrow (GameBoy Advance) - Tsuchinoko appears in only one room in this game and is difficult to find, but once found the entry in the monster encyclopedia is that Cruz proved its existence at last.

Yeah I saw that I was just pointing out another appearance for you

Oh my bad, sorry and thank you.

Never knew about those snake things.

Technically the Tsuchinoko is not a Snake. I dunno what it really is, but it's not a Snake.

Snake's slither from side to side and are victims of gravity. The Tsuchinoko moves it's body up and down to move, and can propel itself into the air to travel a maximum distance of about 2-3 meters.

well i caught one of these creatures in metal gear solid 3 snake eater, i didn't eat it though, it looks like the pictures aswell....

I have a hard time believing this one has any credibility, given the Japanese penchant for anime and the fact that this creature looks like a snake straight off a Pokemon card. It's all a little too culturally convenient..

well i guess there must be undiscovered specuies of snake out there...

i guess this could be one of them....

although the japanese have a lot of myths and legends....

I also got a tsuchinoko on snake eater, para-medic told me not to eat it, snake said "excellent" when i did though, i think it looks like a chisel O.o

well the one in game just looks how the japanese believe it to look....

Well konami is japanese what do ya expect?

SORRY BUT snakes are cute, some snakes are harmless and all snakes like peace. the only thing thats weird is it leaping.

The Sarajevo Jumping Snake is said to be able to jump (what's in a name).
King Cobra's (Asia) can 'stand' upright and a Black Mamba (Africa) can even raise it's body two meters upright. Due to certain muscles between special ribs (which makes for the ability of the mamba to travel at speeds of about 20 km/h).

So why would the ability to leap be so strange for a snake?

ive been interested in this snake for quite a while now, im try to prove if its real or fake. ive been looking for information from site to site, but i keep getting the same answers. people have reported seeing the tsuchinoko, but how do we know they arent lying? thhey have no proof. if i can get at least a clear picture of a real one, then my question will FINALLY be answered. if anyone can give me any information, or a picture of a tsuchinoko, please send it to me at jessederhawk@yahoo.ca. please, i will really appreciate it, thanks.

i heard of this before there was a mention of it at crytomundo.com

Somebody raise another 2 years old dead thread. Okay, I'll be serious, do a search in this forum's search facility, type "Tzuchinoko" or "Tsuchinoko", not so long ago, me, SJOD and Rosenrot heavily discussed the creature, much more extensively than this one.

The tsuchinoko has been a mystery for so many years, and also the fact that people have seen it. How can we beleive the sightings are true? We cant prove that they are telling the truth, or if they just want to get on the news or anything like that. most have the sightings happened so long ago, and the people that saw them are probably dead by now. if the only witnesses are no longer alive, we cant prove they exist. now that scientists have the technology to prove it, noboody really cares anymore. the tsuchinoko has started to lose media attention ever since 2003, so how can anyone else know about it like the people from the olden days?