Japan: Japanese painting of a ningyo or mermaid obtained by Dutch trader Jan Cock Blomhoff, director of the Dutch trading post at Dejima, Nagasaki, from 1817 to 1824. A mermaid is a mythological aquatic creature with a female human head and torso and the tail of a fish. Mermaids are represented broadly in folklore, literature, and popular culture. In Japan, mermaids are called ningyo or 'fish people'. An old Japanese belief was that eating the flesh of a ningyo could grant immortality.

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Size: 3015px × 5957px
Photo credit: © Pictures From History / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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