A mysterious snake-like cryptid sighted across Japan's mountains, with a beer-bottle-shaped body and the ability to jump. Bounties exceeding 100 million yen have been offered for its capture.
It looks like a snake. But it is not a snake.
Its midsection bulges grotesquely, like a beer bottle laid on its side. Total length: 30 to 80 centimeters. A triangular head with eyelids—unusual for a snake. And its signature trait: it can coil its body like a spring and launch itself over a meter into the air.
This is the Tsuchinoko. Japan's most famous unidentified creature, and quite possibly the cryptid with the highest total bounty ever offered for its capture.
The Tsuchinoko has deep roots. Extraordinarily deep.
Some scholars believe that the "Nozuchi no Kami" mentioned in the Kojiki, Japan's oldest chronicle compiled in 712 AD, may be an early reference to the Tsuchinoko. The Wakan Sansai Zue, an illustrated encyclopedia from 1712, contains an entry for "Nozuchi"—a fat, serpentine creature drawn with unmistakable detail.
In Nara Prefecture's Yoshino region, the Tsuchinoko has been called "Bachi-hebi." In Gifu, it is "Nozuchi." In Shikoku, "Gohassun." The fact that independent folk traditions across Japan have preserved distinct names for this creature suggests it is more than a localized legend.
Modern Tsuchinoko sightings exploded in the 1970s, partly triggered by writer Seiko Tanabe's popular essays on the subject.
The consistency across eyewitness accounts is remarkable. A swollen midsection. A short tail that tapers abruptly. An ability to roll sideways. And—most bizarrely—multiple reports of the creature snoring while asleep.
Sightings cluster in Nara, Gifu, and Shikoku prefectures, but reports span from Hokkaido to Kyushu. The creature is most often found near mountain streams, resting on damp fallen leaves.
No cryptid in the world has inspired bounties quite like the Tsuchinoko.
The village of Higashi-Shirakawa in Gifu Prefecture has offered 100 million yen (roughly $700,000) for a live specimen. The village of Shimokitayama in Nara Prefecture posted a one million yen reward. Itoigawa City in Niigata Prefecture matched the 100 million yen offer. The combined bounties easily exceed 100 million yen.
Every May, Higashi-Shirakawa hosts the "Tsuchinoko Festa," drawing thousands of participants from across Japan for a mass search. Part community festival, part earnest cryptid hunt.
The leading hypothesis is misidentification: native snakes like the mamushi (pit viper) or yamakagashi that have recently swallowed large prey. A snake that has just consumed a frog or mouse can appear dramatically swollen in the midsection, closely matching the Tsuchinoko's "beer bottle" silhouette.
Another theory suggests escaped blue-tongued skinks (Tiliqua species), popular exotic pets in Japan. Their thick bodies and short legs could easily be mistaken for the Tsuchinoko at a glance.
But 1,300 years of sighting history. Independent folk traditions across dozens of prefectures. Can all of it really be explained by misidentification? The next time you walk a mountain trail and the fallen leaves at your feet shift in an unusual way, you might want to pause and take a closer look.
