Kappa are water spirits both feared and ridiculed. In older tales they are said to drag the unwary to terrible death by drowning. Yet they are bound by strange manners and easily outwitted. This version leans into their sillier side: wide, vacant eyes, a beak clamped around what may be a cucumber, or just its own tongue, and the telltale water droplet atop its head, evoking the image of a balding monk deep in thought.