Kani-Bōzu

Kani-Bōzu (蟹坊主 Kani-Bōzu, lit. Crab Monk) is a crab yōkai and an adversary of Kitarō.
==Appearance==
Kani-Bōzu is a crab yōkai having short hair stop his head, ten, somewhat hairy, legs with the highest pair tipped with claws, several spots adorned these legs, as well as below. His face is placed where the back of the crab would be, having sharp eyes with tiny black pupils, a flat nose and a mustache with long locks hanging on either side.
His human form, which he primarily takes on, is a very tall man, towering over human adults with a bald head, having a small horn on his forehead, pointy gray mustache and eyebrows, and red markings under his eyes. He wears a velvet red cloak above his gray men's kimono, which has a white trim underneath it, and around his waist is a dark gray sash. Additionally, he has baggy pants that match his sash, white bandages around his calves, and light tan sandals. He normally has a dome-shaped straw hat that has brown triangular marks on the front and back and a diamond-shaped make on top.
==Personality==
In the fourth series, he dreamed of reaching Mount Penglai to meet Xú Fú once again. When they reunited, Kani-Bōzu cried happily.
In the 2018 anime, Kani-Bozu is loyal and dedicated to his princess, protecting her from pursuers by fighting them off and turning them to bronze. However, after waking up several centuries later, he denies that his princess' is gone, despite the drastic changes to his surroundings, and searches for her. This refusal to believe goes as far as to go on a rampage. His loyalty to the princess is so strong, that his last wish is to rest with her in the town where she died.
==History==
===Saishinban GeGeGe no Kitarō===
Kani-Bōzu was seen in chapter #20 as when he was about to be hunted by Yama-Warawa, Kitarō saved the former.
===1996 Anime===
Kani-Bōzu was originally a Chinese mitten crab brought to Japan by Xu Fu in search of Mount Penglai 2,200 years ago.
===2007 Anime===
He appears in the eighth episode of the fifth anime adaptation, An Old Adversary! Nurarihyon.
===Yōkai Sen Monogatari===
Shanghai Kani-Bōzu appears as a Chinese yōkai. He believed himself to be the strongest Chinese yōkai and challenged Kitarō who he believed as the strongest Japanese yōkai. He controlled Hitokui-Jima and took fishermen as hostages to lure Kitarō. His other goal was to create a museum to display stuffed yōkai with his cellular concrete-like ability. As Kitarō went inside Hitokui-Jima's body to rescue the hostages, Kani-Bōzu pursued him but was digested with digestive juice.
===2018 Anime===
Sometime during the Sengoku period, Kani-Bōzu served humans and protected a fleeing princess. One day while traveling he and a group of soldiers guard the princess when a group of pursuers appeared before them. He told the others to take the other path and turned the pursuers into bronze. The Elder Karasu-Tengu asked why is he helping humans, Kani-Bōzu asked back if he is a Yōkai as well before telling him to begone. Eventually, he and the princess hid in a mountain shrine in Sakaiminato. To determine if anyone approaching was a friend or foe he would give out a riddle, where their allies knew his name and turned enemies into bronze. He was warned time and time again by the Elder, that a Yōkai should not involve themself in the conflict of foolish humans. Eventually, a powerful priest sealed him away into the sea and the princess was killed.
====Series====
In the present day, Kani-Bōzu is freed by unknown means. He encounters Kinopi alone at night, asking him his riddle and turns him into bronze. He encounters more people, including Ittan-Momen, as the night goes on, turning every one of them into bronze for failing his riddle. He continues again the next day, turning everyone he encounters into bronze, including Nezumi-Otoko as he heads to the shrine. There he encounters Kitarō and the others and asks his riddle. He turns Konaki-Jijii, Nurikabe, and Neko-Musume into bronze as Kitarō battles him. He manages to get the Yōkai boy just as Sunakake-Babaa arrives, whom he mistakes for his princess. He chases after her and Medama-Oyaji, but they escape on 's truck.
He manages to find them, spotting the truck he partially turned to bronze and intercept their escape. He asks his riddle, turning Shōji to bronze as he tries to attack him. However, they manage to escape by Bake-Garasu. He wanders the city, looking for his princess. Later at night, he returns to Shōji's house and finds them, still thinking Sunakake-Babaa is his princess. She tries to get him to realize that she is not and that he has been asleep for centuries, but he denies and insists that she is spouting lies. He is persistent in his denial, that he asks her to answer his riddle to see if what she says is true, which she correctly answers. He flinches and cries, remembering his princess, and transforms into a giant crab, refusing to believe her. He goes on a rampage, where Sunakake-Babaa and Kojirō attempt to stop him. Just as Kani-Bōzu is about to attack Sunakake-Babaa, Kitarō arrives and uses his Internal Electricity to stop him. Kani-Bozū shrinks and looks at Sunakake-Babaa, reminiscing of his princess, and begins to cry. He asks her to hear his last wish as he foams himself, wanting to rest in the town his princess now rests in. The townsfolk honor his wish, placing him beside a statue of his princess as well as making statues of other Yōkai so he would not be lonely.GeGeGe no Kitarō (2018): Episode 17
===The Great Yōkai War===
==Powers and Abilities==
Bronze Transmutation: Kani-Bōzu's foam is able to transform his target into bronze, affecting both humans and Yōkai such as Kinopi and Ittan-Momen. It can also work on inanimate objects such as Shōji Inuyama's truck. To cure those who are affected by this, the water of Daisen's sacred springs is able to dispel it. The foam can also affect Kani-Bozū himself, using it after he decided to rest in the town where his princess died.
Human Transformation: Within the 2018 anime, he is able to change his appearance between his crab form and his human form.
Immense Durability: Kani-Bōzu has proven to be incredibly durable, easily brushing off Kitarō's Hair Needles and not even flinching from his Hair Spear. He is capable of continuously taking hits, being completely unscathed, and only defeated after being struck with a powerful electrical attack.
Enhanced Speed: He has shown impressive speed, being able to catch up to a moving truck before it had accelerated.
Cellular concrete:
Poisonous bubbles:
Bubble Bombs:
Bubble Hypnosis:
Camouflage:
Super Hammer Punch (超ハンマーパンチ Chō Hanmā Panchi): In Yōkai Sen Monogatari, Kani-Bōzu used his claws to punch and slam targets.
===Equipment===
Bell: Kani-Bozū uses this bell to announce his presence, before asking people to answer his riddle.
==Legend==
Kani-Bōzu is a giant crab yōkai that inhabits temples and has the power to change into a monk.
Most stories of the Kani-Bōzu involve him taking the form of a monk and occupies a temple, asking the riddle "Eight small legs, two large legs, walking sideways, and eyes staring at the heavens, what am I?" to any nearby villagers and monks. A clever monk would solve the riddle as being a "crab" before striking the Kani-Bōzu with a staff, breaking its shell and killing it.
In the Higashiyamanashi District, a traveling monk unable to find lodging for the night stayed in a temple known as the Kani Temple, which unbeknownst to him, every monk who stayed there mysteriously disappeared. Around midnight, he woke up to find another monk standing before him and asking him a difficult question, but the traveling monk recited the chant "Kaninbō, Kaninbō" three times and made him disappear. The following morning, he awoke to find a group of villagers surprised to see him still alive, after telling his story, the villagers told him that it was good fortune as every other monk who stayed in the temple disappeared after one night. The traveling monk thought for a while and asked if there was a nearby pond. When they told him there was a pond behind the temple, the traveling monk declared that it must be drained. When the pond was emptied, they found a giant crab surrounded by the skeletons of all the monks it killed. The villagers swarmed the giant crab and killed it, and nothing strange happened in the Kani Temple ever again.
==References==
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