There is a place I always want to visit around this time of year. It’s a small marsh in the nearby mountains, where I can meet Kawataro-kun, a kappa who spends his days fishing. I first met Kawataro-kun at the banks of Kappa Bridge in Kamikochi. He was abducted by a kappa who had settled in the Azusa River and was forced to live in a completely different world from the human realm, a world that was the opposite of everything he knew. In the kappa world, romance is driven by the females, and they find amusement in things that humans consider serious, while taking seriously things that humans find amusing—it’s a completely upside-down world.
At first, it was not boring due to the novelty, but eventually, he started to long for the human world. Finally, he managed to escape the kappa world with great difficulty, only to find himself confined to Room 23 of a psychiatric ward. There, his companion was Ryunosuke Akutagawa. Akutagawa also passed away, and eventually, Kawataro-kun settled near this marsh, living a life immersed in fishing all day long.

毎年この時期になると行きたくなる場所があります。近くの山の中に小さな沼があって、そこで日がな一日魚を釣っている河童河太郎くんに会うためです。河太郎くんと初めて会ったのは、上高地の河童橋の袂です。河太郎くんはここで梓川に住み着く河童に拉致され、人間世界とはまるで正反対なkappaの国で生活するのを余儀なくされました。恋愛はメスが積極的で、人間の真面目に思う事を面白がり、面白がる事を真面目に思う、まるであべこべの世界です。最初は物珍しさもあって退屈しませんでしたが、やがて人間世界が恋しくなりやっとの思いでkappaの世界を脱出しましたが、待ち受けていたのは精神病棟23号室です。そこで話し相手になったのが芥川龍之介です。その彼も死に、やがて河太郎くんはこの沼の近くに住み着いて、日がな一日魚釣り三昧の生活を送っているという事です。