Isonade

English

WOTD – 11 February 2023

Etymology

An illustration of the Isonade by Takehara Shunsensai, published in the 絵本百物語 (Ehon Hyaku Monogatari or Picture Book of a Hundred Stories, c. 1841).

Transliteration of Japanese 磯撫で (いそなで, Isonade, literally “shore stroker”).

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌiːsəʊˈnɑːdeɪ/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˌisoʊˈnɑdeɪ/
Hyphenation: Iso‧na‧de

Proper noun

Isonade

(Japanese mythology) A mythological monster that resembles an enormous shark, said to live off the coast of western Japan.
- 2009 June, Marios Christou, “Introduction”, in Fully Nonlinear Computations of Waves and Wave-structure Interaction (unpublished Ph.D. thesis), London: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London, DOI:10.25560/5488, OCLC 930656006, page 25:
  With more than 70% of the Earth's surface submerged beneath water, it comes as no surprise that throughout history mankind has been fascinated with the seas and oceans. In earlier years this fascination manifested itself in the form of fear and mystery; […] in Japanese stories, fierce winds would blow whenever Isonade, a shark-like sea monster, appeared.
- 2011, Gene Helfman; Bruce Collette, “Fishes in Stories and Literature”, in Fishes: The Animal Answer Guide, Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, page 131:
  Another Japanese giant fish is Isonade, a sharklike sea monster that causes strong winds and also capsizes boats or catches unwary fishermen with the hooks on its huge tail.
- 2014 summer, Jonathan Maniscalco, “Seven Entries from The New Book of Imaginary Beings”, in Jonathan Maniscalco and Frances Gossen, editors, Clarion‎, number 17, Boston, Mass.: The Pen & Anvil Press; Boston University Literary Society, ISSN 2150-6795, OCLC 430944393, archived from the original on 2022-07-16, section iii (The Isonade), page 107:
  Nipponese sailors traveling along the western coast of Japan are warned to keep a weather eye open for the Isonade, akin in form to a huge shark with hook-like barbs on its tail. Much as the giant namazu catfish of Japanese legend is associated with earthquakes, the movements of the gigantic Isonade are said to be the source of sudden changes in sea currents and winds from the north.

Translations

mythological monster that resembles an enormous shark said to live off the coast of western Japan