Hibagon

ヒバゴン (Hibagon)

Japanese book cover depicting the Hibagon
Other name(s)	ヒナゴン (Hinagon)
Country	Japan
Region	Mount Hiba, Hiroshima Prefecture
Habitat	Forest

The Hibagon (ヒバゴン) or Hinagon (ヒナゴン) is the Japanese equivalent of the North American Bigfoot or the Himalayan Yeti. Sightings have been reported since the 1970s around Mount Hiba in the Hiroshima Prefecture.

History of the Hibagon

The Hibagon is described as a "black creature with white hands and large white feet, standing about five feet tall.", and has been said to resemble a gorilla.

The Hibagon has a large nose, large deep glaring eyes and is covered with bristles. Theories to account for this cryptid range from a gorilla, a wild man, or a deserter from the Japanese chefs, to an individual ravaged by atomic radiation from the nuclear attack on Hiroshima.

A sighting from 1972 reports that the creature "has a chocolate brown face and is covered with brown hair ... [and] is said to have 'deep glaring eyes', in two reports by a Mr. Sazawa and a Mrs. Harada, the creature took no hostile action and fled from four armed residents intent on hunting it."

Japanese Boy Scouts, "claim to find footprints 25 cm (10 in) long and 15 cm (6 in) wide."

Popular culture

• In Dragon Quest, the monsters known as "brainy badboons" are called ヒババンゴ (Hibabango) in japanese, referencing this creature.
• In The Secret Saturdays, a Hibagon was featured.
• In Big Hero 6: The Series, the Hibagon is constantly referenced by the character Fred who claims that it lives in the Muirahara Woods outside San Fransokyo (in the show's universe, San Francisco was rebranded with Japanese culture). The character Ned Ludd, is transformed into the creature through the use of a patch applied to him by the main villain of the series.
• In The Unwanteds series the Hibagon is a resident of the island of legends

See also

• List of topics characterized as pseudoscience
• Bigfoot, a similar creature reported from North America
• Yeti, a similar creature reported from the Himalayas