A 1-Meter “River Master”!? The Giant Salamander a Guest Taught Me About

The other day, a guest who came all the way from Gifu gave me a little souvenir.

A keychain shaped like a giant salamander (ōsanshōuo).

Honestly, my first thought was, “Why a salamander…?” 😅

But as I listened to her story, that keychain suddenly started to look fascinating.

This guest had stayed with us last year too — a repeat visitor.

When she began, “You know, near my place…,” what followed was something I, living here in Shonai, could hardly picture.

There’s a 1-meter “master” living in the river nearby

“There’s a wild giant salamander over a meter long living in the river near my house.”

…A wild one. A whole meter.

For a while, I just couldn’t form the picture in my head.

I mean, a full meter. And it’s simply there, in the river.

Looking it up later, I learned the giant salamander is one of the largest amphibians in the world.

And it lives a very long time — there are records of individuals living over 50 years in captivity.

A creature that might outlive a human, sitting quietly in the shadow of a rock in a nearby river.

So that’s the kind of place Gifu is.

I felt a little envious.

Seeing is believing.

I found a video of an actual giant salamander survey in Gifu.

Here’s that “master” 👇

Turns out it’s a “national treasure” — a Special Natural Monument

What surprised me even more was the giant salamander’s “rank.”

It’s actually a Special Natural Monument.

That’s a special class, reserved only for the most important of the natural monuments.

Its company includes the crested ibis, the oriental stork, and the Amami rabbit — and it has held that status since 1952.

In other words, in the river near that guest’s home, one of the top “stars” among Japan’s creatures is living with a perfectly ordinary face.

To think the model for that keychain was such a big deal.

It suddenly looked very precious to me 😝

Same face, yet one’s a treasure and the other gets removed?

Here’s the part that made me go “Wow!” the most.

This giant salamander actually has a look-alike “impostor.”

The Chinese giant salamander, brought over from China.

They look almost identical. But this one crossbreeds with the native giant salamander.

What’s more, the foreign one is said to be more active, monopolizing breeding sites and driving out the natives.

In a certain river in Kyoto, this crossbreeding has apparently advanced quite far.

Partly for that reason, since 2024, foreign giant salamanders and crossbred individuals have been designated as “Invasive Alien Species.”

Despite having nearly the same face, one is a national treasure and the other a target for removal.

Which one you happen to be born as — that alone flips your standing completely.

It’s a complicated world, somehow.

There are 48 kinds of salamander — and one lives right here in Shonai!

One more thing that honestly surprised me as I looked into it.

There are a huge number of salamander species.

Apart from the big giant salamander, there are little salamanders about 10 cm long — and in Japan alone there are said to be 48 species. And that number is still climbing, which is amazing.

And here I was surprised one notch further.

One of those little species, the Tohoku salamander, actually lives right here in Shonai.

There are even records of it using roadside puddles to breed.

While I was marveling at Gifu’s river “master,” its cousin was, of all places, right under my feet.

“The foot of the lighthouse is dark” — maybe this is exactly what that old saying means 😅

(By the way, the big giant salamander only lives in western Japan, so it isn’t here in Shonai. Just to be clear.)

I’d never have known. Someday I want to go meet one in Gifu

If it weren’t for this encounter, I probably would have gone my whole life without ever looking into giant salamanders.

Like this, there’s so much I learn from casual conversations with my guests.

This is exactly why running a guesthouse is so much fun. I truly feel that.

Had I stayed unaware, I’d never have laid eyes on the giant salamander.

But now that I know, I want to see one at least once.

Gifu is a little far.

But someday, I’d love to go.

Wrap-up

This is exactly why guesthouses are so much fun!

Watausagi is a free-and-easy, self-check-in inn.

There’s no over-the-top hospitality. Instead, I hope you can drop your shoulders and enjoy those once-in-a-lifetime encounters between fellow travelers.

On this blog, I’ll keep sharing the charms of Yamagata, Tsuruoka, and Shonai. I post update announcements on Instagram Stories — follow along if you’d like.

Likes and shares make me really happy too 💕