Kappa does not mean cucumber!!

AlanN

I hope I'm not the only one who's made this assumption. If you eat vegetable sushi rolls, you've probably seen kappamaki on the menu. For years, I've assumed kappa meant cucumber.

So, last night in the eTutor session, when we were doing a role play in a restaurant, when asked what kind of yasai (vegetable) I wanted, I said, kappa o kudasai (some kappa, please.) I know, it's an odd vegetable to order, but my vocab is still limited.

Sugita sensee looked a bit perplexed, but then explained that kappa is not cucumber, but instead some kind of amphibious like creature from folklore, associated with cucumbers. So, the name is a bit like Popeye Rolls, with spinach, I suppose. 

I'm thankful I made the mistake in an eTutoring session and not in Tokyo in a few weeks! Arigatoo gozaimashita, Sugita sensee!

Sakura

Yes, Kappa Maki is sort of like Popeye Rolls (if such things ever exist!). That's a great analogy! Kappa is supposed to like cucumbers, and therefore cucumber rolls are called Kappa rolls. But I think this is the only instance where people say kappa instead of kyuuri ("cucumber"). We never say, for example, "Kappa sarada" to mean "cucumber salad"!