Kawa no Kami

The appearance is like a massive lump of highly fluid mud dissolved in water, moving as if crawling. With each movement, the mud flows over the surface of its body. This mud is sludge filled with garbage and filth discarded by humans into the river, emitting a tremendous stench. The odor is so dangerous that it can instantly rot the rice Lin procured for breakfast from a distance, causing panic among the bathhouse staff, including Yubaba, as they welcome it. Since Lin had not yet returned from fetching breakfast, only Chihiro, under Yubaba's orders, received payment and attended to it. Such severe filth could not be removed by the medicinal bath Chihiro and Lin prepared while cleaning the bath just before the arrival of the Kawa no Kami. Chihiro attempted to add water using the medicinal bath tag and the mechanism on the bathhouse wall. Afterward, while being caught in the sludge, she advanced to the cauldron, and as she pulled the rope above the cauldron with her right hand, her left hand, which was gripping the edge, slipped, causing her to fall into the cauldron and become buried headfirst in the sludge accumulated at the bottom. It was the Kawa no Kami who pulled Chihiro out and saved her as she struggled to escape. The bathhouse staff assumed he was the real Kawa no Kami, or "Rotten God," based solely on his appearance and kept their distance. Lin went to ask Kamaji for all the medicinal baths, leaving only Chihiro to attend to him. Chihiro was the only one who noticed the thorn-like object stuck in the Kawa no Kami's body and, with the cooperation of the employees, pulled it out. This caused the garbage and filth that had adhered to or been swallowed by the Kawa no Kami over the years to gush out like a dam breaking, allowing the god to regain his original form. According to Yubaba, his true identity was a "notable river master (river god)." His appearance was majestic yet gentle, with a face resembling the mask of "Okina" from Noh theater, and a long, translucent, amorphous dragon-like body, akin to the flow of a river (described as a white snake body or white dragon in the storyboard and Roman Album). After saying "How splendid," the river god laughed and flew away from the prestigious karahafu gate high in the bathhouse, leaving behind a mysterious dumpling called "Nigadango" for Chihiro, who had attended to him, and a large amount of gold sand for the bathhouse.