Friday, October 23, 2026

Udonkenstein" (ウドンケンシュタイン)

"Udonkenstein" is an original monster character created, sculpted, and popularized by Japanese comedian, actor, and sculptor Jin Katagiri. The monster is a clever, surreal fusion of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein's monster and Sanuki Udon—the famous thick noodle specialty of Kagawa Prefecture (often nicknamed "Udon Ken" or Udon Prefecture.) Katagiri first birthed the character during a 2018 creative art event titled: "Mata, Tsumaranu Mono o Tsukutte Shimatta" (or, I've accidentally made another useless object) held in Kagawa. Instead of normal flesh, the creature's entire body is composed of rows of thick udon noodles. In place of classic neck bolts, it has chikuwa (Japanese fish cakes) pierced through its neck, and a raw egg yolk sits squarely on top of its head to complete the "Kamatama Udon" look. While initially debuting as a large-scale, limited-run soft vinyl "sofubi", toy manufacturer Kenelephant later adapted the character into a widely accessible blind-box, and also as a gachapon capsule figure collection (of 4) which you see here. Special huge thanks again to Mr. Cavin for gifting these to me, --they are an awesomely delicious addition to my Frankenstein monster collection!

8 comments:

Charlotte said...

Oh these look absolutely scrumptious! Er, I mean, scary! I’m loving that multicolor paint job 🩷🩵💚

Mr. Karswell said...

Frankenstein be trippin’!

JMR777 said...

Could this be Japan's answer to The Flying Spaghetti Monster?
Japan always does things in a wild and quirky way...

Mr. Cavin said...

Super good pictures! I never really contemplated those waving hands with their noodly fingers until I saw these closeups. So cool!

Mr. Karswell said...

I’d love to see a puzzle version of this where you actually pull the noodle strips apart and then try to put him back together again!

Mr. Karswell said...

Thank you again, man!

Mr. Karswell said...

I definitely love me some Quirkenstein! ;)

Brian Barnes said...

I love all the paint jobs on these; I think the splashes of neon is my favorite but the more highlighter color blue one is also a favorite. They could be a vine Frankenstein's monster until you see the egg on top of the head!