Toshiden: Exploring Japanese Urban Legends: Volume One

by Tara A. Devlin

  It’s thought this legend came about because of the intense pressure involved in Japanese schools to memorise facts for tests. This rote memorisation is a hot topic of debate even today, and with the rising pressure on kids to do better each year and with kids starting cram schools younger and younger, this legend is likely a result of some of that stress.

  Inokashira Park curse

  There exists a certain rumour about Inokashira Park in Tokyo.

  If you ride on a boat in the park with your partner, then you will be cursed to break up. It is said that Benzaiten, who is enshrined in the lake, becomes jealous of couples and causes them to split.

  While Inokashira Park is now known as a famous ghost spot, it’s also a couple destroying spot as well.

  ABOUT

  These types of legends exist all over Japan. You can find a similar one in the now-abandoned theme park Kappa Pier in Gunma Prefecture, and the famous shrine Izumo Taisha in Shimane Prefecture. These places are affectionately known as owakare spotto or break-up spots. In almost all cases it’s the work of a jealous god.

  In the modern age, social media helps legends like this keep going. You can find countless reports on Twitter of people who went on dates at Inokashira Park, rode the boats, and then later broke up. The mere suggestion that a couple will break up after riding the boats is often enough to make it a self-fulfilling prophecy, as with many other legends, so there is undoubtedly an element of truth to the rumours.

  Cow’s Head

  There exists a tale so terrifying that all who hear it will be unable to stop trembling, and will die within three days. The creator of this story, regretting that his work caused so many deaths, became a priest and held a memorial service for those who had passed on. He never again told the story to another person before he died. Everyone who knew the story has passed on, and all that remains are the tales of the fear it inspired, and its title: Cow’s Head.

  ABOUT

  This one is an urban legend about a ghost story that no longer exists. While you can find many stories on the internet that claim to be the real thing, they’re all fakes; the actual story doesn’t exist. That’s the point of the legend and why it’s so terrifying. The only part that remains of this so-called story is the title, Gozu, or Cow’s Head. This leaves the contents of the story up to the imagination of the reader, and the mere thought that a tale could be so scary as to kill you upon hearing it has made for one of the most effective and enduring urban legends in Japan today.

  HISTORY

  Author Komatsu Sakyo wrote a short story in 1956 titled “Cow’s Head.” It is believed this is where the later urban legend originated from. Its title and even the contents of the story are almost exactly the same as the legend that exists today.

  In the story, a young man overhears some people talking about the “scariest story ever,” a tale they call “Cow’s Head.” Intrigued, he asks them to tell him the story, but everyone refuses. They can’t say it. They don’t want to remember it. Ask someone else. The excuses are endless, and as the man asks more and more people, he realises that an unexpectedly large number of people know of the story. “Yeah, that’s a really good one.” “That story is so well written.” “I’ve never heard such a scary story as that one.”

  And yet everyone refuses to tell him the tale. He finds himself at the home of a mystery writer and discovers the tale’s origins lie in central Asia. He asks the writer to tell him the story, but the man refuses, saying he has some urgent business to attend to and to come back tomorrow. When the man visits him the next day, he discovers the writer has taken off overseas for an extended vacation.

  That’s when the man realises something that shocks him. Everyone knows the story title “Cow’s Head” and that the tale is terrifying, but not a single person knows the details of the story. In fact, they even said it themselves. “I’ve never heard such a scary story as that one.” Only the title and the fear the story inspires are being spread, and in reality no-one has actually heard it. Yet, even though no-one has heard it, it continues to terrify people, regardless.

  The man then decides to continue spreading the story to those who haven’t heard it yet.

  It’s easy to see why people think this urban legend sprang to life from this story. The story essentially is the urban legend and goes to show how effective the power of suggestion can be. You don’t need to craft the most terrifying tale ever, you just need people to think that it exists and they’ll do the rest of the work for you.

  Komatsu himself stated that the concept of the “Cow’s Head” story was already floating around in the publishing world at the time and was not even his original idea. Its roots can be traced back even further. There was supposedly a village towards the end of the Edo Period that suffered from a great famine and resorted to cannibalism to survive. At first they only ate the flesh of the dead, but in time this escalated and they started to eat those who were too weak to fight back as well. Feeling a great sense of guilt over what they were doing, the villagers resorted to putting cow’s scalps on those they wished to hunt as a way to pretend they weren’t committing horrific acts.

  TALES OF THE TALE

  The following is perhaps the most famous tale related to the Cow’s Head urban legend and is often passed around as “evidence” of the real story’s power:

  An elementary school teacher was telling his students ghost stories on the bus as they headed towards their school trip. His usually boisterous students listened to him seriously and were truly scared. Feeling pleased with himself, the teacher saved his scariest story for last; that of the “Cow’s Head.” He lowered his voice and began to speak.

  “The story I’m going to tell you now is that of the Cow’s Head. So, about this Cow’s Head…”

  Shortly after he began to tell the tale something strange happened on the bus. The children began to tremble with fear, and one after the other they pleaded with him to stop. One child turned blue and covered his ears while others screamed and cried at the top of their lungs.

  But the teacher did not stop. His eyes were blank, like he had been possessed by something.

  The bus came to a sudden stop, and the teacher returned to his senses. He looked at the bus driver and saw he was trembling and had broken out in a cold sweat. He must have stopped, thinking he could go on no longer. Then as he looked around the bus, he saw the students had all fainted and were foaming at the mouth.

  The teacher never told the tale of the Cow’s Head ever again.

  In the end, sometimes the scariest stories are the ones we’re not told, wouldn’t you agree?

  Fatal fare

  One night a taxi driver picked up a woman at the entrance of an empty cemetery. The woman informed the driver of her destination with a lifeless expression on her face, and the taxi took off.

  As he was driving, the taxi driver attempted to engage the woman in conversation numerous times, glancing in the rear-view mirror, but she didn’t respond. She remained silent until they finally reached their destination.

  The driver turned around in his seat and noticed the woman was gone. All that remained in the seat she was sitting in was a puddle of water…

  ABOUT

  This one is rather similar to the vanishing hitchhiker in the West. The tale generally takes place late at night, the driver picks up a woman from a cemetery, he tries to talk to her as they drive towards her destination but she says nothing, and finally when they arrive he finds nothing but a puddle of water in the backseat. Some versions of the story go a little more into detail, making it even more like the vanishing hitchhiker, with the destination being the woman’s home while alive, and the taxi driver finding out she died just a few days earlier. Other versions have him turning around while driving and finding the woman is gone before driving over the edge of a cliff.

  HISTORY

  There are several theories about how this legend came about although the most likely answer is a combination of all of them.

  The story as
we know it today supposedly originated from Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo, one of the most haunted spots in all of Japan. There are multiple ghost stories and urban legends that have sprung forth from the area, with this tale being just one of them. There are reportedly many taxis that refuse to pick passengers up from Aoyama Cemetery at night even today, and very few pass by in the first place.

  According to one website, however, the legend came about simply because one taxi driver didn’t want to pay for cleaning charges in his cab. Taxi drivers in Japan must pay for all internal cleaning charges of their cars. This can make them hesitant to pick up drunks, because if they throw up or make a mess in the back seat, that comes out of the driver’s own money. One driver reportedly picked up a drunk woman, and like in the tale kept trying to talk to her as she sat in the backseat, glancing in the rear-view mirror to check she was okay. She didn’t answer him, but she did wet herself before they reached her destination. So that the money wouldn’t come out of his pay, the driver made the ghost story up. It’s unknown whether he still had to pay for the cleaning charges, regardless.

  And yet traces of the tale can be found as far back as 1949 where a version of this tale is told in the book Shunsho Gudan. It is almost word for word the fatal fare legend, and the most likely candidate for the story that is spread today. The story goes as follows:

  This happened about 20 or so years ago. Folk from Isesaki should remember this one. A driver picked up a customer and took them to Tokyo. On the way back, a beautiful Tokyo woman called out to him. She wanted to go to Isesaki, and so she got in and they drove throughout the night. Yet on the way, somewhere around the Saitama area, the man looked in the rear-view mirror and didn’t see the woman. Thinking something terrible might have happened, he turned around, but she was still sitting there. He realised something was odd. He feared she wasn’t just some ordinary person. When he arrived at her destination in Isesaki, she was no longer in the car. Gripped with fear, the driver went to sleep, and just three days later he died. The man’s full name and address were printed in the newspapers of the time, and I have the clippings saved in my storehouse somewhere.

  But the story can be traced back even further. All the way back to the 1600s! Of course, taxis didn’t exist then, but horses did. There is a tale in the Shokoku Hyakumonogatari, published in 1677, that features the story of a woman named Kiku. She was the servant of a man named Kumamoto Shuri. He was a cruel man, and upon finding sewing needles in his food one day, he tortured Kiku to death. She promised to haunt his family for seven generations, and she kept her word. Shuri went mad with her ghostly haunting and died. And so it went for the second and third generations.

  During the fourth, a packhorse driver received a request from a young woman. She wanted him to drive her to the Kumamoto house. It was late, and the driver refused because it was too far, but the woman promised to pay him more than the usual fare, so he relented.

  When they arrived, the woman went into the house without paying him. Seeking his fare, the packhorse driver called out, but he was informed there was no such woman there. A female voice then called out, “Kiku came again, just pay the man.” The chief retainer went outside and paid the driver, but that day the fourth generation descendant of Shuri took ill. Seven days later he died. Kiku kept her word and continued to haunt the man’s family for seven generations.

  Vanishing hitchhiker stories have been around for hundreds of years, as we can see from this tale. The modern day Fatal Fare is likely a continuation of this classic, revamped and retold for the modern age.

  Aka Manto

  A young girl was using the toilets at school after dark. She went to grab some paper but realised there was none. Then she heard a voice from the other side of the door.

  “Do you want red paper? Or do you want blue paper?”

  The girl answered red, and blood gushed out of her entire body, killing her.

  When the other students heard about what happened, they stopped using the toilets after dark.

  But one day, unable to hold it in any longer, one student nervously approached the toilets. Then she heard a voice from the other side of the door.

  “Do you want red paper? Or do you want blue paper?”

  Remembering what she heard about answering red, the girl answered, “Blue paper.”

  The blood was drained from her entire body, leaving her a ghastly blue as she died.

  ABOUT

  Aka Manto is one of the oldest and most popular urban legends to come out of Japan to date. Rumours of Aka Manto became so large at one point that even the police were urged into action. But who is Aka Manto?

  Aka Manto is a mysterious figure that haunts school toilets. He wears a red cape (which is how he gained the name Aka (red) Manto (cloak)) and kidnaps and murders children. He stands on the other side of the toilet door, and depending on the version, will ask if you want red or blue paper/a red or blue cloak. There is no good answer. Choosing red results in a bloody death, usually by stabbing, and choosing blue results in having the blood drained from your body, leaving you a blue husk.

  HISTORY

  In February 1906 in Fukui Prefecture, a strange series of murders took place that came to be known as the “Ao Getto” incident. Ao meaning blue and getto being what the locals called a blanket. A man was seen in the snowy village of Shinbo (present day Sakai City) wearing a blue blanket shortly before several dead bodies from the same family were discovered. The man was never found, nor the motive for his crimes ever discovered, and to this day the incident remains unsolved. The story was so strange that it spread all over the country and is thought by many to be the original inspiration for Aka Manto.

  Aka Manto truly came to life in the 1940s, however. There were rumours of a man wearing a red cloak who would kidnap children and murder them. He often targeted girls in particular, assaulting them before killing them. The story of a young girl’s brutal murder in the Tokyo area then combined with a picture story show called Aka Manto that was being performed at the time.

  The picture show Aka Manto was about a magician by the same name who took on a pupil who was working as a shoe shiner. The story had zero relation to the crime in question, but it was caught up in the aftermath of the burgeoning urban legend and police were called in to investigate. They ended up confiscating the show because of the fuss it was creating merely by its name.

  Some others claim the legend goes back even further than its Tokyo origins, starting in Osaka in 1935 with stories of a man wearing a cloak who would appear in people’s basements. This story then made its way to Tokyo a few years later, being reborn as the legend of Aka Manto.

  But an even older version can be traced back to a tale told in schools in Kyoto in the 1930s, and even earlier than that, it existed in the Azumino area of Nagano Prefecture. This is the origin of the paper version, although originally it was red and white paper, not red and blue. Regardless of where it came from first, Aka Manto has existed in some form for close to 100 years now.

  It’s also been suggested that Aka Manto became popular during the 30s and 40s because this was a period when Japan was heavily involved in WWII. Military personnel often wore capes, and because children were afraid of them, this fear transferred to the cloaks they were known for.

  VARIATIONS

  As mentioned earlier, there are two main variations to the Aka Manto legend. Perhaps the most well-known today is the story presented above where he asks the student in the toilet if they would like red or blue paper. This began as its own urban legend in Nara in the 30s, although the choices were red or white paper, and at some point it combined with the similar Aka Manto legend where he asks if you want a red or blue cloak:

  If you try to use an empty school toilet a tall man will appear out of nowhere and ask, “Which would you like, a red cloak or a blue cloak?” He will remain until you answer him.

  If you answer “red cloak” the man will stab you to death, leaving you to die in the red of your own blood.

  If you
answer “blue cloak” the blood will be drained from your body, leaving your body pale and blue.

  Slight variations on the method of death also exist. Choosing red can result in blood pouring down from the ceiling, or being cut to death by a sickle. Choosing blue can result in hanging until the body turns blue, and in some versions a hand will come out of the toilet in the colour you chose, dragging you down inside. One version in Tokyo sees your own body turning the colour of the paper you chose instead.

  In some versions even if you choose blue, Aka Manto will reply “there is none” and force you into choosing red. Several variations also feature white instead of blue, or sometimes even purple.

  HOW TO ESCAPE

  In most cases it’s not possible to escape Aka Manto. You’re forced into choosing red and blue, and both choices result in death. But there are some versions where you can escape. This can most easily be done by choosing yellow, or another colour that isn’t red or blue. Yet this also depends on where you live, and in many cases choosing another colour will simply see you dragged into the underworld, regardless.

  Another common choice is to answer with “Neither.” This will see nothing happen and is considered the best answer, but again, it depends on where you are. Sometimes Aka Manto is very persistent and will hang around until you pick a colour.

  Purple mirror

  Purple mirror. If you remember these two words by the time you turn 20, you will die. The reason for that is because there is a hidden curse behind those words.