It might seem unbelievable to you that there are bigfoots in Japan, but when you understand the geography of Japan, around 73% of Japan is forested and mountainous, so plenty of space for a bigfoot to roam and keep out of sight of people.
The appearance of the Japanese Bigfoot
The Hibagon is typically described as being reddish-brown or black in color, sometimes reported as having a patch of white fur on its chest or arms, it is said to be foul-smelling, with a fierce face covered in bristles, a snub nose, and intense intelligent eyes, it has an unusually large head in a shape of an inverted triangle.
Its height is said to be 1.5 to 1.7 meters (about 5 ft.) tall and weighs an estimated 80 to 90 kilograms (about 180 lbs.)
The Hibagon received its name from the local animal control board.
When you compare this description of the Hibagon to the North American Bigfoot (Sasquatch) it is a lot smaller and lighter, the North American Bigfoot is commonly described as 6 to 8 feet tall and weighs 600 to 800 lbs.
The Hibagon Sightings
The main focus of the sightings is around Mount Hiba, a mountain in Hiroshima Prefecture, from 1970 to 1982.
The first reported sighting of the Hibagon occurred in early 1970 when a group of elementary school students was picking wild mushrooms in the forests of Mt. Hiba, they came across an ape-like animal, noisily crashing through the nearby brush.
The creature became agitated by the presence of the children and started snapping branches, in short making excessive noise to intimidate the children to leave. The children fled in terror and told their teacher what had happened.
A group of adults returned to the area, but the creature was nowhere to be seen, but there was evidence of smashed underbrush and branches that seemed to have been twisted off, this would take far more strength than elementary students could muster.
In July 1970 the creature was spotted by a truck driver. The driver reported seeing a gorilla-like creature standing upright, on its hind legs, walk across a field near a dam, then run across the road and disappeared into the forest.
The truck driver described the creature as being bipedal but quite hunched over, with extremely long arms practically dragging along the ground and a snouted face.
Only several days later on July 23rd, 1970 the creature came out of some tall grass in front of a surprised farmer, who described the creature as being as tall as an average man, covered in black fur and having a terrible face, with intelligent eyes. The Hibagon was also sighted walking through a rice field in the town of Saijo, around the same time.
In December 1970, some strange tracks in the snow were discovered near Mt. Hiba, they measured 21 centimeters in length. In the following years, more tracks came to light, one of the longest set of tracks went on for 300 meters, another set of tracks were the largest found measuring 30 centimeter’s in length.
Compared to the North American bigfoot, these footprints were quite small in comparison, but they were barefoot and showed opposable toes, similar to those of the great apes.
The number of sightings was continuing to increase and the local residents were becoming uneasy with this mysterious creature, was it dangerous to them or their livestock/animals?
The local regional authority of Saijo Shobara, set up a department to look into these phenomena. They collected the reports of the sightings from the eyewitnesses, and even organized patrols to try and convey safety and security to the local community.
The distinguished University of Kobe conducted an investigation in 1972 to try to find physical evidence of the existence of the Hibagon, also during this time the local police managed to make some plaster casts at a construction site, which were reported to be footprints of the Hibagon. Kobe university didn’t find any evidence of the Hibagon and closed their investigation, and disappointingly the plaster casts of the footprints taken by the police were found to be inconclusive.
Proof of the Hibagon?
The next significant sighting was on August 15, 1974, a motorist spotted a large black animal walking by the side of the road on four legs. I imagine they thought it was a bear, but when the creature noticed the approaching car, to the shock of the motorist the creature stood up on two legs and walked off.
The quick-thinking driver stopped the car, got out with their camera which they luckily had to hand, and took a picture of the Hibagon as it hid behind a tree. The photograph is of poor quality and difficult to make out the shape of the elusive Hibagon. Please look at the picture below and make up your own mind, and feel free to leave your opinion in the comments.
This photograph was widely published and became the most iconic and famous picture of a Hibagon.
The sightings continued in 1974, on June 20 a Hibagon was spotted crossing the road, the driver described the creature as moving in hopping leaps in an athletic manner.
On July 15, 1974, a woman saw a Hibagon near her house, she described the creature as ape-like, like a gorilla walking around on two legs and its height was around 1.6 meters tall.
Video proof of the Hibagon?
Over the years there has been supposedly video footage of the Hibagon, below is a link to two such footage.
Please have a look at the videos below in the link.
https://ameblo.jp/kz0222/entry-12662719885.html
To be honest the first video looks like a man in a gorilla/ape suit to me, but please make up your own minds.
Disappearance of the Hibagon
As quickly as the Hibagon made its presence known, it faded into the woods, not to be seen again until the early 1980’s.
The main and most curious sighting of the Hibagon happened in 1982 in Mitsugi, the Hibagon was described as 2 meters tall, so, much taller than previous sightings, and equivalent to the size of bigfoots (sasquatch) in North America, but this was not the most surprising aspect of the sighting, it was said this tall Hibagon was holding what looked like a stone tool.
Nothing like the size or the Hibagon carrying a tool had been reported before.
In 1982 the sightings of the Hibagon ceased, and no reliable sightings have been reported since.
Theories on what the Hibagon could be?
There are many theories about what the Hibagon could be, let’s take a look at the possible contenders.
- Unknown hominid or ape
Similar the Bigfoot (sasquatch) of North America the Hibagon doesn’t seem to be in the fossil record.
Is the Hibagon native to Japan or during the ice age, when Japan was connected to the Asian mainland through a land bridge, with the southern island of Kyushu linked to the Korean peninsula and the Northern Island of Hokkaido connected to Siberia?
The Hibagon could have wandered over to Japan from the Asian mainland.
If the Hibagon is an unknown hominid or ape there should have been reports/sightings throughout the history of Japan, and I would have expected the Hibagon to be in myths/folklore of Japan, but it isn’t and, the sightings only happened for a 12-year period from 1970 to 1982.
- Yajin – Wildman
Yajin means “Wild person” or “Barbaric person” and generally lives in a deep forest, do not understand human language. At times has superhuman strengths. The Yajin is described as a human covered with hair.
I haven’t come across any confirmed sightings or captures of the Wildman in Japan.
- World War 2 soldier – Japanese holdout
Japanese holdouts (Zanryu nipponhei – remaining Japanese soldiers). The holdouts were soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during World War 2, who continued fighting after the surrender of Japan in August 1945.
The holdouts either doubted the truth of the surrender, it went against their ideology, or simply didn’t get official orders because communications had been cut by the Allied advance.
Some holdouts died in shootouts with local forces, others surrendered or were captured. To persuade the holdouts to surrender they would send their surviving commanding officer or a high-ranking officer to persuade them the war was over and to surrender.
Many holdouts were discovered in southeast Asia and the Pacific islands over the following decades, the last one was private Teruo Namamura who surrendered on Morotai Island in Indonesia in December 1974.
Well into the 1980’s there were reports of holdouts, but searches didn’t find any proof.
You see what I’m driving at in this theory, that the Hinagon could have been a Japanese soldier or small group of soldiers living on the land, maybe wearing camouflage and coming across local people during the years. The sightings stopped because the soldier or the last member of the group died in 1982.
The drawback to this theory is that holdouts were found in countries outside Japan, basically, they were behind enemy lines, so would holdouts be in mainland Japan?
Maybe my imagination is running wild, but thought I would put it out there anyway.
- Escaped Orangutan/gorilla
A very common and I suppose the sensible theory is that an Orangutan/gorilla escaped from a zoo (but wouldn’t the zoo report this?) or released by an illegal owner of rare animals, maybe the animal was getting too strong to control.
This would match most of the witness’s decryptions and maybe the escaped/released animal died in 1982, so the sightings stopped, but the mystery continued.
- Japanese Macaque
The Japanese macaque, also known as the snow monkey. The macaque has brownish-grey fur, a pinkish-red face, and a short tail. The male weighs on average 11.3 kg (25 lbs.) and the male’s average height is 57 cm’s (22.4 inches).
The theory is that the Hibagon was a large male Japanese Macaque, maybe a former alpha male who had left or was chased away from the group, and was living a solo life in the Mt. Hiba area.
I feel this theory falls flat in several areas, the Japanese macaque is much smaller than the descriptions we see of the Hibagon, and also the macaque is a popular and well-known monkey in Japan, and I think it wouldn’t have been misidentified by so many witnesses.
- Japanese Black Bear
The Japanese black bear is a subspecies of the Asian black bear. It is estimated that there are about 10,000 black bears in Japan.
The male weighs 60-120 kilograms (130-260 lbs.), their body length is around 120-140 centimeters (47-55 inches) long.
The black bear has a distinctive white stripe across its chest and on its upper body/shoulders.
I believe a Japanese male black bear standing on its hind legs would match the height and weight of the witness’s decryptions, also with its snout, it has an inverted triangular face and it has the white markings described in the sighting reports.
However, the black bear should have been easy to recognize and unlikely to be confused with an ape like animal.
Final thoughts
These are the theories I have come across, some have their merits, but I feel the mystery still remains. Why the sightings started in 1970 and finished in 1982 only adds to the mystery.
Maybe the case of the Hibagon will never be solved, or maybe tomorrow a new sighting with a high-resolution video will solve the case.
Please feel free to express your opinion in the comments, which theory do you support, or have I missed something completely?
I came across the topic of the Hibagon while listening to the podcast: Bigfoot Terror in the Woods – give it a listen the brothers are entertaining presenters. www.bigfootterrorinthewoods.com
