“The definition of an urban legend is a story about an amusing or strange event, that is supposed to have happened, which is often repeated and which people believe is true.”
Oxford Learners Dictionaries
So as you can imagine there is a lot of urban legends in Japan (Nihon no Toshi Densetsu). I went through an amazing amount of creepy/strange urban legends, in the end, I have selected Seven Japanese urban legends, which I think are intriguing and hopefully, you will find creepy and frightening.
Modern Japanese urban legends tend to take place in schools or urban areas, and some can be considered cautionary tales.
If you are easily scared, please turn back now.
Aka Manto (Red Cloak/Cape)
Aka Manto is said to be a male spirit/ghost, who haunts public or school bathrooms. The spirit wears a flowing red cloak with a mask concealing his entire face, I’m not sure how people know this detail since he wears a mask, but in some accounts, he is described as handsome.
en.wikipedia.org
The origins of this urban legend seem to go back to the early 1930s, but it seems to have been established even then.
This legend is well known throughout Japan, it usually takes place in a specific toilet stall, in a specific bathroom, it’s usually a bathroom which isn’t used so much and more likely a little run down and has the old-style squat toilets.
According to the legend, when a person is sitting/crouching on the toilet when they have finished and reach for the toilet paper, they find there is none. Then Aka Manto appears and will ask them if they want red paper or blue paper, and in other versions of the legend, Aka Manto may ask them to choose between a red cloak and a blue cloak, or between a red cape and blue cape.
If they choose the red option they are stabbed and sliced up, so violently that blood is sprayed and drips down the toilet cubicle walls and the victim’s body is drenched in their own blood. In even, a more gruesome version the person’s skin is flayed so that it hangs off their back like a red cape.
If they choose the blue option, all their blood is sucked out of their body, instantly killing them and leaving them with a blue face. In other cases, the person is strangled until their face turns blue.
To try and get out of this impossible dilemma people have been known to say a different color, but this doesn’t end well for them, as they are dragged down the toilet to the Underworld or Hell. For some reason, if they reply yellow their face is forced down into the dirty toilet water until they drown.
School students have been known to carry extra toilet paper with them to avoid the deadly choice, but when they need the paper it has mysteriously disappeared, and they end up having to answer Aka Manto’s question.
There does seem to be a way to survive Aka Manto and that is to ignore his question or say you don’t need any paper, and get out of the bathroom as fast as your legs can carry you.
Hanako-san of the Toilet (Toire no Hanako-san)
Hanako san (Hanako in the Toilet) has been haunting school bathrooms since the 1950s.
Hanako is commonly described as having black bobbed hair and wearing a white blouse with a red skirt or dress.
The origins of Hanako are many and varied, the versions I have come across were:
- Hanako was murdered by a stranger or an abusive parent in a school bathroom.
- Hanako committed suicide in a school bathroom, after fleeing bullies and hiding in the third toilet stall.
- Hanako was killed in a school bathroom, hiding in the third stall while playing hide and seek during an air-raid in World War II
The rumors and legend of Hanako are particularly popular in Primary (Elementary) schools, where children challenge their classmates to try and summon Hanako.
To summon Hanako you should enter the girl’s bathroom on the third floor of the school, then knock on the third stall (cubicle) three times and ask if Hanako is there, after a long silence Hanako will reply “I’m here” or “yes”, the door of the stall will slightly open, if you are brave enough to push open the door you will see Hanako.
Frustratingly, after this, what happens to the person varies in extreme ways and its difficult to get a clear answer.
Possible things which could happen to you if you summon Hanako, a bloody ghostly hand could appear, or Hanako might grab you and drag you down the toilet into Hell. Also, I think bizarrely and I didn’t see this one coming you could be eaten by a three-headed lizard.
As with most urban legends details change depending on the region.
In Tokyo, if you knock on a toilet stall on the third-floor women’s bathroom, you might hear a small girls voice say “What?” to soothe Hanako you should reply “sorry, Hanako-san”
In Saitama prefecture, you have to knock 15 times on the fourth toilet stall and say “Hanako-san, lets play. Hanako might reply “okay”
In Yokohama, Hanako and her accomplice Yousuke-san will kill you if you don’t escape from the bathroom in three seconds. The clue that they are after you, is that you will see a hand/claw coming out of the toilet bowl.
There is definitely a strong connection to Japanese urban legends and bathrooms/toilets, as you can tell from the first two urban legends.
Gozu (Cow Head)
Gozu (Cow Head) also known as “Ox Head” is an urban legend about a supposedly fictional story called “Cow Head”.
The Cow Head story is so terrifying that people who read or hear it are overcome with fear to such an extent that they tremble violently for days until they die, or go into a permanent coma.
The most popular story of this urban legend, tells of a school teacher on a bus full of students, to entertain them and make the time go faster, he starts telling them ghost/horror stories. After a few stories, he asks the students if they knew the story “Cow Head” none of the students had heard of it, so he starts to tell them the story of “Cow Head”
Very quickly the students became anxious and fear started to grip them, they, they begged the teacher to stop, but the teacher couldn’t stop telling the story, he seemed possessed and his eyes rolled back into his head, so just showing the whites of his eyes.
The students started to collapse and foam at the mouth, eventually the teacher lost conscious, he woke up to find the bus had crashed and all his students are trembling on the ground, the teacher and the students who woke up couldn’t remember the “Cow Head” story at all, and the other students never woke up and remained in a coma for the rest of their lives.
Other variations include the detail that no one is able to retell the story since they die after hearing it.
The “Cow Head” story was rumored to be an unpublished work from sci-fi writer Sakyo Komatsu (1931-2011) a well known and respected writer, but there is no evidence to link the author to this urban legend.
During my research on the urban legend of Gozu, I came across a Japanese Buddhist demon general called Gozu, and can’t help but think there must be a link.
Gozu is a demon general who guards the gates of Hell, he has a head of a cow/ox. He is a servant of King Enma, the ruler of Hell, and Gozu is among the chief tortures of the sinners.
Gozu is one of the first demons people meet when they are entering Hell, if a person escapes Hell, Gozu is sent to bring them back.
If I find the story of the “Cow Head”, would you like me to tell it to you ?
Jinmenken (Human Faced Dog)
Jinmenken are dogs with human faces that are said to mainly appear at night in Japanese urban areas.
These creatures have been around in Japanese folklore since the Edo era (1603-1868), they are believed to be able to speak, if you get too close to them they will say “leave me alone”.
The Jinmenken were usually thought of as being a bad omen and were blamed for accidents and disasters.
In the 19th Century, historian Ishizuka Hokaishi wrote a book Gaiden Bunbun Shuyo, in which he mentions a case of a captured Jinmenken. A human-faced puppy was born in Edo (Tokyo) in 1810. A carnival owner became away of this bizarre-looking creature and quickly bought the Jinmenken for an exhibit in his carnival, where it became a very popular attraction.
Jinmenken as part of a carnival attraction
The sightings of the Jinmenken continued through the years, but sightings peaked in the late 1980’s/the early 1990s. People while taking out their rubbish, would find a dog rummaging around through the rubbish, and only realize it’s a Jinmenken when the dog turns to look at them and was shocked to see a human face looking back at them.
They are rumored to run along highways at extremely high speeds, overtaking cars and then looking back at drivers with their human faces.
It has been suggested the Jinmenken are the result of secret genetic experiments, or even that they are spirits of humans who were struck by a car while walking their dog.
Both of these theories, don’t make sense since these creatures have been in Japanese folklore for at least 200 years, so genetic experiments and traffic accidents don’t make sense.
A likely suspect for a Jinmenken some people believe is the Japanese macaques.
These primates are found over large parts of Japan and some say could resemble a dog in a badly lit area at night, with their human-like faces they could be misidentified, so starting the urban legend of the jinmenken.
What do you think ?
Kokkuri (Japanese Ouija)
Kokkuri or Kokkuri-san is a Japanese game that became popular during the Meiji era (1868-1912). It’s similar to the ouija board game you can buy in shops, but Kokkuri is made from items you will have in your house. This is still a popular game with Japanese high school students who want to summon a spirit, so they can ask questions about the future.
The spirit summoned Kokkuri san is supposed to be a trickster. Kokkuri san is an animal spirit that is a mixture of a fox, a dog, and a raccoon.
To play Kokkuri san you need at least two people, a sheet of paper, a pen and a coin.
- Take a blank sheet of paper and draw a torii (a traditional Japanese gate) at the top in red ink. Write “Yes” and “No” on either side of the torii. Beneath this, write a row of numbers from 0 to 9 and three rows of letters from A to Z.
- Open a window or door so Kokkuri san can enter the room. The torii represents the gateway to a Shinto shrine, the spirit will enter and leave through it.
- Place a coin on the red torii, each person should put their index finger on the coin.
- Call the spirit by saying “Kokkuri san, Kokkuri san, if you are here please move the coin.
- You can ask Kokkuri san whatever questions you like. It will move the coin to spell out the answer.
- To end the game, you must ask kukkuri san to leave, “Kokkuri san, Kokkuri san, please return home.” The coin will move to Yes and then come to rest on the red torii.
- When you are sure Kokkuri has left, you must destroy the paper, by tearing it up or burning it. You must also spend the coin you used before the end of the next day.
So you have your answers about your future, so all is well right ?
But remember Kokkuri san is a trickster it could be all true or all lies.
Teke Teke and Kashima Reiko
The Teke Teke is an urban legend about a young lady who was pushed in front of an oncoming train, while she was lying across the tracks, the oncoming train cut her body in half, her legs were severed from her body. The way in which she died turned her into a vengeful spirit (Onryo)
The Teke Teke is said to walk on her hands or her elbows, the dragging noises she makes resembles that of scratching, in Japanese the onomatopoeia for scratching is “teke teke”.
The Teke Teke is said to wander the streets and train stations looking for vengeance, carrying a scythe/sickle. It is said that if she encounters someone at night, she will chase them down, the Teke Teke can move at surprisingly high speed. If the person cant outrun her, she will slice them in two, so that they resemble the Teke Teke spirit. In some stories of the legend, she steals the victim’s legs and in others, the victim will also become a vengeful Teke Teke spirit.
Kashima Reiko is a tragic story of a woman who is beaten and abused by a group of men, she is left for dead, and crawls on her hands and knees looking for help. She collapses on a railway track and unfortunately, a train comes hurtling down the tracks and severs her body in two.
According to legend, these legless spirits haunt bathrooms, asking traumatized users of the bathroom, if they know where her legs are. If the person doesn’t reply or gives an unsatisfactory answer, Kashima Reiko will rip or cut their body into two.
The only way to escape this fate is to reply “Your legs are on the Meishin Expressway (The Meishin Expressway or also called the Nagoya – Kobe Expressway is the first Expressway in Japan.) I haven’t been able to find out why her legs would be on the Meishin Expressway.
Be wary you arent out of the woods yet, Kashima Reiko will then ask you “Who told you that?”, you reply “Kashima Reiko”, then she will ask you “Do you know my name ?”. if you reply “Kashima Reiko” she will rip your body in two. The only answer to give, if you want to survive this encounter is “ Mask Death Demon”, because it is the true meaning of her name ( Ka = mask, Shi = death and Ma = demon.)
The Slit Mouthed woman (Kuchisake – Onna)
This is one of the most famous urban legend in Japan.
The legend goes that a husband found out that his beautiful wife had been having an affair, in a rage, he slits the corners of her mouth from ear to ear. The husband then says to her “who will think you are beautiful now ?”
The women returned as a vengeful spirit (onryo). The Kuchisake-onna covers her mouth with a surgical mask or something which covers her lower face such as a fan. You might think this would make her look suspicious and stand out, but in Japan wearing a surgical mask is a very common sight, people wear them to prevent others from getting their cold/flu. She will also carry a weapon, it can be a knife, a machete, a scythe or a large pair of scissors.
On a dark and empty street Kuchisako-onna suddenly appears in front of an unexpecting person, she looks like a beautiful woman with her mouth covered, but her questions will make you feel uneasy.
She will then ask the person if they think she is attractive if they reply “No”, she will kill the person by stabbing and slashing them with her weapon.
If they reply “Yes” she will remove her mask to show the true horror of her mutilated face, she will then repeat the question or ask “How about now?”, if the person screams in horror, shows revolution or says “No” the Kuchisake-onna will kill them by slicing them in half with her razor-sharp weapon. If they say “Yes” she will slice the corners of their mouths from ear to ear to match her gruesome smile.
So it seems it is a no-win situation, meeting Kuchisake-onna, but there are ways to avoid these grisly fates.
You could reply to Kuchisake-onna’s question by telling her, her looks are average or so-so this seems to confuse her giving you enough time to escape, also by throwing money or hard candy (Bekko ame – traditional caramel candy) in her direction and run away as she stops to pick them up.
I hope you have enjoyed, is maybe the wrong word, but found these Japanese urban legends interesting and intriguing.
Please don’t have nightmares.
If you found this article interesting, please check out our article on Japanese Superstitions – https://japanesetales.com/japanese-superstitions/
