Urban folklore exists in all countries of the world, but it is especially colorful in Japan. Absolutely all residents of this country know the terrible legends of Tokyo. City ghosts, female snakes, scary dolls, cow heads - all these characters have only one thing in common: the desire to harm people.
Paranormal creatures of the city slums frighten kids and schoolchildren. Guides tell local horror stories to curious tourists who then cannot sleep well. The legends of the Japanese capital are embodied in comics and films. There are many ghosts in Tokyo, and they are found at every turn.
Samurai and his head
In the X century, the samurai Taira-no-Masakado lived in Japan, had a separate province in management, but in every possible way intrigued against the central government. Once he raised troops against the main Japanese ruler and even declared himself emperor.
His revolution was not crowned with success. The samurai was captured and executed, chopping off his head. To intimidate the supporters of the rebellious samurai, the severed head was exposed for the amusement of the public. But something strange happened: the head seemed alive, made faces, and at one point it left the place of execution and flew away.
The flying head's path lay in the samurai's home province. But about the middle of the road, the head went down to rest in the area of the village of Shibasaki, which is now part of the city of Tokyo.
Compassionate villagers, sympathetic to the samurai, buried his head, but could not cope with the ghost of Masakado. He still resides in Shibasaki, guards the place of burial of the head and sometimes behaves very aggressively, seeing in passers-by the culprits of his death.
It becomes very scary when the spirit of a samurai tries to cut off the head of a living person. It is said that after such a collision with a ghost, characteristic marks can be seen on the neck.
Ghosts from the toilets
For some reason, the Japanese think that showers and toilets in schools are dangerous. Several urban legends are associated with them. They tell of such ghosts:
- the often harmless Hanako, who can sometimes kick up and cause considerable harm to the kids;
- legless Kasima Reiko looking for her limbs;
- the young man Aka Manto, who loves dangerous games.
Hanako is the most famous Japanese ghost who chose the toilet as his habitat. They say that this is the spirit of a schoolgirl murdered in the toilet. You need to look for him in the toilet on the third floor in booth number 3.
Some daredevils specifically summon the spirit of Hanako. To do this, just knock on the appropriate booth and call the girl. In this case, the disgruntled spirit can harm the person calling him and drag him down the toilet. An unpleasant death!
All Japanese schoolchildren are afraid of Hanako. Some even try to avoid going to the toilets at school once again or doing it with friends.
The stories of Kashima Reiko and Aka Manto are variations on the legend of Hanako. Kasime Reiko is a lady who has no legs. Anyone who enters her toilet, she asks about the missing legs. To protect yourself from this ghost, you just need to loudly call him by name.
Aka Manto is a classic villain who never misses an opportunity to harm any living person he meets. This ghost is also called the "Red Cloak" in Japan. He is indeed wrapped in a red cloak and is absolutely fixated on this garment.
He asks any visitor to his booth about the color preferences in the choice of a raincoat. And initially only two options are offered - red or blue. Those who choose a red cloak will find themselves with a severed head, and the blood flowing from the body will serve as a red cloak. Those who choose the blue option will be strangled to make the complexion resemble blue matter.
You can cheat and choose a cloak of a different color - green or yellow. Or tell the ghost that both are good options. But even in this case, Aka Manto will not spare, but simply drag the poor fellow to hell.
An old woman tearing off her legs
Some ghosts in Tokyo are especially intrusive: they can pester anyone on the street in the daylight with idiotic questions.
They say that a terrible old woman once minced after one boy, asking if he needed legs. At first, the child ignored the grandmother, and then in his hearts answered that no, he did not need legs. At the same moment, the baby fell to the ground, losing his legs and bleeding. The grandmother, along with the child's feet, evaporated, as if she had never existed.
Such ghosts, Japanese guides teach, need to be able to fight back and switch their attention to someone else.
This legend was invented to visually show Japanese schoolchildren that there is no need to talk to strangers on the street, as this can lead to dire consequences.
Phone booth
Another scary Tokyo legend is dedicated to the object with which ghosts take living people to the next world - a telephone booth.
This booth is installed at the Suicide Bridge, which is thrown over a deep gorge. Once two boys became interested in this place, first they looked at photos on the Internet, threw pictures to each other, and then one of them decided to go to the bridge to see it with his own eyes.
It so happened that he was there at midnight. And he was so impressed by the view from the bridge that he decided to call a friend. Unfortunately, there was no mobile communication near the gorge, but a telephone booth was found nearby.
The boy contacted a friend and said that he was standing near the bridge in a telephone booth. A friend remembered that there was no phone standing alone in the photographs found, and advised him not to leave the booth until he came to the rescue.
The boy looked around apprehensively and saw the ghosts of the suicides lining up at the phone booth. The spirits were patiently waiting for something, and the baby did not dare to leave the booth. He waited for a friend who grabbed him and pulled him away from the edge of the gorge.
It turns out that the payphone was a mirage that pushed people to death. Having made a call, passers-by left the non-existent booth and fell into the gorge. And the spirits of the place hurried them, creating the appearance of a queue.
The question arises, how then could people call on the missing phone? Legend says that all the suicides spoke on their own cell phones.
