After that night, no matter where Iemon looked-even in the very lanterns he used to light his path-he would see Oiwa’s face staring back at him. A terrified and guilty Iemon quickly fled from Oiwa, but no matter how far he ran, he couldn’t escape her hauntings. On the night of Iemon’s remarriage to Oume, the ghost of the disfigured Oiwa appeared before him. With her last breath, she cursed Iemon’s name. Seeing her deformed face for the first time, Oiwa was so horrified that she stole Takuetsu’s sword, killing herself. Instead, he told Oiwa of Iemon’s plan, and showed Oiwa her own face in a mirror. Takuetsu was so shocked by Oiwa’s appearance, he couldn’t follow through with the orders. The despicable samurai hired his friend Takuetsu to rape Oiwa, so that he would have the grounds for divorce. It disfigured Oiwa’s face, causing one of her eyes to droop and her hair to fall out, without her even noticing.ĭisgusted with her new appearance, Iemon wished to divorce Oiwa and marry Oume. Another woman, Oume, was madly in love with Iemon and out of jealous rage, she tricked Oiwa into using a cream that was laced with poison. Oiwa was a stunningly beautiful young woman who was married to the samurai Iemon, a petty man who only loved her for her head-turning looks. Not all scary stories are made up-The Tale of Oiwa is based on a real event that took place in 17th century Edo:
Inside, he found dozens of bodies bound in spider silk, and a giant Joro spider, dead from the injuries it had received.
The samurai followed the scarlet trail of spotted blood, all the way to an old, abandoned house. He immediately drew his sword and plunged it towards her, but only injuring the strange woman before she quickly retreated. Although she was beautiful, the samurai saw through her disguise, realizing she was not a human but some kind of yokai. The Jorogumo is a half-woman, half-spider yokai that can transform itself into a beautiful woman when hunting for unsuspecting men to devour!Ī young samurai was accosted in the street by an alluringly gorgeous woman. He fled from the hut as fast as he could and never looked back. The priest realized that the old woman was a Yamamba, luring unsuspecting travelers into her home only to shred them to pieces for her next meal. To his horror, he discovered the room filled with half-eaten corpses.
JAPANESE FOLK TALES IN JAPANESE CRACK
As soon as she stepped out to gather more firewood, the priest peeped through a crack in the door. Unable to overcome his curiosity, the priest failed to heed the old woman’s warning. As welcoming as she was, she gave the priest a strange warning: “No matter what, do not look in the back room.” A kind old woman invited him inside, welcoming him with food and a warm fire. Once upon a time, a Buddhist priest was caught out in a storm but luckily passed by a lonely hut. One of their oldest legends is from the Konjaku Monogatari: The Yamamba look like harmless old women, but are actually terrifying mountain yokai that consume human flesh. While I can’t tell one hundred stories, here are seven of the scariest stories featuring female yurei ( Japanese ghosts) and yokai ( Japanese monsters and spirits) that you can tell your friends, maybe even your older and braver kids, as a spooky bedtime story. Once the final candle was blown out, the room would be plunged into darkness and a ghostly figure would appear. They would sit in a circle of one hundred candles and every time someone told a story, one candle would be blown out. In old Japan, samurai would play a game: The Hyakumonogatari Kaidan. Curl up in a warm blanket and let these ladies tell their terrifying stories. Interestingly enough, most of these stories are centered around women. Japan has some of the best-and least known-ghost stories or kaidan.