Hanako-san, or Hanako from the toilet

Hanako, promotional poster

A certain urban legend says that when you knock at the third stall of the girl's bathroom on the third floor and cry out loud "Hanako-san, are you here?", a voice will say "Yes!".
If you decide to enter the stall, you will see a little girl in a red skirt. What happens next varies to regions.

Indeed one of the oldest urban legend to arrive in modern Japan.

Hanako is said to be a Japanese elementary schoolgirl from the 50s who died in mysterious circumstances and haunts nowadays every restrooms of Japan, the third door of the third floor to be precise.

 

 

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanako-san
http://pinktentacle.com/2010/04/hanako-san-terror-of-the-toilet/
http://matthewmeyer.net/blog/2010/10/27/a-yokai-a-day-hanako-san-or-hanako-of-the-toilet/
https://hyakkumonogatari.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/toire-no-hanako-san/

 

Work in progress... 

Izanami, goddess of creation and death

Izanami is one of the most ancient deities of Japanese mythology, wife of the god Izanagi and, together, they are considered to be the creators of the world of humans and of the cycle of life and death.

Izanagi, by Kobayashi Eitaku, 1885

According to the myth, Izanami was responsible for the creation of the cycle of life and death. After being emprisoned in the Yomi - the world of death - by his former husband Izanagi, she screamed with rage that if she was left here, she shall destroy 1000 lifes every day, in which he shouted that he then shall create 1500 lifes every day. Thus was set the cycle of life and death.

The myth of Izanagi and Izanami is similar to the greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in which the desperate Orpheus tried to fetch back his beloved dead Eurydice from the underworld and failed due to breaking the only promise he did to the gods of the underworld: not to look at Eurydice until they are out of the underworld.





What is similar to this myth is that Izanami died when giving birth to Kagu-Tsuchi, the incarnation of fire whose flames burned her mother to death. Outraged by such a loss, Izanagi killed Kagu-Tsuchi who then gave birth to dozens of other deities.
Unable to live without her, Izanagi then went to the Yomi, the shadowy land of the dead, which was accessible via a tunnel, the Yomotsuhirasaka, in order to fetch back Izanami to the living world.
However, when he finally found her, he could not see her as the omnipresent shadows were hidding her. She informed his husband that he came too late because she had already eaten the food of the underworld, becoming one with it.
Shocked by the news, Izanagi refused nonetheless to leave her and, desperate to see the once beautiful face of his lover, set his comb on fire to see her when she was asleep, only to discover with horror that Izanami became a hideous corpse with maggots and other foul creatures running over her rotten flesh.
Submerged by fear and disgust, Izanagi fled the Yomi, leaving Izanami behind. Awaken by his husband's scream, Izamani shrieked with indignation and chased him, sending demons to hunt him and bring him back to Yomi.
Now out of the Yomi, Izanagi shut the entrance with a large boulder, trapping the enraged Izanami behind it.

Izanami then became as we know today the goddess of creation and death.

Izanami, by Genzoman

Now we know who started everything.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izanami-no-Mikoto

Alma Wade, science is horrible (F.E.A.R)

Alma Wade (young) 

Alma Wade is the main antagonist of the video game franchise F.E.A.R developed by Monolith Productions.

While she was still a child, Alma had psychic powers and was used in experiments by the government to use her abilities as weapons. Due to endless suffering and trauma, she developed a humongous grudge against the corporation which had emprisoned her. After her death, she returned wreacking havoc as a ghost.

Alma's character is pretty reminiscent of the popular onryō, spreaded by (in)famous antagonists such as Sadako, Kayako or Samara.
Throughout the franchise, Alma's appearance changes from a creepy black haired child dressed in red to, with great surprise, a voluptuous naked woman with her face hidden behind her long dark hair, along with another more hideous one.

Sources:

http://fear.wikia.com/wiki/Alma_Wade

Work in progress...

Sachiko Shinozaki, or the Girl in the Red Dress (Corpse Party)

Sachiko depicted in the game

 Sachiko Shinozaki is the main antagonist of the Japanese video game franchise Corpse Party developed by Team GrisGris.

A little shy girl who witnessed her mother's death and was strangled by the murderer, the principal of the school. Her angered spirit returned haunting the school, trapping anyone who enters in a parallel dimension where the ghosts of the dead victims and Sachiko pursue any tresspassers to gruesomely murder them.

Sachiko follow the popular image of the onryō, the Japanese vengeful spirit, as a creepy long dark haired girl. Although she might be dressed in red instead of the traditional white, her skin is dead grey, sometimes bloodstained. She loves murdering her victims with a pair of sharp scissors.

"It's time for some mind games"

Sources:

http://corpseparty.wikia.com/wiki/Sachiko_Shinozaki

Work in progress...

Sadako Yamamura, she began everything with her cursed video tape

Sadako, Ringu (1998)

Sadako is the main antagonist of the Japanese horror film Ring directed by Hideo Nakata and released in 1998. An american remake was also released in 2002, The Ring, directed by Gore Verbinski, introducing the onryō to the western public. In fact, Ring is an adaptation of the book bearing the same name and written by Koji Suzuki. She was the first of the many onryō in cinema to know global popularity and start the global phenomenon of "dead wet girls" as monsters in theaters.










Who is she?

In her past life, Sadako was the daughter of Shizuko Yamamura, a woman practicing nensha, the art of projecting images onto film by thought alone, thus making Sadako already


As an onryō, Sadako interacts with people using a haunted video tape which, once viewed, will make the closest phone to ring, only to hear someone


Technology:

Sadako coming out of the TV, Ringu (1998)

Sadako is one of the few onryō that combine modernity and tradition, by using technology as a main tool to interact with their victims. Unlike other yūrei and onryō depicted in movies before her, Sadako was the first to break up with the traditional Japanese ghost, appealing more to younger viewers by the use of modern devices such as televisions and, for that time, video tapes. Like said before, Sadako's main tool is a video tape that contains her curse.





 In fact, she confronts the modern viewer an unexpected fear, the fear of technology, which is an everyday tool of our live, essential to have among us. What Sadako does is that she turns technology against us, making us terribly isolated and vulnerable since it is everywhere at anytime, plunging us into an endless and relentless oppression.

 

Sadako, Sadako Vs. Kayako (2016)

 

 Now here is her cursed video, see you in hell in 7 days.

 

Sources:

http://ring.wikia.com/wiki/Sadako_Yamamura
http://villains.wikia.com/wiki/Sadako_Yamamura
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadako_Yamamura

Work in progress...

Teke Teke, she will cut you in half, like fate did to her

Teke Teke, Matthew Meyer

Teke Teke is a dreadful creature taking its source from a japanese urban legend.

The legend says that one day, in Japan, a young schoolgirl fell into the rails and was brutally killed by a collision with a passing train, cutting her in half. Restless, her spirit became an onryō, the upper part of her dead body rose on her hands, and with a large scythe in one hand, she began crawling in dark, desolated and isolated places of Japan.
Nowadays, it is said in Japan that wanderers should never walk alone at night or in a gloomy day, by fear of meeting the Teke Teke. But if you were unlucky enough to meet her anyway, your only option to stay alive is to run as fast as you can, in order to loose her behind. In fact, she will relentlessy chase you on her fast moving hands, hitting viciously the ground with her broken nails, making a fearful sound : "Teke teke teke teke teke teke teke teke teke teke teke teke teke teke teke teke teke...

If you managed to loose her, congradulations, you are still alive and traumatised for the rest of your life. But if you were not fast enough, she will eventually catch you and split you in half, exactly as she was.

Two films were made inspired by the urban legend:

Teketeke (2009), directed by Kôji Shiraishi...

Followed by its sequel, Teketeke 2 (2009).

Sources:

http://matthewmeyer.net/blog/2015/10/31/a-yokai-a-day-teke-teke/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teke_Teke

Work in progress...

Toshio Seaki, that little boy who stares you upstairs (Ju On, The Grudge)

Toshio Saeki (ghost form), Ju-On

Toshio Saeki is an onryō appearing in the Ju-On and the Grudge franchise. He was the only child of Takeo and Kayako Saeki. After the murder of his mother by his father, Takeo, he was drowned in his bathtub along with his black cat.
After the curse has been set, his spirit became an onryō, a japanese vengeful spirit, and therefore haunts the Saeki mansion and kills everyone he encounters.







Toshio behaves as a warning, he is always the first manifestation of the Saeki's curse towards their victims. When he is roaming somewhere, his mother Kayako is certainly crawling around.

His main way to interact with humans is to stare at them, ominously meow at them and, sometimes, kill them - always off-screen in the movies - .
About the fact that he can perfectly meow like a cat, it is the result of "fusing" with his cat's spirit since they were both killed by drowning - and maybe because a cat and his master stay together in death? - , despite the fact that we can see the cat acting independantly from Toshio.
Although he does not kill alot, leaving it to her mother, the way he kills does not reflect exactly how he died - he was seen beheading someone with his bare hands in Sadako Vs. Kayako -.

This is the face you make when you see your father killing your mother, The Grudge 2

"MEOOOOOOOOOOW!!", The Grudge

Work in progress...

2016, Samara comes back, stronger than ever (Rings)

That is something I have never expected this year. I was watching videos on Youtube when I saw that thumbnail, and that title, Rings, my curiosity was triggered, I clicked on the trailer, and I saw her again...

Rings, directed by F. Javier Gutiérre and expected for 2017 is the direct sequel to the movie The Ring Two (2005) directed by Hideo Nakata and The Ring (2002) by Gore Verbinski.

The story is simple. The little Samara Morgan who we tought to be sealed in her wet well for the eternity returns with a clear message for everyone: she is back and she knows how to use the Internet.

Old video tapes and big cathodic TVs are over!
Time for the Internet and plasma screens to shine the infamous circle upon this cursed world!

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rings_(2017_film)

Natre, she screws up all your photos, only to ride your back like the devil (Shutter)

Natre is the main antagonist of the film Shutter directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom and released in 2004 in Thailand.

* SPOILER ALERT* 

You have been warned

A tragic love story between a young man nammed Tun, working as a photograph, and the vengeful spirit of Natre, her former lover, who decided to haunt him for breaking up with her.

Here is Tun - played by Ananda Everingham -

Here is Natre (ghost form) - played by Achita Sikamana -

Plot of the film

After drinking with close friends, Tan and his girlfriend Jane hit a girl on the road. Too scared to check her, Tun orders Jane to continue driving. Several days later, Tun discovers that his photos contains mysterious white shadows. Jane thinks that it is the ghost of the girl who is haunting them.
Meanwhile, Tun begins to suffer several neck pains and discover an ominous girl on his photos.
He and Jane hear later that their friends commited suicide, saying that a girl was haunting them.
Tun reveals that he had a former girlfriend named Natre and decides to go see her, in hopes of solving his problems.
Arriving at Natre's house, they discover her mother who was keeping the corpse of her beloved daughter since she commited suicide after being left by Tun. After convincing her to let Natre's body get cremated fo proper funerals, everyone thought that it was finally over.
However, one night when Tun and Jane were sleeping, Natre begins to pursue him through his apartment, eventually making him fall from several floors. He survived with little injuries and assisted with Jane to Natre's cremation.
Her spirit however is still active and indicates Jane to discover negatives of photos that Tun hidden between many others, showing Natre being raped by Tun's gang.
Horrified by Tun's secret, she quits him afterwards. Devastated and filled with anger, Tun shouts to Natre to show herself, grabs the polaroid

The vengeful ghost in Shutter

Natre's ghost represents the wrath of a heartbroken woman who did not want to loose the only one who came at her while she was in great despair. She became in the film the personnification of the past that comes haunting its victims, those who did something wrong and tried to forget it, only to realize with horror that the past returned to claim vengeance.
Killing her rapists one by one, haunting them through the tool that was used to humiliate her: the camera that forever immortalized the nightmare she lived that night.
Now, she remains forever close to Tun, on his shoulders, until he dies, as a punition for abandoning her.

The moral of this story: "Don't be an asshole".

Sources:

http://joevilayrath.blogspot.fr/2013/03/shutter.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shutter_(2004_film)
http://www.horror-extreme.com/asian-horror-movies/horror-reviews/shutter/

Kayako Saeki, you hear her death rattle, you are dead (Ju On, The Grudge)

Kayako Saeki, The Grudge (2004)

Kayako is the main antagonist of the film Ju-On and its american remake, The Grudge. Her character was created by director Takashi Shimizu.


Kayako is one of the most prolific figures of the japanese horror cinema genre, sharing the first step of the podium with Sadako from the Ring franchise, and also one of the most prominent modern representations of the onryō.

 There are two versions of Kayako, the Japanese and the American version.

Kayako, Ju On (Japanese)

Kayako, The Grudge 2 (American)

The only differences between them are that while the Japanese one has got short-to-medium curly hair, her American equivalent share the same haircut as Sadako - long dark falling hair-, these two Kayakos also don't share the same storyline, with minor to crucial changes (some characters she encounters, the way she kills them...).

With those stepped aside, Kayako is portrayed as a crawling young woman with pale - sometimes blue-ish - skin which can be seen bloodstained, wearing a white dress often stained with blood. Her eyes are unbearably wide open, stalking her preys.
Her most recognisable feature is the sound she emits to warn her victims: a creepy death rattle, sign of the cause of her own death by the hands of his husband who broke her neck.
Besides, Kayako possesses supernatural abilities such as breaking the laws of physics - her most frequent way to kill her victims is to drag them somewhere, disapearing entirely from this world - as well as emitting an unbearably oppressing aura capable of killing by fear and disorienting any human.

"Even your bed won't save you from me!", The Grudge (2004)

Nightmare for you, Ju On (2002)

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayako_Saeki

Work in progress...

Kushisake-onna, or the slit-mouthed woman

This urban legend depicts the existence of a strange woman that appears in Japan where you walk alone at night or at a gloomy day. She wear a surgery mask, something usual in Japan due to the high level of pollution and where people usually wear them to prevent spreading diseases. But she will then ask you this question : "Am I pretty?"
If you answer "No", she will use a large pair of scissors to kill you. But if you answer "Yes", she will remove her surgery mask, revealing an atrocious face, her mouth split ear to ear. She will then ask you : "And now?". If you answer "No", she will slit your mouth in half with her large pair of scissors. However, if your answer to her next question is "Yes", she will leave you alone. And when you will be about to go home, she will reappear and cut your face ear to ear.
In conclusion, meeting her is an almost certain death for you.
Running away is not an option since when she will not be in you field of vision anymore, she will reappear in front of you relentlessly.
There is however an escape. You have to be smart and confuse her. When you will be asked if she is pretty, ask her if you are pretty, since she will be confused by that question, you will have enough time to escape her. An other trick is to blame her for make you late to a meeting, since in Japan, delaying someone's schedule is considered unpolite, she will apologize and let you leave.
A certain version of the urban legend says that if you offer her sweets and candies, she will let you go.

Now, who is this mysterious woman?

Legends say that once uppon a time, in medieval Japan, there was a beautiful woman married to a samurai who discovered her infedility. Furious, the samurai drew his sword and mutilated her face, shouting at the same time : "Who is going to see you pretty now?".

Dishonored and humiliated, the spirit of the outraged woman returned from the dead as an onryo, appearing nowadays as a mouth covered woman with scissors in her hand, wandering in isolated places in Japan and wreaking havoc on unlucky trespassers.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuchisake-onna

Samara Morgan, that creepy girl coming from your TV

Samara Morgan is the main antagonist of The Ring directed by Gore Verbinsky in 2002, an american remake of the japanese Ring directed by Hideo Nakata in 1998. Introducing the japanese ghost monster to the American audience, she joined the ranks of famous monsters in western cinema among Dracula, Frankenstein, the mummy...

Like Sadako, Samara is a vengeful spirit trapped in a well, wreaking havoc on the livings by spreading a cursed videotape that kills its victims if viewing it.



The message behind the film


While the film does not bring the same message as Hideo's, the themes explored in it remains quite the same as other ghost films : the evil force of an unstoppable and relentless angered spirit, curses, fear of the unknown, the unusual, death...
 The character of Samara is not just about a creepy ghost coming from a TV screen, it is about an isolated child deprived of love and killed because of her unusualness. In fact, she was already considered dangerous while she was still a child.


Now I dare you to watch her tape linked below, and maybe you might die in seven days >:]

Hachishakusama, or the eigh feet woman

This Japanese urban legend tells the story of a young man visiting his grandparents living in the countryside. It was night time where he arrived. But something felt strange at this moment, he was next to a wall mesuring two meters height

Hachishakusama is a Japanese name composed of "hachi" meaning eight, "shaku" which is an equivalent of the feet measurement, and "sama" which is a suffixe put after someone's name as a respectul title such as Mr, Mrs, etc... In fact, Hachishakusama is a name given to the evil spirit by nearby inhabitants of the countryside.

Her appearance differs from a person to another, but they all describe an unusually tall woman making strange noises sounding like "Po po po poppopo po" in a man's voice. Or was it "Bo" or a "Vo"? This is not sure since the voice was pretty low and nearly incomprehensible.

She is said to be sealed in a village by four "jizou"s - small statues of monks -, each placed in all four cardinals - North, South, Est, West - to limitate her area of action.

Although her origins may be unknown, her clasification as a possible onryo is questionable. But I put her anyway since her actions were caracteristics of a curse.



The source of information was taken from this blog, I do not own it and am just sharing this story to a greater audience, so that we could have a nice time having our spines chilling.

http://japuttoglobal.blogspot.fr/2012/01/hachishakusama.html