Vicious Village Tales

Kowabana: 'True' Japanese scary stories from around the internet

This episode presents five distinct Japanese horror narratives centered on remote mountain villages, isolated shrines, and forbidden local customs. Each story

Key takeaways

• A young boy disobeys his grandfather's warning about a haunted field near a mountain village, encounters a woman in a red kimono, and later learns of his grandfather's sudden death.
• In the Sanin region, a doctor and nurse treat a girl who dies from a head injury, only for her vengeful father to kill another child as retribution after years of being shunned by townsfolk.

Main topics

• Rural Japanese folklore and village taboos
• Vengeful spirits and karmic retribution

Notable quotes

"I don't have hands, she said."

Conclusion

The episode delivers a cohesive collection of atmospheric rural horror tales that

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:10) This happened a few decades ago, so maybe I don't remember everything exactly, but I think I saw a ghost when I was a kid. My mother's parents' house is in a village in the mountains. Everyone knows everyone there, and the village is so small that everyone is basically family. During the summer holidays, my father always drove us there to stay for a while. I was a shy kid, so I always just played by myself there and never tried to make friends. There was a tiny river where you could catch char or something, although somebody owned that river so I remember them getting angry at me. And I didn't often see rice fields, so I thought they were interesting as well. The mountains were also full of bugs, so I had a ton of fun catching them. Of course, they told me not to go near a few particular places. That cliff was dangerous, be careful of the swamp over there, etc. But there was one in particular they warned me about. Apparently, it was haunted. These days I'd straight up be like, so you want me to go then? And of course, even then I was curious, so I ended up checking it out. I don't remember where it was or how I got there, but I was just a kid so it must have been near the village. I don't think there were any houses nearby. But it was an empty field full of weeds with a stone monument in the middle, and next to that stood a woman in a red kimono. I told my grandfather how scary it was when I got back, and when he heard I disobeyed him, he blew his top. According to my mother, he looked like a demon had possessed him. My father tried to calm him down, but then he got angry at my father as well, so we went home that very same day. I never saw my grandfather again after that, and every time I hear that story I still feel guilty about it. But my grandfather died this year, and we went back to that village for the first time in 20 or so years, which reminded me of what happened, so I thought I'd write this story down for everyone. Speaker 1 (2:40) Hey guys, I'm your host Tara A Devlin, and welcome to this week's episode of Kowabana, true Japanese scary stories from around the internet. The latest volume of Kowabana, Volume 16, is now available. If you want even more creepy tales of ghosts, haunted buildings, curses, mysterious rituals, and much more, make sure to check it out right now. And if you're looking for more to listen to, you can also find the audiobook for Kijo, Japan's most notorious female criminals, either on our Patreon, Fourth Wall Store, or various audiobook outlets, including Spotify and Audible. So don't miss out on that either if you're still looking for more. Before we get into this week's episode, I'm once again recording this with stitches in my mouth, and I'm still in quite a bit of pain, so I apologise in advance for how I might sound this week. I unfortunately don't have any other time I can record this, so I'm just doing my best. I hope you guys are all having a better week than I am. That being said, this week we're heading into some far-flung villages… to see what creepy customs, locations, and monsters we can dig up there. First up, a tragic incident leads to a father threatening revenge, but what lengths will he go to in order to avenge his daughter? Find out in Eyes in the Void. Speaker 1 (4:16) My family runs a guesthouse deep in the countryside of the Sanin region. I'd love to advertise it here, but it'll no doubt get deleted, so I won't, but let me tell you, I'm a great cook. I first learnt of this side at the start of the year. I enjoy reading the stories that young people put their entire hearts into, and I'm always waiting for more. The story I'm about to tell you now is something that actually happened to my mother when she was younger. Well, let's just call it a supposedly true story for now. It's so divorced from reality that I've never told anyone about it before. I mean, if I did, nobody would believe me. When my mother was younger, she worked as a nurse at her older brother's private clinic. So the nurse and doctor that I talk about in this story refers to my mother and her older brother. Doctors at the time weren't really divided into different specialisations like they are now. They accepted any patients, from those with skin diseases to pregnant women and anything in between. One evening, a girl was brought to the clinic with a rather serious head injury. The girl's father had brought her, and he was in a panic. There's no way I can help this girl, the doctor thought. However, he did all he could for her. But in the end, it wasn't enough. The girl's father clung to her body and cried his eyes out. All the nurse could do was sob. It was all so upsetting that they couldn't even ask how the girl had gotten injured in the first place. The doctor, nurse and father all knew each other. The doctor and nurse also knew the girl. No, that might not convey the extent of their relationship. The doctor had delivered the girl himself. Speaker 1 (6:28) The nurse stared, dumbfounded, as the father bawled his eyes out, picturing the father and daughter who always held hands. They were shunned by the other townsfolk because they came from a village said to be beholden to an Inugami. It's hard to think of now, but people from that village were shunned and avoided because it was believed they were possessed by an inugami. The doctor was not a greedy man, however, and he never took money from those poor villagers. Instead, he would see them free of charge and say things like, just give me some of your rice this autumn, or I'll be looking forward to some delicious meat next time I see you. Because this was the type of person he was. When his clinic caught fire one time, the villagers rushed to save it even before the fire brigade could arrive, and put it out before it could do any real damage. Speaker 1 (7:35) So, suddenly, the crying father stood up. Speaker 1 (7:41) Doctor, I can't ignore this any longer. I'm going to kill everyone! He screamed, and then he stormed out of the clinic, leaving his daughter's body behind. The doctor thought it had merely been an accident, and so, panicking, he ran after the father. The nurse also ran outside, thinking she had to do whatever it took to stop the father. But they couldn't exactly leave the girl's body alone, and so she stayed behind. Speaker 1 (8:17) The doctor came back alone. He searched everywhere but was unable to find the father. He even went to his house, but it was empty. And so, left with no other choice, the doctor contacted the police. However, even supposing that the father had gone out to kill someone, the police had no way of knowing who, and so they couldn't get there before him. When the girl was brought to the clinic, she still had a faint pulse. If there was a moment where she could briefly convey her thoughts, then her father would have been the only one to know it. The police, doctor, nurse, and even the girls' school teacher split up and went around to each and every house to ask about what happened. Is there anyone here who might know what happened to cause M-chan's death? But the answer was the same at every single house. No. Speaker 1 (9:24) The doctor ended up paying for the girl's funeral, and she was buried in the same spot as her mother. They had hoped her father might show up during her funeral, but there was still no sign of him. Speaker 1 (9:39) About a year after giving birth, the girl's mother caught a cold and died. The doctor punched the father just once. He punched him because the father had kept quiet about his wife's condition. Speaker 1 (9:56) I couldn't pay you when our daughter was born, or when she caught a fever, so I couldn't say anything, the father said through tears. And so, the doctor punched him as hard as he could. I told you I don't need money, didn't I? And then, as both the doctor and nurse also cried, they embraced the father. And then M-chan, who was supposed to be sleeping next to them, cried and joined in. Speaker 1 (10:33) There's simply no way these people could be possessed by an Inugami, the nurse thought from the bottom of her heart. They're all such nice people. Speaker 1 (10:46) A month passed without incident. The topic of the father's whereabouts began to fade away. And then one day, the clinic got a call. A five-year-old boy had started foaming at the mouth and then passed out. The doctor and nurse rushed over, but by the time they got there, the boy had already passed away. They attempted to perform CPR, but the moment they touched the boy's body, they realised something strange. Rigor Mortis had already set in. Speaker 1 (11:24) Neither doctor nor nurse could speak, and the boy's face was turning ashen right before their very eyes. Speaker 1 (11:34) There's simply no way. When the doctor removed the boy's shirt, he was even more shocked. His ribs were poking out, as though his body had already begun to dry up and wither away. It was just not possible for someone who had only just died. The doctor turned the boy over, and then everyone in the room froze. There was a purple bruise on his back. Nobody said anything, but it looked like a character. Speaker 1 (12:10) It honestly looked like the character for Beauty, my mother said.