Ghost Map

EN PL

Country

Japan

cases
8
years
940–2026

Legend: 7 Explained: 1

  1. 10th century

    1. 940–present Tomb and family curses · Legend The Mound of Masakado's Head, Tokyo Masakado-zuka, Ōtemachi, Chiyoda, Tokyo Among Tokyo's financial-district towers lies the grave of a 10th-century rebel's head. Disturb it and a curse follows – or so people believed well into the 1900s.

  2. 16th century

    1. c. 1510–present Haunted castles · Legend Okiku's Well at Himeji Castle Okiku's Well (Okiku-ido), Himeji Castle, Hyōgo Prefecture From the bottom of a well in Himeji Castle, the ghost of the servant Okiku is said to count plates every night – up to nine – and then let out a terrible scream.
    2. 1590–present Haunted castles · Legend The Ruins of Hachiōji Castle Hachiōji Castle ruins, Mount Shiroyama, Hachiōji, Tokyo A castle taken in a single day in 1590 by Hideyoshi's armies is said to be one of the most haunted places around Tokyo.

  3. 19th century

    1. 1825–present Tomb and family curses · Legend The Curse of Oiwa from Yotsuya Kaidan Oiwa Inari Tamiya Shrine, Yotsuya Samon-chō, Shinjuku, Tokyo Before staging Japan's most famous ghost story, casts and crews visit Oiwa's shrine or grave. Skip the visit, it is said, and misfortune follows.

  4. 1910–1919

    1. c. 1919–present Cursed objects · Legend Okiku, the Doll Whose Hair Grows Mannen-ji Temple, Kurisawa, Iwamizawa, Hokkaido A Japanese doll said to hold the spirit of a dead little girl. Its hair supposedly keeps growing, and the monks have to trim it.

  5. 1960–1969

    1. 1960–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend Aokigahara – the Sea of Trees at the Foot of Mount Fuji Aokigahara Forest, northwestern slope of Mount Fuji, Yamanashi Prefecture A dense forest on old lava at the foot of Mount Fuji is said to be home to yūrei, spirits of the dead – today it is also a place of sorrow that deserves respect.

  6. 1970–1979

    1. 1979 Spectral creatures and night demons · Explained Kuchisake-onna – the Slit-Mouthed Woman Panic Gifu, Gifu Prefecture In 1979 a rumour of a masked woman who asks “Am I pretty?” and slits mouths with scissors paralysed schools across Japan.

  7. 1980–1989

    1. 1985–2023 Tomb and family curses · Legend The Curse of the Colonel Ebisu Bridge over the Dōtonbori canal, Osaka Hanshin Tigers fans threw a statue of the KFC founder into a canal – and the team's luck ran out for 38 years. So began a Japanese curse.