Six legends of Japanese horror that will not let you sleep tonight

If there is something that the Japanese know how to do very well (besides cars, technology and contests) it is to create horror stories, from which movies that have been taken up later by Hollywood have emerged, but what is a reality is that many such stories Sometimes they are based on supposed events that have given way to urban legends.

Of course there is no way of knowing if these legends actually happened (or do occur), but due to their complexity and that they have passed from generation to generation there is a sector in the Japanese population that takes them very seriously, to the degree of play with them and never even mention them for fear of awakening the wrath of the spirits.

1. Kuchisake-onna

The meaning of Kuchisake-onna would be something like "woman's mouth cut" and its origin is not entirely clear, since on the one hand they tell us about the story of a woman who was brutally mutilated by her husband once he returned in the form of evil spirit, but there is another version of a woman who was found with said cut after an automobile accident.

Legend has it that this woman usually appears with a surgical mask, which is normal for Japanese who seek to take care of colds or diseases. Their victims are mainly children and if you find her she will stop you and ask you if she is beautiful, if you answer no, she will cut your head with scissors, but if you answer yes, she will remove the mask showing her cut mouth and return to ask if she is beautiful, if this time you answer no, she will cut you in half, but if you answer yes, she will be happy and cut your mouth from ear to ear leaving you like her.

It is impossible to run and escape because if you try it she will reappear in front of you and will not leave until you answer her question. Such has been the fear for this legend that several schools have their teachers accompany students to their homes to arrive safely.

2. Teke Teke

A small young student suffered an accident when falling on the train tracks and be split in half, giving rise to the legend of Teke Teke, name that comes from the sound that makes this ghost to crawl moving the shoulders and hands tek .. .tek ... tek ... tek.

She is extremely fast and if you find her she will chase you until she reaches you and split you in half, since she will not feel alone and she will know that someone else is like her.

3. The Okiku doll

In 1918, 17-year-old Eikichi Suzuki bought a doll on the famous Tanuki-koji street in Sapporo, with the intention of giving it to his 2-year-old sister Okiku. The little girl fell in love with the doll, but years later Okiku died suddenly due to a cold.

In tribute to the girl, the family decided to place the doll on an altar to pray for the memory of Okiku, shortly after the family began to notice that the doll's hair had grown which meant that the spirit of the girl had housed in the wrist.

By 1938 the Suzuki family decided to move and leave the wrist in charge of the Mannenji Temple, which today has on display the 40-centimeter doll and since then has seen its hair grow below the knees, which has caused periodically have to be cut.

4. Aka mantle

With this legend the Japanese baths become the most terrifying place in the world, since Aka mantle is an evil spirit that appears while you are on the toilet, mainly in public and school bathrooms. Aka mantle comes before you and asks if you want red or blue toilet paper, if you answer red you will cut it with a knife until your clothes turn this color, but if you choose blue, you will strangle until your face becomes that color.

Do not try to deceive him by asking for another color, as this will make you travel to an unknown dimension transforming into an Aka mantle, the only way to escape is to decline the use of any paper, stop and go.

5. Tomimo's Hell

This story tells us about a poem called "Tomimo's Hell", which can even be easily obtained on the internet, which deals with the story of Tomimo who dies and falls into hell. The legend says that this poem should only be read in our mind, because if we read it out loud we will die.

This poem is part of the book "The Heart is Like a Rolling Stone" written by Yomota Inuhiko and was included in a collection of poems in 1919 which gave it a great exposure in the country. Nobody knows how the rumor started and where the legend originated, but even the poem opens with the warning: "If you read this poem aloud, tragic things will happen and you will have to take responsibility for your actions".

Of course, the legend gained popularity and many people decided to record reading the poem out loud, many did not experience anything, but others do not really know what happened to them, since today they are missing.

6. Gozu (Cow head)

Gozu is one of those urban legends who in turn speak of another story, in this case of "Cow Head" a horror story that nobody knows well, nobody has heard and nobody can tell, since the level of horror that Handles in history makes people literally die of fear after spending a few days terrified and unable to sleep.

The legend about Gozu speaks of a group of students going to the field, on the trip inside the bus the teacher decides to tell them the story of Cow Head, as the story progresses the students notice that the teacher becomes more intense and he becomes fully involved in the story, to the degree that the students demand the teacher to stop. The bus crashed and was found days later with the students in a deep trance and foam in the mouth, nobody remembers what happened, not even the story of Cow Head.