Legenda urban Jepang

Legenda urban Jepang (都市伝説code: ja is deprecated , Toshi Densetsu) meliputi cerita rakyat masa kini tentang makhluk supranatural/misterius dan serangan mereka (biasanya) terhadap orang-orang yang tak bersalah atau mengenai kisah non-supranatural terkait rumor yang beredar dalam budaya populer. Tema yang pertama jarang melibatkan peran makhluk yokai seperti dalam cerita rakyat Jepang dahulu, dan kebanyakan melibatkan onryo, yaitu hantu khas Jepang yang menjadi arwah penasaran dan menyerang siapapun yang terlibat dengannya. Legenda urban Jepang cenderung terkait dengan sekolah-sekolah Jepang dan—seperti halnya legenda yokai—menyisipkan suatu peringatan dalam kisahnya, seperti mengingatkan orang-orang agar tidak melakukan penindasan, tidak pulang malam-malam, atau tidak berbicara kepada orang yang tak dikenal. Meskipun terdapat legenda urban non-supranatural di kota-kota di Jepang, misalnya rumor terowongan rahasia Tokyo atau rumor lapangan pekerjaan sebagai pembersih jenazah, artikel ini cenderung membahas kisah-kisah hantu yang masih lestari di Jepang masa kini.

Natural

Kebakaran tahun 1932

Tanggal 16 Desember 1932, kebakaran toserba Shirokiya di Tokyo memakan korban 14 jiwa. Selama kebakaran, banyak pramuniaga wanita berkimono yang terdesak sampai ke atap gedung yang berlantai delapan tersebut. Beredar desas-desus bahwa beberapa pramuniaga menolak untuk terjun ke jaring penyelamat yang disiapkan para pemadam kebakaran di bawah gedung. Secara tradisional, para wanita tidak memakai pakaian dalam jika berkimono, dan mereka takut untuk terjun sebab bagian pribadi tubuh mereka bisa terekspos dan menyebabkan rasa malu, dan sebagai akibatnya mereka tewas dalam kebakaran tersebut. Berita ini menarik perhatian hingga ke Eropa. Diduga bahwa setelah kebakaran berakhir, manajemen toserba tersebut menyuruh para pramuniaga wanitanya untuk memakai celana dalam atau pakaian dalam lainnya meskipun berkimono, dan tren itu pun tersebar.

Bertentangan dengan kepercayaan tersebut, Shoichi Inoue, profesor budaya dan arsitektur Jepang di Pusat Penelitian Studi Jepang Internasional, menolak kisah tersebut. Menurut Inoue, banyak orang yang diselamatkan oleh pemadam kebakaran, dan kisah para wanita yang lebih memilih mati demi kesopanan hanya dibuat-buat untuk kepentingan orang-orang Barat. Kisah tersebut masih lazim dalam banyak buku referensi, bahkan beberapa diterbitkan oleh Fire Fighting Agency. Selain itu, di Jepang sudah umum dipercaya bahwa kebakaran toserba Shirokiya adalah suatu katalis dalam tradisi berbusana, khususnya tren mengenakan celana dalam ala Barat, meskipun tidak ada bukti untuk memperkuat keyakinan tersebut.

Made in Usa

Tahun 1960-an, ketika perekonomian Jepang masih susah pasca-Perang Dunia II, beredar desas-desus bahwa pemerintah Jepang mengganti nama desa dengan "Usa", sehingga barang-barang ekspor mendapat label sebagai "MADE IN USA, JAPAN". Hal ini diduga demi memperoleh kesan bahwa produk bersangkutan dibuat di U.S.A., yang mungkin dapat mengecoh petugas bea cukai, namun yang lebih penting adalah dapat melawan stigma yang menyatakan bahwa produk buatan Jepang bermutu rendah.

Bagaimanapun juga, desa Usa, di Prefektur Ōita, memang bernama demikian sebelum perang dimulai, karena daerah tersebut terkait dengan Kuil Usa sejak abad ke-8. Selain itu, Usa bukanlah pusat besar perekonomian besar.

Kutukan

Iklan Kleenex terkutuk

Tahun 1980-an, Kleenex merilis tiga iklan berbahasa Jepang untuk produk tisunya, menampilkan seorang wanita yang berpakaian seperti toga berwarna putih dan anak kecil yang berkostum seperti oni (setan Jepang), duduk di atas jerami. Tiap iklan memutar lagu "It's a Fine Day" oleh Jane & Barton. Banyak pemirsa yang merasa bahwa iklan tersebut terasa mengganggu. Beberapa mengeluh bahwa musik yang dimainkan terdengar seperti teluh Jerman, meskipun liriknya berbahasa Inggris. Karena suasananya yang tidak menyenangkan, beberapa rumor terkait para pelaku di balik layar beredar, seperti kru yang tewas dalam kecelakaan, dan pemeran utamanya, Keiko Matsuzaka dikabarkan meninggal, dibawa ke rumah sakit jiwa, atau mengandung anak setan.

Kutukan Taman Inokashira

Di Taman Inokashira, Tokyo, ada suatu danau yang menyewakan perahu dayung bagi para pengunjung. Diyakini bahwa bila sepasang kekasih menaiki perahu bersama-sama maka hubungan mereka akan segera berakhir. Legenda tersebut dihubungkan dengan suatu kuil didekatnya yang didedikasikan untuk Benzaiten. Diyakini ia sangat pencemburu dan memutuskan hubungan pasangan kekasih yang menaiki perahu.

Kutukan Kamar Merah

The Red Room story is an internet legend about a pop up which appears on the victim's computer. The image simply shows a red door and a recorded voice asks "Do you like-". Even if the pop up is closed it will repeatedly reappear until the voice finally completes the question: "Do you like the red room?". Those who have seen the pop-up are found dead, their walls painted red in their own blood. The legend began with a flash animation of a young boy being cursed after encountering the pop-up, but gained notoriety when it was found that the schoolgirl who committed the Sasebo slashing in 2004 had the video as a bookmark.

Similar Urban Legends: Katu Lata Kulu Email

Urban legends (supernatural)

Aka Manto (Red Cape)

Aka Manto is a spirit which haunts bathrooms, usually the last toilet stall in the women's/girl's bathroom. Some versions describe him as wearing a mask to cover his extremely handsome face, which had caused him stalking problems in life. When the unlucky victim is on the toilet, a mysterious voice will ask them if they want red paper or blue paper. If you answer red paper, you are killed violently and drenched in blood. If you ask for blue, you are strangled or bled dry, leaving your face/skin blue. Attempting to ask for any other colour of paper will result in hands appearing (sometimes coming out of the toilet you're sitting on), that will drag you into the fires of hell. In other versions the ghost will simply ask you if you want a red vest and will then rip the skin from your back. He could also ask you if you want a red or blue cloak. The only answer that will spare the person is to refuse anything he offers.

Fatal Fare

This story concerns a lone taxi driver making his way along a road during the night. Legend goes that a person will suddenly appear from the night darkness and hail the taxi. The person will only ever sit in the back of the car and will ask to be taken to a place the driver has never heard of. When the driver mentions this, he is assured that he will be given directions. The passenger then feeds the driver increasingly complex directions which leads them down streets and alleys, through many towns and even in some instances all the way from the city to the countryside. After traveling this distance and still seeming no closer to any destination, the driver becomes uneasy. He turns around to the back seat to ask the passenger exactly where they are – but he is suddenly shocked to find that the passenger has vanished. The taxi driver turns back to the steering wheel; only to drive off the edge of a cliff.

Similar Urban Legends: Killer in the backseat and the Vanishing Hitchhiker

Gozu (Cow Head)

Gozu (Ox-head), also known as Cow Head, is the title of a story in a Japanese Urban legend. The legend involves a bored group of school children on a coach during a class trip. A teacher, anxious to cheer his students, decides to tell some ghost stories. The children enjoy them but as he begins to run out of good tales to tell, he suddenly asks if anyone has heard of 'Cow Head'? None of the students were familiar with the story. The teacher began and at first the children were mesmerised, but gradually, many grew frightened and then terrified. Several of the children begged the teacher to stop but he appeared to be in a trance, unable to stop. The teacher came to a while later and found the bus stopped in the middle of the road. The children lay about the bus in a catatonic state, their eyes turned in their heads, their mouths frothing, the driver in a similar state. All were alive, but the teacher could not remember the story he told, and no one else present would ever mention what happens in the tale of 'Cow's Head'. Other variations of the story state who ever hears it is never able to retell the story as they die soon after. The cursed story was rumored to be an unpublished piece from sci-fi writer Sakyo Komatsu, but there is no evidence to link the author to the Cow Head legend. A Ukrainian folktale called Cow's Head does exist, about a woman who receives good fortune by offering food and shelter to a disembodied cow's head that visits her one night, but the tale is unlikely to cause hysteria in those who hear it. There is also a 2003 film called Gozu, directed by Takashi Miike which, though violent and surreal, is not linked to the urban legend.

Jinmenken (Human Faced Dog)

Jinmenken are dogs, but with human faces that supposedly appear at night in Japanese urban areas and run along highways at extremely fast speeds. The jinmenken can also talk, but reports say that they will either be rude or will ask to be left alone. Unlike most Japanese urban legends, the human-faced dog is not widely known to kill those unlucky enough to meet it, though they are said to be escaped scientific experiments or the spirits of road crash victims. There is also speculation that witnesses who say they have met a jinmenken have actually come across Japanese macaques, which accounts for the quadrupedal movement, dog-like fur, human face and the human-like noises the jinmenken can supposedly make.

Similar Urban Legends: The Black Dog

Kokkuri-san

Kokkuri is a Japanese version of a ouija board, which became popular during the Meiji era. Rather than using a pre-bought board with letters and a Planchette, 'players' write down hiragana characters and place their fingers on a coin, before asking 'Kokkuri-san' a question. This is a popular game in highschools and, similar to the western ouija board, several rumours and legends surround it. Some include Kokkuri-san only telling players the date of their death, while others say you can ask Kokkuri-san anything but you must finish the game correctly, either by saying goodbye to Kokkuri-san before leaving the table, or disposing of the kokkuri game utensils within a certain time limit, such as spending the coin or using the pen which wrote the hiragana. Failure to do so will result in misfortune or death for the players.

Similar Urban Legends: Ouija Board

Kuchisake-onna (Slit-mouthed Woman)

Children walking alone at night may encounter a woman wearing a surgical mask, this is not an unusual sight in Japan as people wear them to protect others from their colds or sickness. The woman will stop the child and ask, 'Am I beautiful?'. If they say no, she kills them with a pair of scissors she always carries with her, but most children will answer yes, in which case the woman asks 'How about now?' and removes her mask to reveal her mouth has been slit from ear to ear. Regardless of whether the child answers yes or no at this point, the woman will kill them, if they say no, they are cut in half, and if they say yes, she cuts their mouths to be exactly like hers. To escape the Kuchisake-onna, you can answer her second question with "You're average" or "So-so", and you can escape while she is confused, or you can throw fruit or sweets at her which she will pick up, thus giving the victim a chance to run. One other way is to ask her if you are pretty, she will get confused and leave.

Similar Urban Legends: The Hook and Bunny Man

Teke Teke

The Teke Teke is the ghost of a young woman who fell on a rail way line and was cut in half by the oncoming train. Now a vengeful spirit, she carries a scythe and travels on either her hand or elbows, her dragging upper torso making a scratching or teke teke sound. If she encounters anyone at night and the victim is not fast enough, she will slice them in half at the torso to mimic her own disfigurement and they will sometimes become Teke Teke's themselves. Versions of the legend include a young school boy walking home at night and spotting a beautiful young girl standing by a windowsill resting on her elbows. When she notices him, she jumps out of the window and onto the pavement in front of him, revealing herself to be no more than upper torso; she then cuts the boy in two.

Similar Urban Legends: Carmen Winstead

Toire no Hanako-san (Hanako-san of the Toilet)

Toire no Hanako-san is a famous legend associated with Japanese elementary schools. The story tells of an omnipresent ghost who is thought to be the spirit of a student who committed suicide due to excessive bullying or "ijime". However the entity is also known to just appear for no apparent reason. Hanako-san is a popular legend in elementary schools in Japan, and supposedly haunts the fourth stall of the girl’s bathroom. Characterized by a pair of stark gleaming eyes, the spirit scares any person who sets eyes on it. Not known to be malevolent or vicious in any way, Hanako-san is simply an eerie entity that only serves to severely scare its victims.

Similar Urban Legends: Bloody Mary

In Media

Urban legends are popular in Japan, and are often used in movies, anime and manga, suggesting their endurance in the common imagination.

Japanese Films based on Urban Legends

Kuchisake-onna

• Kuchisake-onna (1996)

• Kannô byôtô: nureta akai kuchibiru (2005)

• Carved (2007)

• Kaiki toshi-densetsu - Kuchisake-onna (2008)

• The Slit-Mouthed Woman 0: The Beginning (2008)

Hanako-san of the Toilet

• Hanako (1995)

• Gakkou no Kaidan (1995)

• Shinsei toire no Hanako-san (1998)

Teketeke

• Teketeke (2009)

• Teketeke 2 (2009)

• Otoshimono (2006) is a variation of the legend

Other

• Kokkuri-san (1997)

Japanese TV Series based on Urban Legends

• The Kuchisake-Onna legend appears in the Guren Onna TV series.

• An episode of Honto ni Atta Kowai Hanashi includes the Fatal Fare legend.

Manga and Anime

Several horror manga works, usually anthologies, contain the urban legends listed in this article, along with some more obscure rumours and original stories.

Kuchi-sake Onna Manga

• Kuchi-sake Onna
• Kuchisake Onna Densetsu

Other legends

• Ghost Stories (Includes Aka Manto, Hanako-san, Kokkuri-san and a variation of the Fatal Fare legend) The Kuchisake-onna was also planned to make an appearance in episode 5 of the series, but it was banned after several complaints that her disfigurement looked too much like a cleft palate.

• Hanako to Guuwa no Tera (Includes Kuchisake-onna, Kokkuri-san, Teke Teke and Hanako-san as the titular character)

• Hell Teacher Nūbē (Includes Hanako-san, Teke Teke, Kuchisake-onna, and Jinmenken)

• Kibengakuha Yotsuya Senpai no Kaidan by Haruichi Furudate (Includes Kokkuri-san)

• In Pom Poko, the tanuki pretend to be Noppera-bo to scare a midnight watchmen.

• School Zone by Inuki Kanako (Includes Kokkuri-san and a variation of the Teke Teke legend)

• Franken Fran (Has a character called Okita who is similar to the Jinmenken legend, except with the body of a cat rather than a dog, and includes a short parody of the Kuchisake-onna legend in an extra of Volume 2)

• Toshi Densetsu (Includes the Kuchisake-onna)

See also

• Urban Legends
• Japanese folklore
• Japanese mythology in popular culture
• Kami
• Onryo
• Yokai
• Yurei

References

• Ballaster, R. (2005) Fables Of The East, Oxford University Press.

• Gould, R. J. (2003). "Japan Culture Research Project 2003 Topic: Youkai and Kaidan". http://www.k-i-a.or.jp/kokusai/jigyou/english-lesson/ts-report/r-report.pdf.

• Hearn, L. (2005) Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, Tuttle Publishing.

• Phillip, N. (2000) Annotated Myths & Legends, Covent Garden Books.

• Tyler, R. (2002) Japanese Tales (Pantheon Fairy Tale & Folklore Library), Random House USA Inc.

• Yoda, H & Alt, M. (2008) "Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide" Kodansha International

External links

• Scary for Kids: Japanese Legends
• Saya in Underworld
• Pink Tentacle: Urban Legends
• Snopes