Writer: Lob#4629
When people think about Japan, many beautiful sceneries come to our mind. Beautiful temples, traditional places, very modernized places, and many other things that people from the west couldn’t even imagine before discovering this beautiful country. But like everything in the world, there also is a dark side to this country that many want to visit. Urban legend, mysterious events occurring, and a forgotten place.
One of these places has been a reference for many works, a place that has been forgotten with the time, a place that is stuck into the past and that can bring interest to those who want to know the deepest secret of Japan.
This place is none other than the Inunaki Village, the haunted and forgotten village.
The Village
The first thing that we can see when looking for that village is its entrance. The entrance is a large tunnel that has been blocked by large stone blocks, and a sign, on which is written “the constitutional laws of Japan doesn’t apply there”. This entrance looks abandoned, tag covering it and the inside of the tunnel being filled with nothing but darkness. This tunnel is the center of the urban legend surrounding Inunaki, and is extremely hard to find because of how the vegetation took over the road and made its access difficult.
A forest surrounds the village, and it is said that screams can be heard in it. The reason behind all of this is because of the massive urbanization Japan has been through. Many of the young people from the village ended up moving to the city, leading it to be completely empty. It is recommended to not go into the village because of how dangerous it is, and because no signal can reach through the tunnel.
It is said that among every person that ever went there, no one came back from it, making the urban legend even stronger.
The village existed from 1691 to 1889, before fusing with another village to become the village of Yoshimura, which also disappeared to become part of Miyawaka City. Everyone has moved due to the construction of a barrage in 1986, which ended in 1994.
The Legend
The Inunaki village became an urban legend in the 90s on the internet, and that is because of some gruesome events that happened in the tunnel, which became the center of the legend. You remember when I mentioned the construction of a barrage which expropriated every person remaining in the village? The problem has been more violent than how it seems. This barrage meant lots of flooding, many risks, and led everyone to leave whether they liked it or not. In response to that, a group of people kidnapped one of the workers and murdered him brutally in the tunnel that became the center of the legend. This gruesome event was what created the legend and also led the people to believe that the place was actually filled with yūrei, a type of ghost, and that the village was haunted.
Another part which turned the village into an urban legend is the fact that the villagers were rumored perform horrible practices, which involved violence against the eventual visitors, and also murder, making the village much less attractive.
Imagine being in a place which is totally lost, forgotten, with strictly no electricity and no signal to call anyone if you have problem there: this is the perfect place to disappear, being spirited away by the ghost of those who lost their home because of a government which gave no choice to them but abandon this homeland.
What Created this Legend?
Even though this legend is vague and short, you probably have seen references to it in content about horror or the paranormal. The first example that could come to manga readers would be King’s Game, which give a big credit to a village with a similar entrance and with similar particularities, such as the beasts or the abandoned village.
Another main reference is the horror movie “Inunaki, The Forgotten Village”, made by Takashi Shimizu, the creator of The Grudge which is one of the main pillars of Japanese horror which is often represented in other work as the stereotype of the ghost girl with very long black hair covering her face. This movie, telling the story of a group of young people going into the haunted village, never met a great success.
This whole legend also led to the creation of many urban exploration videos. This kind of place is perfect for attracting paranormal enthusiasts wishing to see more of the paranormal side of Japan, so you can easily find many videos about the exploration of the Inunaki village, which will maybe give you the chill you want to feel Or, it can give you a look of those very old and traditional village that existed, in the past, if you go in the day.
Conclusion
And this concludes this article about the Inunaki village! I hope that this article helped you to discover some hidden side of Japan, and who knows, maybe that you will be able to visit this mysterious place.
Will you be able to return from it, though?
If you heard about any similar place or saw reference about the Inunaki village in other works of fiction, let us know!
Further Reading/Sources
https://www.kowabana.net/2020/03/06/is-inunaki-village-real/
https://japantoday.com/category/features/lifestyle/7-terrifying-japanese-urban-legends-that-are-based-on-true-stories
Tsukei 
