Rikkyo University in Saitama, Japan, offered a Short Term Intensive Japanese Programme that I participated in. The course was designed to immerse students in Japanese language and culture. Three weeks of language classes, cultural lectures, and cool field trips, all sprinkled with the optional cultural events for extra flavor. One aspect I find particularly fascinating is [animism], the idea that spirits inhabit all things, from rocks and trees to animals. This belief is deeply ingrained in Japanese culture and has given rise to a rich folklore and legends.

Field Research 👻

The final assignment for this course was a small research project. For this presentation I stuck mainly to desk research, but left me feeling a bit unsatisfiefd. Aftwerards I took my ambitions to do a little field study as well. With a big passion for Japanese urban legends and a penchant for the paranormal, I delved into the eerie world of Japanese urban legends. Armed with a smartphone & a notepad, I hunted down spooky sites by day and staked them out by night. By myself. In a foreign country. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

Shakuji park

This adventure began when I found the following page online after doing some exploring on the web: [Shakuji Park]. The page tells the story of princess Teruhime, a ghost that haunts the park. The story goes that she was a princess, whose father had lost in a battle between clans. At some point the dad was cornered, so he took their families heirloom and walked into the pond near the castle, drowning himself. The princess, being left behind, was so overtaken by grief that she sad that she also drowned herself in the pond. A burial mound was made for her (Himetsuka Mound), but apparently she is not at peace, as in modern times, people claim that you can see the womans face when you look at the pond. Or that you can see her walking around the park, stalking you. The story was intriguing, and I decided to go there and see if I could find her.

muddy_meadows.jpg

I arrived there when it was still light out. At first I was a bit disappointed, as the supposed "pond" seemed to be more of a shallow puddle of mud. But as I ventured deeper into the park, the atmosphere changed. The trees grew denser, the shadows longer, the water appeared. And suddenly a large amount of crows came out of hiding, seemingly out of nowhere. They were up, high in the trees, and they were everywhere. I could hear them cawing, as if they were laughing at me, or warning me for something. It felt unreal, as I hadn't seen much wildlife in Japan up until that point. I felt a chill run down my spine, but I pressed on. I had a mission to complete.

Himetsuka Mound

As the sun set, I found the Himetsuka Mound. It was a tree with a small shrine on top of its roots. It might have been dangerous, but I wanted to get a closer look. I walked towards the tree, and as I got closer, I was startled by a loud noise. It was a crow, sitting 10 meters above me. It might have disliked me getting closer to its tree, but I couldn't help but feel like it was a warning. I hadn't seen any crows in a while now, and now there was one, right above me, on the tree at the burial mound. I decided to proceed regardles and take a closer look at the shrine. It was a small shrine, with small candles and offerings.

thepond.jpg

After finding the mound, with no sign of the princess, I decided to go back to the pond. It was dark now, and the water was reflecting the moonlight. I brought a drink and some food with me and decided it was about time to eat, so I sat down at the side of the water. I cracked open a cold one and started eating an onigiri [rice ball]. I was about to take a sip of my drink when I saw something move across the pond. I took out my phone and started recording. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the princess, but I didn't see her specifically. I did see something else though. I saw a light, reflecting in the water. It was moving, and it was pretty bright.

I'm not sitting here telling you that seeing an unexplained light in the water is proof of the supernatural. In all honestly, you could tell me that it was someone with a flashlight, walking their dog in the park, and that would be completely reasonable. But the experience was interesting, as I didn't see the light go down a logical route along a path. It was just there, staying in place, and then it was gone. I also checked the water countless times, looking for signs of the of the princess, but other than the light on the video I didn't find anything that could be considered paranormal.

In the end I didn't see a princess, but I did see something. I'm not sure what it was, whether it was a ghost, a spirit, or just a person. But it was something that I can't fully explain. And in the end, that's exactly what I was looking for!

My interest in the supernatural has always been there, however that's not because I have a firm belief in ghosts myself. I am however very interested in how paranormal beliefs are formed and are outed. My curiousity mainly comes from the interesting stories that people tell.

This small study eventually lead me to pick a topic for my masters thesis, which was about the representation of ghost beliefs within Large Language Models.