The bestiary
Knowing its name does not make it less unsettling. Explore the beings and places within the rumors.
Atmospheric Optical Phenomena
たいきこうがくげんしょう
The sky lies — and with every bend of light, the edges of the world grow a little more wrong.
Yeongdo Bridge (영도대교)
영도대교 / 影島大橋
In the moment the bridge rears up toward the sky, it is said that the tears of the separated fall upon the sea below.
Nue (鵺)
ぬえ
Those who heard its cry were said to fall into a mysterious illness by the following morning.
Tsuchinoko (Child of the Mallet)
つちのこ
If you hear something rolling, never look to the bottom of the slope.
Mirage (蜃気楼)
しんきろう
In the breath of the dragon, cities that do not exist rise and stand.
The Divine Crossing of Lake Suwa (諏訪湖の御神渡り)
すわこのおみわたり
When the waters filling the earth's fractures freeze, a god walks — and the ice screams beneath its feet.
Kaidan novels
Original horror, made to be read.
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Ōkunoshima (大久野島)
おおくのしま
Beneath the soil where rabbits run, poison once lay sleeping.
Hachijōjima — End of the Exiled, Depths of the Fog
はちじょうじま
Two hundred and eighty-seven kilometers from the mainland, adrift beyond the Kuroshio Current, this island still teems with the voices of those who never found their way home.
Yūbetsu Coal Mine Ruins (雄別炭鉱廃墟)
ゆうべつたんこうはいきょ
Deep in a national forest beyond the reach of any signal, a town that once breathed with thousands of souls now produces nothing but silence.
That Which Lurks in the Abyss of Lake Towada (十和田湖)
とわだこのしんえんにひそむもの
The darkness at three hundred and twenty-six meters has yet to reveal its floor.
The Nine-Headed Dragon of Lake Ashi (芦ノ湖の九頭龍)
あしのこのくずりゅう
On nights when the lake lies perfectly still, something does not rise from the depths — it returns.
Issie
いっしー
At the bottom of a lake once called the Sacred Pond of the Gods, a pyroclastic flow from 6,400 years ago lies sleeping — and, as witnesses tell it, that is not all that lies there.
Kusshii (Monster of Lake Kussharo)
くっしー（くっしゃろこのかいじゅう）
Something still moves along the lake's floor.
Senganjō (千貫森)
せんがんもり
Its ridgeline traces a perfect cone that has drawn the eyes of travelers since time immemorial — and still, inexplicable lights glide across the night sky above it.
The Kera Incident (介良事件)
けらじけん
The silver object that fit in the boys' palms was said to vanish again and again — and each time, it came back.
The Kōfu Incident (甲府事件)
こうふじけん
Whatever descended into the vineyard that night was said to still be there seven years later.
Haehal (海割) — Where the Sea Parts
해할
They say the footprints were already pressed into the path before the water ever pulled away.
Dokkaebi Road (도깨비도로)
도깨비도로 / Dokkaebi Road
The car is clearly pointed downhill — but cut the engine, and it rolls slowly up.
Marado (馬羅島)
마라도
Go further south than the southernmost edge of South Korea, and things that belong to no map will be waiting.
Hwaseong Fortress Night Tales — The Voices Sleeping Beneath the Walls
수원 화성 / Suwon Hwaseong
By day, a UNESCO World Heritage Site under careful protection; by night, something is said to hold its breath within the cracks of the ramparts.
Nami Island — The Island of General Nami (남이섬)
나미섬 / Nami-seom
The day the dam swallowed the river, a hillside became an island — and upon that hillside, the stone mound of a wrongfully slain general remained.
Deoksugung (德壽宮)
덕수궁
Where empire ended, fire rose twice and the name changed three times — and yet something is said to linger still within those courtyards.
Changgyeonggung (창경궁, 昌慶宮)
창경궁
They say that after the flower-viewers departed, only the weeping from inside the wooden chest remained.
Gyeongbokgung (경복궁)
경복궁
The palace raised in prayer for a dynasty's great fortune is said to harbour a darkness as profound as its name.
Gimnyeong Cave and Manjanggul Cave (제주 김녕굴과 만장굴)
濟州 金寧窟과 萬丈窟
What was once a single subterranean vein split in two — and whatever came between them has never left.
Jeongdongjin (正東津)
정동진
Where the sun touches land first, some things are said never to return.
Upo Marsh (우포늪)
우포늪
In 140 million years of silence, the surface is always too still.
Jigwi (志鬼)
지귀
His love never cooled — and so he is burning still.
Agwi (아귀, 餓鬼) — the Hungry Ghost
아귀 / ガキ
A belly vast as a mountain, a throat too narrow for a single needle — that is the price of greed.
Eop (業神, the House Fortune Spirit)
업신 / eopsin
No one ever thought to look above the main beam — and that is why the storehouse was never empty.
Mongdal-gwisin (몽달귀신)
The night before the wedding, a strange young bachelor sat smiling in the bridegroom's dream.
Geusundae (그슨대)
geuseundae
It grows taller the longer you look — no one who glimpsed its crown ever came back.
Eoduksini (어둑시니)
Eodugsini
The moment you look up, it has already grown larger than the sky.
Bulgasari (불가사리)
bul-ga-sa-ri
If the thing that cannot be killed stands hungry at your door, all it leaves behind is rust and empty space.
Yamata no Orochi (八岐大蛇)
やまたのおろち
Eight heads are eight hungers, and deep within its tails, something sleeps that has not yet been given a name.
Tamamo-no-Mae / The Killing Stone (玉藻前／殺生石)
たまものまえ／せっしょうせき
Behind that smile, three thousand years of lies lie sleeping.
The Vengeful Spirit of Emperor Sutoku (崇徳院の怨霊)
すとくいんのおんりょう
The obsession of a man who gnawed off his own fingernails and wrote his curses in blood on the shores of Sanuki has not cooled in nine hundred years.
Shuten-dōji (酒呑童子)
しゅてんどうじ
Beheaded, the severed head still bit — the king of demons died thirsty, and death did not slake him.
The Dodang-shin of the Daedong-gut (대동굿의 도당신)
대동굿 / 大同굿
When the village god descends to borrow a living body, the eyes that look back are no longer those of a neighbor.
Hahoe Mask (하회탈,河回탈)
하회탈
It is said that all who stole the mask were made to cough blood.
Bangsangsi Mask (方相氏 탈)
방상시 탈
Even with its four eyes uncut through, it is watching.
The Mask of Cheoyong (處容)
처용 / チョヨン
The face that made even the plague-god retreat still looks down at you from above the door.
Inwangsan Guksadang (仁王山國師堂)
인왕산 국사당
The mountain spirit knows. The mudang knows. This shrine was uprooted by force — yet the gods followed, roots and all.
Amidong Tombstone Village (아미동 비석마을)
아미동 비석마을
The names of the dead are carved into the walls where the living sleep.
Palgongsan (八公山)
팔공산
They say eight spirits guard the mountain — but no one thinks to ask whether they are guarding the mountain itself, or something trapped inside it.
Maisan (馬耳山) — Horse Ear Mountain
마이산
Between the two peaks that rise like the ears of a horse, it is said that with each change of name, what the mountain held within itself changed too.
Gyeryongsan (계룡산 / 鷄龍山)
계룡산
On the mountain where a crested dragon makes its home, it is said that the mountain recognizes you before you recognize it.
Jowangsin (조왕신, 竈王神) — Goddess of the Hearth
조왕신 / ジョワンシン
If the water bowl above the stove is empty at dawn, she has already sent your household's story up to heaven.
Inmyeonjo (人面鳥) — The Human-Faced Bird
인면조 / じんめんちょう
Before the beat of wings — a familiar face blots out the sky.
Yeongdeung Halmang (영등할망)
Yeongdeung Halmang
When the wind begins to weep on the first day of the second lunar month — she is descending.
Seolmundae Halmang (설문대할망)
Seolmundae Halmang
Hallasan was her pillow, and the seas of Jeju could not wet even her knees.
Sangsabaem (상사뱀) — The Longing Serpent
상사뱀
Those who die with love unspoken cannot release the name even in death.
Samshin Halmae (삼신할미)
삼신할미 / 三神할미
The moment a child is born, someone has already taken the warmest seat in the inner room.
Yagwanggwi (夜光鬼) — the Night-Light Wraith
야광귀 / 앙괭이
If your shoes have vanished from the doorstep on New Year's Eve, it is already too late.
The Fox Sister (여우 누이)
여우 누이 / ヨウ・ヌイ
A father prayed for a daughter, and something answered.
Dueokshini (두억시니)
두억시니 (Du-eok-si-ni)
The moment you speak its name, something in the darkness raises its head.
Jeoseungsaja — the Death Envoy (저승사자)
jeoseungsaja / jeoseungchasa
If your name is written on the red decree, it does not matter that you cover your ears before he calls it three times.
Jirisan (智異山)
지리산
They say the foolish who enter emerge wise — but those who never returned have nothing to say on the matter.
Gokseong County (곡성군, 谷城郡)
곡성군
In a land named for the sound of weeping, they say tears still come for no reason at all.
Bronze Mirror (銅鏡) — The Mirror That Remembers Faces
동경 / ドウキョウ
Bronze may corrode, but a face once caught within it never rusts.
Kuchisake-onna (The Slit-Mouthed Woman)
くちさけおんな / 빨간 마스크
She always speaks first. No matter how you answer, the ending is the same.
Gangcheori (強鐵)
강철이
When the smell of scorching suddenly spread across the ridge-paths where villagers had prayed for a good harvest, the elders would fall silent and look only at the sky.
Imugi (이무기 / 螭龍)
이무기 / I-mu-gi
When that which waited a thousand years fails to become a dragon, its resentment runs deeper than the riverbed.
Masakado's Mound (将門塚)
しょうもんづか
The severed head flew back from the capital — and where it landed still breathes at the very heart of Tokyo.
Kokkuri-san (狐狗狸さん)
こっくりさん
The coin slides on its own — summoned by a spirit, or by something deep within the one who called?
The Ushi no Koku Mairi (丑の刻参り)
うしのこくまいり
If you find a five-inch nail driven into a sacred tree, never pull it free — for the seven nights may not yet be finished.
Straw Effigy (藁人形)
わらにんぎょう
It bears the shape of a person, yet it is no person at all — merely a husk of bundled grass, fashioned as a vessel for hatred.
Hachioji Castle Ruins (八王子城跡)
はちおうじじょうあと
The water of the Shiroyamagawa still runs red, the elders say — then say no more.
The Red Room
あかいへや
The confession has ended — yet that room is still waiting for someone.
Mary-san's Phone Call
メリーさんのでんわ
The voice on the line is already breathing at your back.
Hitori Kakurenbo (ひとりかくれんぼ)
ひとりかくれんぼ
At three in the morning, the stuffed toy floating on the bathwater already knows your name.
Kisaragi Station (きさらぎ駅)
きさらぎえき
The train never stopped — and yet, she arrived somewhere she had never been.
Inugami (犬神)
いぬがみ
The vengeful spirit of a starving dog takes root in a household, outlasting the generations of its master.
Dōdōmeki (百々目鬼)
どどめき
The coins clinging to her arms had begun, at last, to blink.
Akananme (垢嘗)
あかなめ
On a night the bathhouse went unscrubbed, long thin streaks of a tongue were said to be found across the wet stone floor come morning.
Hienma (飛縁魔)
ひのえんま
She wears the face of a bodhisattva, and quietly burns a man's life down to nothing.
Nureonna (濡女)
ぬれおんな
The voice of the woman offering the infant at the shore and the voice of the ushi-oni were one and the same.
Funayūrei (船幽霊)
ふなゆうれい
The hand that offers the ladle will fill your vessel — unless the bottom has already been knocked out.
Ittanmomen (一反木綿)
いったんもめん
A white strip of cloth drifts silently through the twilight sky — by the time you notice it, it has already coiled around your throat.
Nurarihyon (ぬらりひょん / 滑瓢)
ぬらりひょん
The name always arrives first — the figure itself forever slips between your fingers.