One summer night, during a school club trip, I was challenged to Kimodameshi (肝試し), a test of courage and manhood. My scary task was to take the deserted forest path that leads to an abandoned well. As I fearfully walked into the forest, I heard low moans coming from the direction of the well. The wails grew louder the closer I get. Eventually, I chickened out and ran all the way back before I even see the well, or yurei.
In feudal times, wells, especially abandoned ones, have always been a convenient place to discard the remains of murdered victims. Wells have also been used as a site to commit suicide, by jumping from height or drowning. The unnatural deaths and lack of proper burials create a powerful hostile energy that eventually becomes the vengeful revenant called kyokotsu .
These haunting yurei frequents the wells nightly, moaning and lamenting about their rotten lives or wretched deaths. On a full moon, Kyokotsu will be infused with enough spectral energy to go beyond the bounds of the well and haunt nearby regions. There are even stories whereby the living is pulled into the shadowy abyss, on a moonless night.
Description
In Toriyama Sekien‘s book Konjyaku Hyaku Kishui, kyokotsu is illustrated, as a bleached skull with long wavy hair and dressed in its burial kimono. The yurei floats over an abandoned well, seething with rage and vengeance. The supernatural link between wells and the dead is well known in Japanese lore and has been retold many times, throughout the generations. An example of the unearthly connections are depicted in “Ring” (リング) where the yurei Sadako is birthed from an abandoned well underneath a forest cabin.
Many ancient Japanese traditions say that old wells, especially abandoned ones, lead to the other side. The very gateway to the underworld is at the bottom of the decrepit well. So the next time you happened upon an abandoned well, avoid it all together. You may never know who or what you will drag you into the dark abyss.
Yokai Details
- name: kyokotsu (key-yoh-oo-koh-tsoo)
- kanji: 狂骨 (きょうこつ)
- meaning: crazy bones
- abilities:
- phasing — able to turn intangible and move through solid objects
- levitation — possess the ability to hover
