“There was a slide, and one woman was standing behind it.”
But wait. Does she look familiar to somebody? Somebody from… one of the Japanese urban legends?

Today’s story is about a mysterious Kaidan story that connects an urban legend and reality, originally told by Yurian Retriever.

#38 Woman behind the slide – #podcast #horrorstories #scarystories #kaidan #hachishakusama

The original story is from Yurian Retriever. Yeah, I know it’s quite, let’s call it, a fancy name, isn’t it? She is a famous Japanese comedian, and she also joined America’s Got Talent in 2019, so some of you might have seen her somewhere already.

She usually does funny stuff and doesn’t really look like the type who talks about scary stories, but there is one story that caught my attention. So, let me share this story today here. I will describe “I” as Yurian herself from here for convenience.

That was around April 2013, I think. It was the same year I made my start as a comedian.

I was living in Osaka then, and one day, three senpais, senior comedians, and I decided to go to Hanami.

Hanami is a Japanese word for kind of a small gathering or party where people talk and drink while looking at beautiful flowers. Hanami is a particularly popular activity for Japanese people, especially when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom around the end of March to the beginning of April.

At that time, the cherry blossoms were blooming in a nearby park, so we decided to bring snacks and drinks and have a hanami party there.

We were all still young and not rich, so we often worked late into the night. Then, it was already 1 am when we got together after work that day.

So we all got on our bikes and headed for the supermarket near the park. Two of my senpais were a little ahead of me, and the other one and I were riding a little slower behind.

That supermarket was just beyond the park, so we had to cross the side of the park on the way to that supermarket. When we were crossing the park side, I was casually looking inside the park.

There was a slide, and one woman was standing behind it.

I knew it was a woman because I could see her from the shoulders up over the slide. Her hair was long, black, straight. And I could also see a long white skirt-like thing around her feet. 

But the woman was looking backwards from our side, so I couldn’t see her face.

That woman was, for some reason, jumping around all the time. And I didn’t get what she was saying or singing, but I could hear her saying something.

It was a late-night park, so usually, no people were there. So, to be honest, I thought it was weird. But, you know, Osaka is quite a unique area. The area where there are a lot of weird people, I would say. So, I didn’t pay that much attention to her and just thought, ‘She is just weirdo’, and I went straight past the park and arrived at the supermarket. When we came back to the park after buying drinks and food, the woman was already gone.

I thought maybe she had moved somewhere else already, so I talked to the other senpais like, “Hey, that woman from earlier. Do you think she went away and disappeared somewhere else?” But they said, “Huh, what are you talking about?”

So I asked them for more details, and it turned out that the two senpais running in front of me had not seen the woman. But the other senpai running with me said he saw the same woman as I did and even heard her voice.

But I was like, it’s just, you know, you can’t be unaware of it. We were all crossing the park side in the same way at almost the same time. The slide should have also been in sight, and above all, the woman was looking weird, jumping and saying something. There’s no reason why they couldn’t have seen it.

So I was rather a bit annoyed, saying, “How could you possibly miss it?” And I took one of the senpais behind the slide and explained to him, “That woman was standing right here behind the slide”.

But when we got there, I realised something.

The senpai was about 180cm tall, but the peak of the slide was higher than his head. You know what I mean?

If I could see above the shoulders of that woman, it means she is crazy tall. I would estimate at least 2.4 or 5 metres.

The senpai also said, “That can’t be right! Maybe she was sat on the slide?” But considering the white skirt around her feet was also visible, it was more natural to think she was standing on the ground, not on the slide.

Such a giant woman was jumping in the park in the middle of the night, singing or speaking something.

Both my senpais and I were so terrified, and we ended up going home that day without Hanami.

Sometime later, I joined an event as a comedian. Part of that event was about telling scary stories. That’s when I told the story about my experience in the park.

Then, one of the people at the event who was familiar with scary stories and urban legends said, “Isn’t that the Hasshaku-sama?” That’s what he said.

The Hasshaku-sama, alternatively called Hachishakusama as well, is a character that appears in Japanese urban legends.

A shaku is an old Japanese way to measure length, and when converted to centimetres, it is approximately 30 cm. And since Hachi means the number eight, Hachishaku is approximately 2.4 metres.

As the name suggests, Hasshaku-sama is an unusually tall, monstrous being. It is believed that if you’ve got a liking by it, you will be killed within a few days.

According to the urban legend story, Hasshaku-sama used to be sealed in a certain area of the Japanese countryside, but it was broken, and sightings have been reported all over Japan ever since.

Since I haven’t died for ten years after that, I don’t think I got a liking by Hasshaku-sama.

But when I saw her. You know the thing that I thought was Hasshaku-sama. She was looking backwards. That could be a reason I was saved. I mean, she wasn’t aware of me yet, probably.

But what if she was facing in our direction, and I saw her face? Or even had eye contact?

I still feel kind of crushed with fear when I think of that possibility…

---