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The urban legend of Inunaki Village in Japan is about a forgotten village of villagers refusing to conform to the Japanese constitution. They would do everything to protect themselves from the outside world, even killing the ones that trespasses.
The urban legend of Inunaki Village in Japan is about a forgotten village of villagers refusing to conform to the Japanese constitution. They would do everything to protect themselves from the outside world, even killing the ones that trespasses.
In 1999, Nippon TV, one of Japan’s biggest TV channels, received a letter from an anonymous person about Inunaki Village in the Fukuoka Prefecture all the way south in Japan. The anonymous letter was titled “The Village in Japan That Isn’t Part of Japan” and urged the TV channel to visit the place. In the letter it told about the legend about a couple that once went there, but never came back.
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The Inunaki Village (犬鳴村) means the Howling village and is an urban legend that dates back to the 1990s. The Legend of Inunaki Village, as we know the legend today, likely first appeared online in 1999. An anonymous person sent a letter to the TV station, NTV with the title “The Village in Japan That Isn’t Part of Japan.” It describes the legend as we know it today.
The Inunaki Village is supposedly a forgotten village in Fukuoka Prefecture by the Mount Inunaki mountain pass and is easily missed as the path to the village is along a narrow path. And according to the mysterious letter to Nippon TV, the legend goes like this:
Sometimes in the early 1970s, a young couple was making their way to Hisayama on the other side of the mountain when the car engine broke down. They left their car and headed up to the forest to see if they found someone that could help. They passed a handwritten sign on the way that read “The Japanese constitution is not in effect past here.”
Eventually they reached a village, but when they walked through it it seemed abandoned. But as they walked among the abandoned village with the dark windows they saw a man and approached them. Something that they really shouldn’t have. In what is explained as being a “crazy old man” he came to them and welcomed them to Inunaki village before he murdered them with a sickle.
Now, only their old black Sedan car they left is the proof they were ever there.
What is it about this village? Supposedly it is a village that consists of residents that refuse to follow the rules of the Japanese Constitution. This is a statement from the village from all the way back to the Edo period when mistreated peasant chose to cut of the world and live in exile. There are also theories about that the village was taken by a horrible sickness and they closed down the village to people coming and going. Even to the point of murder.
The very name Inunaki is said to be of a haunted origin. According to the legend, a man killed his dog because it wouldn’t stop barking. But then the man and his whole family was murdered and the dog was just trying to warn his master about the approaching danger.
Another story related to the village is that of the telephone booth near the Inunaki bridge. Allegedly it gets a call from the Inunaki Village every night. If you are the unfortunate soul that answers the phone call you are cursed and transported to the village.
There used to be an actual real village called Inunaki Village from 1691 to 1889, but it has no connection to the legend that started in the 1990s. Or does it?
The whole area around these parts have been considered to be haunted for a very long time by now. Like the area around the Old Inunaki Tunnel for example which have been according to rumours ‘haunted’ long before the 90’s. The tunnel is located near the Inunaki reservoir.
According to legends many people died building the tunnel that opened in 1949. At night you can hear the screams from children coming from within the tunnel and mysterious finger and handprints on the windshield of your car after passing through the Inunaki tunnel.
After a new tunnel opened in 1975 nearby, the old one became abandoned, eventually falling into disrepair until it was sealed off. Although it had many stories of vengeful ghosts residing inside the story before the murder, it really sealed the place as a place of violence and death as we know from the Inunaki legends.
The stories of the Inunaki tunnel is believed to be haunted because of the murder cases that have occured around the area for many years. It is already a pass with harsh weather wich causes many accidents every year. On top of this is the murders. Like when on 6th of December in 1988 found a factory worker named Koichi Umeyama burned to death inside the tunnel, long before the legend about the lost Inunaki Village went viral.
That night, five boys aged 16 to 19 years old from the Takawa district tried to steal a car from a man working as an engineer without success when they met him randomly at a gas station. They ended up abducting and tortured him for a long time, contemplating about throwing him off the bridge, drowning him or burning him in the tunell. They decieded on the latter, and even though their victim nearly escaped several times, he never got out of it alive.
The perpetrators burned him to death after pouring gasoline over him to destroy as much evidence as possible. They were quickly rounded up and got life imprisonment for it.
In 2000, a dead body was also found in a nearby dam were the original Inunaki Village is said to be submerged in.
A movie was released in 2019 called Howling Village. It was directed by Takashi Shimizu who is best known for being the creator of the Ju-On franchise, and directing four of its films, internationally, in both Japan and the U.S. This movie blew new life into the old legend and led to an increase in trespassing and vandalism in the area, especially in the tunnel.
The movie follows a young woman and psychologist. After her brother goes missing, she visits an infamous haunted and cursed location known as ‘Howling Village’ to investigate his disappearance and uncover her family’s dark history.
The movie also had a sequel named Jukai Mura, or the Suicide Forest Village in 2021, also rather inspired by urban legends about the abandoned outside of Japan.s wilderness. Rumors exist about the Aokigahara forest on Mount Fuji that is a real place and also have a lot of haunted rumours surrounding it. The rumors say things like nobody leaves Aokigahara alive.
Inunaki Village, with its chilling urban legend and haunted reputation, continues to captivate the imagination of those who seek tales of the supernatural. Whether rooted in historical events or born from the collective fears of a secluded community, the enduring mystery surrounding the village and its infamous tunnel persists. As the legends of Inunaki Village seep into popular culture through movies, anime, and ghost stories, it serves as a reminder of the enduring power of urban legends to both frighten and fascinate us.
But the question remains, who was the anonymous writer of the letter to the broadcasting channel back then, and was there any truth to the haunted rumors that already surrounder the place around Mt. Inunaki back then?
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