Ever since the country first appeared in ancient Chinese chronicles, few places can boast as colorful and interesting a story as Japan’s. While nearly everybody’s heard about how the country’s Mongol invasions were thwarted by tsunamis or how it was sealed off from the rest of the world during its Edo period, there are plenty of other strange and surprising tidbits in Japanese history.

10 It Used To Be Illegal In Japan To Eat Meat

Starting in the mid-seventh century, the Japanese government placed a ban on eating meat which lasted on and off for over 1,200 years. Probably influenced by the Buddhist precept that forbids the taking of life, Emperor Tenmu issued an edict in 675 that banned the eating of beef, monkeys, and domestic animals under penalty of death.

The original law was only meant to be observed between April and September, but later laws and religious practices essentially made eating most meat, especially beef, illegal or taboo. Contact with Christian missionaries began to popularize meat eating again in the 16th century. Although another ban was proclaimed in 1687, some Japanese continued to eat meat.

By 1872, the Japanese authorities had officially lifted the ban and even the emperor had become a meat eater. While not everybody was immediately enthused, particularly monks, the centuries-old taboo on eating meat soon faded away.

9 Kabuki Was Created By A Crossdressing Woman

Kabuki, one of Japan’s most famous cultural icons, is a colorful form of dance theater in which both male and female characters are played exclusively by men. In its earliest stage, however, Kabuki was the exact opposite: The characters were played by women.

The founder of Kabuki was Izumo no Okuni, a priestess who became famous for performing dances and skits while dressed as a man. Okuni’s energetic and sensual routine was a huge hit, and other courtesans cashed in on her style by imitating her performances in all-female troupes.

This “women Kabuki,” as it was known, was so popular that dancers were even invited by daimyos (“feudal lords”) to stage private performances at their castles. As much as everybody else enjoyed the raunchy new art form, however, the government was not pleased.

In 1629, after a riot erupted at a Kabuki show in Kyoto, women were banned from the stage. Male actors took on the female roles, and Kabuki as we know it today was set in stone.

8 Japan’s Surrender In World War II Almost Didn’t Happen

On August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito announced the unconditional surrender of Japan to the Allied powers in a nationwide radio broadcast known as the “Jewel Voice Broadcast.” The broadcast was not live but had been recorded the previous night. It also nearly didn’t make it out of the Imperial Palace.

The same night that Emperor Hirohito recorded his message, a group in the Japanese military who refused to surrender launched a coup d’etat. Major Kenji Hatanaka, the coup’s leader, occupied the Imperial Palace with his men for several hours. Hatanaka wanted the recording of the Jewel Voice Broadcast destroyed. Although his soldiers thoroughly searched the entire palace, it was nowhere to be found.

Miraculously, despite the search of everyone leaving the palace, the recording was smuggled outside in a laundry basket. Hatanaka wasn’t ready to give up, though. He left the palace and pedaled to a nearby radio station on his bicycle.

Hatanaka wanted to air a message, but the station wouldn’t allow it because of technical issues. Defeated, the rebel leader returned to the palace, shooting himself in front of the building.

7 Samurai Sometimes Tested Swords By Attacking Random Passersby

In medieval Japan, it was considered dishonorable if a samurai’s sword couldn’t cut through an opponent’s body in one stroke. It was important then for a samurai to know about the quality of his weapon, and every new sword he got had to be tested before he took it into battle.

Samurai usually practiced cuts on the bodies of criminals and corpses. But there was another method called tsujigiri (“crossroads killing”) in which targets were random commoners who were found walking on crossroads at night.

Incidents of tsujigiri were rare. But it did eventually become such a problem that the authorities felt the need to ban it in 1602. One report from the Edo era (1603–1868), describing the early years of the period, claimed that people were killed in tsujigiri every night on certain crossroads in modern-day Tokyo.

6 Japanese Soldiers Once Cut Off Ears And Noses For War Trophies

Under the legendary leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Japan invaded Korea two times between 1592 and 1598. Although Japan eventually withdrew its troops from the country, the invasions were very brutal, with a possible death toll numbering as many as one million Koreans.

During that time, it wasn’t uncommon for Japanese warriors to take the heads of their enemies as war trophies. Shipping so many heads back to Japan would have been difficult, though, so the soldiers took ears and noses instead.

Once back in Japan, monuments were set up for the grisly trophies that were known as “ear tombs” and “nose tombs.” One such tomb in Kyoto, the Mimizuka, contains tens of thousands of trophies. Another in Okayama held 20,000 noses, but these were returned to Korea in 1992.

5 Father Of The Kamikaze Committed Seppuku To Atone For The Pilots He Helped To Kill

By October 1944, Vice Admiral Takijiro Onishi believed that the only way for Japan to win World War II was through the infamous kamikaze operation, suicide attacks in which Japanese pilots would crash their planes into Allied ships. Onishi hoped that the shock of the attacks would unnerve the United States, leading them to give up the war. He was so desperate, in fact, that he said he was willing to sacrifice 20 million Japanese lives to win.

After hearing of Emperor Hirohito’s surrender in August 1945, Onishi became distraught over the thousands of kamikaze pilots he had sacrificed. He thought that the only proper atonement was suicide and committed seppuku on August 16. In his suicide note, he apologized to “the souls of those bereaved dead and their bereaved families” and begged for the young people of Japan to work toward world peace.

4 The First Japanese Convert To Christianity Was A Murderer On The Run

In 1546, the 35-year-old samurai Anjiro was on the run from the law. Wanted for killing a man in a fight, he was hiding in the trading port of Kagoshima to avoid capture. While hiding, Anjiro came into contact with some Portuguese, who took pity on him and sent him off to Malacca.

During his time abroad, Anjiro studied Portuguese and was baptized with the name Paulo de Santa Fe, becoming the first Japanese Christian. He also met Francis Xavier, a Jesuit priest who traveled with Anjiro to launch a Christian mission in Japan in summer 1549. The mission ended poorly, with Anjiro and Xavier parting ways, the latter settling to try his luck in China.

Although Francis Xavier’s Japan mission might not have gone as well as he had hoped, he was eventually made a saint and a patron of Christian missionaries. Anjiro, who is believed to have died a pirate, is now largely forgotten.

3 The Portuguese Slave Trade Resulted In Japan Abolishing Slavery

Not long after the West first established contact with Japan in the 1540s, a Portuguese trade in Japanese slaves appeared. Sold to the Portuguese by other Japanese, these slaves were sent off to Portugal and other parts of Asia. The trade eventually became so large that even Portuguese slaves in Macau owned Japanese slaves.

Jesuit missionaries were not pleased with this activity. In 1571, they persuaded the king of Portugal to put a stop to the enslavement of Japanese, although Portuguese colonists resisted and ignored the ban.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a Japanese warlord and leader, was furious about the trade. While ironically having no problem with enslaving Koreans during the Korean invasions he launched in the 1590s, Hideyoshi was vocal about ending the trade in Japanese slaves.

In 1587, he issued a ban that outlawed the practice, although the sale of Japanese slaves did persist for some time afterward.

2 Over 200 Japanese High School Girls Were Used As Nurses In The Battle Of Okinawa

In April 1945, the Allies launched their invasion of Okinawa. The three-month-long bloodbath killed over 200,000 people, 94,000 of whom were Okinawan civilians. Among the civilian dead was the Himeyuri Student Corps, a group of 200 female students between the ages of 15 and 19 whom the Japanese had forced to work as nurses during the battle.

At first, the Himeyuri girls worked at an army hospital. But they were moved to caves as the bombing of the island grew worse. They fed wounded Japanese soldiers, helped to perform amputations, and buried the bodies of the dead. As the Americans advanced, the girls were told not to surrender. Instead, they were advised to commit suicide by hand grenade.

Although some of the girls killed themselves, others died in the fighting. In one incident known as “The Cave of the Virgins,” 51 of the girls were killed after the cave they were hiding in was shelled. After the war, a monument and a museum were built for the Himeyuri girls.

1 Japan Had Its Own Nuclear Weapon Program During World War II

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki shocked Japan and the world in August 1945, but one Japanese scientist might not have been so surprised. Physicist Yoshio Nishina had been worried about the possibility of such attacks since 1939. Nishina was also the head of Japan’s first nuclear weapon program, which started its research in April 1941.

By 1943, a committee headed by Nishina concluded that creating a nuclear weapon was possible but too difficult, even for the United States. The Japanese continued to research the possibility in the meantime, and another program called the F-Go Project was set up under physicist Bunsaku Arakatsu.

Though neither program was successful, who knows how differently World War II might have turned out had Japan gotten an atomic weapon first? According to author Robert K. Wilcox, Japan had the knowledge to create an atomic bomb but lacked the resources. In one close call in May 1945, a Nazi submarine that was supposed to deliver 540 kilograms (1,200 lb) of uranium oxide was captured on its way to Tokyo by the United States Navy.

Tristan Shaw runs a blog called Bizarre and Grotesque, where he writes about unsolved crimes, paranormal phenomena, and other weird and creepy things.

Japan has a long and proud history, and one that is rich in folklore, myths, and legends, some of which are perhaps some of the most disturbing and terrifying to be found anywhere on Earth. And if you like such morose and macabre accounts, then a great many of the legends of Japan will be of morbid interest to you. Here are just ten of them.

Related: Top 10 Bizarre American Urban Legends

10 Datsue-ba: Guarding the Pathways of the Dead

Even the name Datsue-ba is a little disturbing when translated; it’s said to mean “old woman who strips clothes.” According to the legends of this otherworldly entity, whose origins can be found in Buddhist folklore of the region, she is seemingly similar to the “trickster” gods of other ancient legends.

Legends of the area state that the spirits of the dead have to cross the Sanzu River in order to reach the realm of the dead, referred to as paradise. Again, we can draw similarities with the Greek legends of the need to cross the River Styx. More specifically, there are said to be three entry points available to these spirits. However, whether a soul can gain access to these paths depends very much on the type of life they have lived.

When it is a child’s spirit, however, through a lack of life experience, they have no paths available to them. Thus, when they attempt to cross the water, Datsue-ba will eventually block their way. Upon doing so, she will then strip the child of their clothes. These children can only hope that a sympathetic deity will come to assist them in crossing the water and overcoming the torment of Datsue-ba.

Not that adults who have led a bad life have it any easier. Datsue-ba would again strip the adults of their clothes. Some legends even state that the ghoulish spirit will strip the skin from these unfortunate souls if they are not wearing clothing. The torment she then dishes out depends on the gravity of their sins.^[1]

9 Betobeto-san: Footsteps of an Invisible Entity on a Lonely Road

Although there are no records in mythology of Betobeto-san causing physical harm, encounters with this mysterious entity certainly leave people unnerved. It is said that you will likely meet Betobeto-san while walking along a dark or lonely road. Or, more likely, if you happen to be walking along one of the many mountain roads in the country.

According to legend, you will hear footsteps behind you. And what’s more, these strange, unnerving footsteps will continue to follow you until you stop, step to one side, and state “you first” or “please go ahead.” With that, the footsteps will pass by and fade into the night.

One legend tells of a man who did exactly this only for a voice to reply that they couldn’t pass by as it was “too dark.” The man offered the strange entity his lantern. To his amazement, invisible hands took the lantern from him, and he watched as it continued on the road, the footsteps fading away as it did so.^[2]

8 Takaonna: Vengeful Woman Wreaking Havoc in Red Light Districts

What is perhaps interesting about the legends of the Takaonna is that they are said to haunt the red-light districts of Japan. And while there are few stories of them causing physical harm, they are said to harass and frighten the men and women who frequent the district. In fact, some tales tell of these women, who, for the most part, appear as perfectly normal women, elongating their bodies in order to peer into the windows of brothels, spying on the working women and their clients.

Legend states that these Takaonna were once ordinary women who were considered “too unattractive to marry” or to find work as a prostitute. Because of this social dismissal, their souls turned to vengeance. Their twisted, bitter outlook caused them to become “malicious monsters” who “prey on others’ sexual energy.” Perhaps like most legends, there appears to be a morality tale hidden beneath.^[3]

7 Hibagon: The “Japanese Bigfoot”

Perhaps one of the most recent legends of strange beast-like creatures lurking in the woods and wilderness of Japan is that of the Hibagon. This strange gorilla-like creature is regarded by many researchers as the “Japanese Bigfoot.” What’s more, there have been several sightings of this strange creature since the early 1970s.

As well as sightings of this alleged wild man, several molds have been taken of its footprints. Perhaps most famous of these were taken by a bunch of Boy Scouts, with the molds said to be over 9.5 inches (25 centimeters) long and 6 inches (15 centimeters) wide.

Descriptions of the Hibagon claim it is covered with black bristly fur, with white hands and feet and “glaring eyes.” One couple who claim to have come face to face with the strange creature, Mr. Sazawa and Mrs. Harada, said that it did not at all seem hostile. Furthermore, it turned and fled even when several other witnesses moved toward the creature with guns.^[4]

6 Amanajaku: Tempting Humans to Act on Their Darkest Desires

Compared to some of the other entries on our list, the Amanajaku is said to be outright demonic rather than merely scary. Legends state that this entity can appear to a person and not only realize their darkest desires but also prompt them to act on them. Essentially, they are, once more, similar to the trickster gods and entities found in many other parts of the ancient world.

This demonic being surfaces in many different legends, always in the same tempting role. One particularly gruesome tale tells of a young girl, cared for by an elderly couple, who is tricked into allowing an Amanajaku into their home. Once inside, it would eat her but would keep the skin. With this, the demon would pretend to be the girl by wearing it in order to trick others.

Again, it is perhaps easy to see the hidden messages and morality tales in such legends. That doesn’t, however, make them any less morose.^[5]

5 Bakeneko: A Cat That Can Take Human Form

Not only is the Bakeneko said to be a large cat with supernatural powers, but it also has the ability to shapeshift into human form. What’s more, it sometimes kills and steals the identity of the person it has shapeshifted into. Some legends even state that the Bakeneko can possess people and even take control of those who have long since been dead.

Perhaps even more frightening, if we accept the legends as truth for a moment, it is possible to run into this strange supernatural feline anywhere in Japan. Perhaps one reason for relief is that it is often only those who have led cruel lives that are likely to come across this potentially deadly entity. Some legends even attribute the origins of the Bakeneko to cats that were mistreated or killed by their owners, only to come back in this supernatural form looking for revenge on humans who conduct their lives in a similar way.^[6]

4 Satori: Mind-Reading Supernatural Beasts

Perhaps similar to the legends of the Hibagon, at least in some of the descriptions, the Satori are said to be monstrous creatures, often with gorilla- or Bigfoot-like features, that lurk in the mountain regions of the country. Even more startling, they are said to possess supernatural powers. These include the ability to read a person’s mind. In fact, some legends even state that they are so skilled at this that they can tell a person what they are thinking before they have even processed the thought themselves.

What is perhaps interesting here is that, like the Hibagon, if confronted, the Satori will run away and hide. However, that is not to say they are harmless—far from it. Legends also state that should you encounter one alone, they will kill and devour you as soon as the opportunity arises. Furthermore, other legends go as far as to state these entities can imitate individual voices, possibly in an attempt to lure their victims toward them.^[7]

3 Jikininki: Sinful Spirits Looking to Devour Human Corpses

The legends of the Jikininki are perhaps some of the most disturbing. Said to be the spirits of individuals who have led sinful or greedy lives, they spend eternity looking for human corpses, upon which they then feed. The name Jikininki is said to mean “human-eating ghosts” when translated.

Although there are several accounts and legends, the most well-known is that of a priest named Muso, who was traveling through Japan. As night was falling, he came upon a house where another priest lived. However, when he asked if he might stay the night and whether he might have some food, he was turned away. The priest did, though, direct him to a small village nearby. When he arrived, he was indeed given a place to sleep, as well as something to eat.

However, he was awakened later in the evening by a young man. He told him that his father had died earlier in the day. Furthermore, tradition stated that the village would leave the corpse alone during the night and spend the evening in a nearby settlement. If they did not, they would be subject to torment by evil. The young man asked if the priest might spend the night with the corpse and perform a ceremony to keep it safe. He agreed, and the young man joined the rest of his village.

However, during the evening, with Muso powerless to stop it, a strange dark figure entered the room and began to eat the flesh of the dead body. Upon arriving back the next day, the young man claimed, as he had feared, that a Jikininki had fed upon the body. Even stranger, when the priest asked why the priest who lived nearby had not remained with the corpse, he was informed that priest had died long ago.

In an even further twist, the traveling priest returned to the house and did indeed find the priest there. It was then that the priest revealed that he was a Jikininki and had been cursed to live as one due to his selfish actions while alive.^[8]

2 Jubokko: Trees That Desire Human Blood

Without a doubt, one of the most bizarre legends to come out of Japan is that of the Jubokko. These are trees that appear, for the most part, exactly the same as normal trees, only they desire human blood.

According to legend, these bloodthirsty trees usually grow on battlefields. Due to the spilling of blood at such locations, the trees absorb it, as well as the pain and suffering of the battlefield, and consequently take on a supernatural existence. What’s more, they now need this in order to grow. If a person comes close to one of these terrifying trees, the branches will quickly wrap around the person and trap them. Even more chilling, these branches will morph into tube-like twigs which pierce the skin of its victim and suck out the blood. The tree does not release the body once it is drained, though. It remains wrapped in the twisted branches for birds and insects to feast on the rotting flesh.^[9]

1 Shichinin Misaki: Seven Ghosts Looking to Infect the Living

According to the legends of the Shichinin Misaki, they are a group of spirits of people (usually seven in total) who have met their end before their time and in the most tragic of circumstances. Quite often, these spirits are associated with those who have lost their lives at sea or drowned in the water networks of the country. Perhaps that is why they are often witnessed near water.

This deadly group travels and lurks among the living, looking to spread illness and disease. Should a person encounter one of these mystery groups, it is said they will become ill, usually with a high fever, before passing away. In a twist, the entity that infected the person and caused their death is freed from the ghostly group and proceeds to the afterlife. The person who was infected, however, now becomes one of the Shichinin Misaki. This allows the group to constantly maintain its number at seven.

There are several different legends as to the origins of the original seven spirits, one of the most well-known states they were once a group of seven priests who were killed by the people of their village. This caused their spirits to roam the land seeking vengeance.^[10]