Gakkou No Kaiden
Kimodameshi

Each summer the teenagers and children of Satoyama play a game called Kimodameshi or “The Test of Courage''. In the game, a person is normally dared to venture alone to a location that is supposed to be haunted. Once there they are to retrieve something from the location, to prove they really went there. Sometimes they are required to take a picture of the place and leave a token as proof of their midnight visit. In other parts of Japan this could be a supposed haunted house, an abandoned hospital, or an abandoned school. Normally only a dark path will lead one to this supposed haunted location.

In Satoyama an old, abandoned Shinto Shrine that is located deep in the mountains is a popular location that young men will often venture to at night to prove their courage. The shrine is ten kilometers from the village. To reach the shrine one must first navigate a dark, overgrown forest with only the light of a lantern and the brightness of the moon to guide their steps, then they must climb a lonely mountain trail.

Once they reach the shrine they are supposed to leave an offering of a ten yen coin and snap a picture of the front of the shrine. Then they are supposed to leave a white candle with there name carved down the center. Come morning they are supposed to return with their friends and those who dared them, the candle being there would prove then visited the shrine, and the picture would prove they went at night. The time stamp on the photo would also help prove their claim.

Now, the story I'm going to tell you is the story my sempai told me when I first moved to Satoyama from Tokyo last year. Its an account of the dangers of the shrine. And the supernatural threats that lurk along the mountain trails at night and under the low hanging branches of the forest. She claims she heard this tale first hand, and that the one who told it to her has now vanished. Or more properly been spirited away.

Now my story concerns the midnight trek of a boy named Suguro Misato. He was something of a daredevil. He often tended to boast about his courage and was the star of the Kendo team. One afternoon one of his teammates dared him to visit the old Shinto Shrine at the hour of the Ox. Now the hour of Ox was known to be the hour when ghosts, goblins, witches, and monsters were at their strongest and when the boundaries between this world and the spirit was at it's thinnest.

Sugur Misato was not afraid of any ghost. And boasted if he ever encountered one, he would vanish them with his wooden practice sword. And so he agreed to the bet, and as soon as the sun had set he started down the road that would take him to the old shrine. The night was hot and humid and so he dressed lightly.

Feeling bold, Sugur decided to take a different route than the one normally taken. This one would lead him through an old, abandoned cemetery that had fallen into disrepair. Now normally even during the day when the sun was shining the cemetery would seem like a foreboding place to be, with broken flagstone pathways, litter with broken vases, and its row upon row of aging stones, covered with moss. But at night it seemed downright nightmarish.

Sugur, considering himself a stout, modern day samurai, paid no attention to shadows the graves cast as he marched boldly down the broken pathway. But then something happen, a ghostly white hand reached out from the graves and snatched him by arm and dragged him down to the ground. Sugur leap to his feet and spun around.
And there before him stood a floating pair of white hands. Stunned Sugur dropped his sword and started to rush down the broken pathway. The hands chased him. Running full speed, at a reckless dash, Sugur soon cleared the graveyard. Frightened, he thought about turning back, but that would mean he would have to face the phantom hands again.

Taking a deep breath Sugur peered at the opening in the forest that stood before him, an old dirt road ran through the forest. He would have to take this dirt road, then climb a steep mountain trail before he could reach the shrine. He could feel his heart giving away, but, he reminded himself who he was and so he started to hike into the forest.

The inside of the forest was darker than the night that surrounded him. In his hast to set off on his quest he had forgotten to bring with him a lantern, though he had his phone and a white candle with his name carved into the center. The forest path curved in front of him, and often he had to feel his way forward. Step by step he advanced, then a few paces ahead he saw something coming toward him. It was a bright ball of yellow light.

Sugur paused and peered toward the light, the light started to move toward him. Once the ball of light was three meters away from him, Sugar felt his blood run cold. Standing just ahead of him was an old man that was holding a lantern. The old man was dressed in the robes of a monk. But his face, his face was smooth as an egg and void of any features.

Sugur overcome by fear, bolted away from the old man, he then paused, if he went the direct he came he would have to face the floating ghost hands, if he kept going down the forest road he would have the face the faceless monk. Caught between two supernatural being, Sugur decided to dive into the forest. And so he did, he left the main road and started to wander through the forest. By luck, he managed to find the main road again.

Sugur was now scared out of his mind, but was sure he had to prove his courage. And so he pushed on.. and soon he had put the forest behind him. Now it was only the lonely mountain trail to climb before he could claim victory. The trail was steep and soon Sugur was sweating bullets as he forced himself to climb up the steep grade.

Now halfway up the mountain trail one will come to a stream. The stream is swift, and the water is deep and cold. Sugur soon reached this stream and was forced to pause. He had been dreading this part of the test, you see at one point in time the shrine had built and maintained a footbridge reaching from one bank of the stream to the other. The bridge had fallen into disrepair when the shrine had been abandoned and a year or so ago the rotten remains had been washed down stream when the melting snow had swollen the stream and forced it out of its banks. Leaving Sugur no choice but to wade across the stream.

And so holding his Lantern up. Sugur took a deep breath and started to wade into the icy cold waters, the current almost knocked him down and the solo's of his plastic shoes struggled to find purchase as he inched across the slimed covered rocks that formed the bottom of the stream. Once or twice he almost lost his balance, but he struggled on. Halfway across the stream, a green webbed claw reached out from the waters and wrapped itself around Sugur leg. The talon pierced his skin and drew blood, Sugur yelled in pain and stumbled forward.

For a few minutes he thought he might drown as he failed around in the swift flowing stream. The water around him turned bright red as blood flowed from his gash on his leg into the water, but at last, Sugar managed to kick himself free and quickly managed to wade to the other side. Once he reached the bank he fell down, he was out of breath and his leg looked like a wild beast had wrapped its claws around it.

It was now the hour of the Ox and the sun would rise soon. And Sugur still had a ways to go. So gathering his strength, Sugur started to walk down the old, mountain trail. Each step he took caused his wound to open a little more. He limped alone though, his solo thought was getting to the shrine before the sun rose over the pines. Because if he failed to reach the shrine before sunrise then all of this would have been in vain and he would have failed his test of courage.

As he neared the shrine, Sugur felt his strength starting to fail him. His chest was now heaving up and down and beads of sweat were now appearing on his forehead and his breathing was deep. Each step he took seemed to require an untold amount of strength. But then he heard something, deep within the forest that surrounded the old dirt road that led to the shrine he heard what appeared to somebody driving a nail into a tree. Sugur, weak, but overcome with curiosity, decided to see what the tapping sound was.

He had only gone a few meters when to his horror he saw something. Standing in a grove of sacred trees was a woman who was dressed in a white kimono, her face was also painted white and she wore an iron crown upon her head. Three floating candles surrounded the crown, the orange and red flames seemed to almost flicker and dance around. She also wore a mirror around her neck. The woman seemed to be nailing a straw doll into one of the sacred trees.

Sugur swallowed hard and started to back away. This test of courage was proving too much for him. He slowly started to back away, but as he started to back up the hill, his foot caught on a branch and he fell forward toward the woman. The woman turned around and out of the corner of her eye she spotted Sugur laying on the ground. The woman, alarmed at being discovered, reached into her kimono and pulled out a small knife.

Raising her voice to a yell she started to charge at Sugur, who had just enough time to recover himself from his fall. He then felt his blood run cold as he watched the woman come charging at him, the naked blade of the knife catching the dying rays of light of the full moon as she closed the gap between him and her. Sugur closed his eyes and the last thing he felt was the knife being driven into his neck.

Or so he thought. When he opened his eyes, he was not in heaven nor was he in hell. Instead he was surrounded by four white walls and he was hooked up to a breathing machine. An IV was poked into his arms. Confused and scared he pushed the call button that was next to the bed, a moment later a nurse appeared in the doorway of his room.

The nurse amazed that Sugur was awake called for a doctor who informed Sugur that he had been out for three full days. He also told him that a forester had found him. And when he was found he was badly injured, so bad they had to airlift him and fly him to the nearest hospital. But the good news was that now he was awake and his injuries were healing. And they expected him to make a total recovery. And that how Sugur test of courage ended. So I would like to say, what really happen though is this, after he was released from the hospital, he wrote down all that happen to him that night and started to walk toward the mountains. He was never heard from or seen again. It was like Sugur had vanished into thin air.