Sugisawa Village
Sugisawa Village (杉沢村, Sugisawa-mura) was supposedly a village in Aomori Prefecture, in the Tohoku region of Japan, which appears in a legend. The legend tells of a man who, in a moment of madness, massacred the other villagers before killing himself. The land upon which the village, now abandoned, stood was supposedly incorporated into a nearby village, and all trace of it erased from maps and official documents. However, it is said that evil spirits haunt the ruins, and anyone who visits the area will never return.
The legend was, for a long time, known of only in Aomori Prefecture. However, it became known nationwide, and a topic of internet discussion, after a documentary about the story was featured on an episode of "Miraculous Experiences! Unbelievable" (奇跡体験!アンビリバボー), a variety programme on Fuji TV. The same programme featured Sugisawa Village multiple times but, after finding no definite evidence, concluded that: "Sugisawa Village exists in a distortion of space-time, and the village comes and goes."
The legend bears many similarities to the Tsuyama Massacre in Okayama.
Authenticity
It is a fact that a settlement known as "Sugisawa Village" once existed within Aomori Prefecture; however, the place's actual name was "Kosugi" (小杉), a district on the outskirts of the prefecture. Many theories regarding Obatakezawa (小畑沢), a modern-day area in Aomori, exist, but it is known that "Sugisawa" was used as an alternative name for Kosugi.
The Kosugi area is now almost empty, but this is due to shrinking land boundaries; no records of mass killings in the area since the beginning of the Meiji period exist.
As the legend goes, since the population of Sugisawa Village was wiped out, and there were no longer any people to govern, it was absorbed into Aomori City along with the rest of the Kosugi district. However, no Sugisawa Village existed within the new district.
Since the story became popularised, many fans of the occult and abandoned ruins have visited the area as a test of courage. Many accounts of experiences in the area have been published on the internet, but these are of low credibility and thus details may not be accurate.
Connections to Fatal Frame
- Both villages supposedly existed in the old Mutsu region during the Meiji period, which is now known as Tohoku.
- The massacre of an entire village is similar to the acts committed by Sae Kurosawa during The Repentance.
- Both villages supposedly bend time and space, existing in two realities, vanishing from one reality while they exist in the other.
- Similarly to the Sugisawa Village legend, it is said that anyone who "finds" Minakami Village is unable to leave.
References
External links
Japanese Culture
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| Religion |
| Buddhism - Shinto |
| Japanese Ghosts/Creatures |
| Funayūrei - Goryō - Hitodama - Ikiryō - Onryō - Ubume - Yōkai - Yūrei |
| Specific Japanese Ghosts/Creatures |
| Oiwa - Okiku - Yuki-onna |
| Terms |
| Dosojin - Grave Mound - Hannya Mask - Higanbana - Jizo - Kaidan - Miko - Mukoyōshi - Sanzu River - Shimenawa - Toro-Nagashi - Wara Ningyo |
| Locations |
| Northeastern Japan - Shizuoka - Sugisawa Village - Tono |
| Media and Entertainment |
| Kagome, Kagome - Ringu |