TALES OF TERROR

Tomino's Hell

This is popular Japanese story is about a poem called "Tomino's Hell." They say that you should only read with your mind, and never out loud. If you were to read it out loud, then you must take responsibility for your actions. "Tomino's Hell" (トミノの地獄) is written by Yomota Inuhiko (四方田 犬彦) in a book called "The Heart is Like a Rolling Stone" (心は転がる石のように), And was included in Saizo Yaso's (西條 八十) 27th collection of poems in 1919. It's not sure how this rumor started, but there's only a warning that "If you read this poem out loud, tragic things (凶事) will happen." It just looks like a curse. It asks to not compare this with the common "You'll grow taller" or even "My parents died." Do you get a sense of how dangerous this is?

This story used to be very popular in 2ch, and there were many people taking pictures and videos as proof and posting them on 2ch. There were many users that said that nothing happened, but there were also many posts that didn't have the user come back to post the results. I think it's scarier than someone posting that someone else got sick or that someone else passed away. But if you were to read it out loud, it's better to read it in Japanese rather than the translation.

トミノの地獄

Tomino no Jigoku (Tomino's Hell)

--

西條八十

Saijo Yaso

詩集「砂金」より

--

姉は血を吐く、妹（いもと）は火吐く、

ane wa chi wo haku, imoto wa hihaku,

His older sister vomited blood, his younger sister vomited fire,

可愛いトミノは 宝玉（たま）を吐く。

kawaii tomino wa tama wo haku

And the cute Tomino vomited glass beads.

ひとり地獄に落ちゆくトミノ、

hitori jihoku ni ochiyuku tomino,

Tomino fell into Hell alone,

地獄くらやみ花も無き。

jigoku kurayami hana mo naki.

Hell is wrapped in darkness and even the flowers don't bloom.

鞭で叩くはトミノの姉か、

muchi de tataku wa tomino no aneka,

Is the person with the whip Tomino's older sister,

鞭の朱総（しゅぶさ）が 気にかかる。

muchi no shubusa ga ki ni kakaru.

I wonder who the whip's shubusa(?) is.

叩けや叩きやれ叩かずとても、

tatake yatataki yare tataka zutotemo,

Hit, hit, without hitting,