Hachishakusama

Eight Feet Tall.

My father's family home was just a little under two hours away by car from where we lived, a small village surrounded by farmland. I often stayed with my grandparents during my summer vacation and winter breaks from school, and they were always happy to play with me... but the last time I visited them was over ten years ago now, when I was still in my third year of high school. It was my Spring break and I had been invited to visit; and since the weather was good, I rode my bike out to their house.

After I got there I was a little cold, so I stretched out for a moment in a warm sunny spot off the road. Then I heard something strange...

"Popo, Popoppo, Po, pop ..."

It wasn't a mechanical noise; it sounded strange... but human. I looked about to see where the noise was coming from, and saw a white hat peeking over the top of the hedge. The hat moved along to a break in the hedge, when I could see that it was being worn by a woman with a white dress. She had to be tall, though; the hedge was over two meters high (six feet). Before I could really think about this much, the woman was gone, seemingly disappeared. The strange sound was gone too. At the time, I just guessed that the person's apparent height had been due either to wearing very tall platform shoes, or that it had been a man dressed up like a woman. Odd, but that was all.

A little later, while having tea with Grandma and Grandpa, I mentioned the strange person I had seen and that I thought it was a transvestite... but when, as an afterthought, I also mentioned the strange "po, po, po" noise, my grandparents panicked. My Grandpa suddenly showered me with questions: "when did you see this?!," "how much taller than the fence?!," "Did they look AT you?!". I answered as quickly as he asked, then he rushed to the phone in the hallway, shutting the sliding door so I couldn't hear the call. The room was suddenly very quiet. Grandma smiled a little, but was trembling for some reason. Grandpa came back soon, and told me I would be staying overnight with them. I had to admit that I didn't understand what the fuss was about, and asked what was so bad about the strange woman. Grandpa said "Grandma can tell you." He then looked at her and said he was going to pick up someone named "K-san" (Mr. or Mrs. K), and then left.

In a clearly shaky voice, Grandma said: "It seems that Hachishakusama has become interested in you... but we shouldn't worry. Grandpa is making arrangements." Grandma then told me, a little at a time, that Hachishakusama was not a person; she was some sort of monster, named Hachishakusama because of her height... 8 shaku [Japanese foot, about 11.9 inches] tall, "hachi" [8] "shaku" [foot] "sama" [person]. Her appearance could change somewhat -- sometimes young, sometimes old -- but she would always be abnormally tall, and would always have a creepy laugh... "Po Po Po."

Once Hachishakusama took an interest in a person, they were hunted to death in just a few days; and the last known victim of Hachishakusama had been fifteen years previous.

Eight feet TallArtist's rendition of Hachishakusama, ca. 2013 [Larger version here]

I learned later that Hachishakusama was supposed to be trapped in a shrine near the village, having been sealed in by four statues of Jizo, a protective deity of children, each placed to the north, south, east, and west of the structure. The village had some sort of agreement with it's neighboring villages, wherein they were given some advantages to make up for the fact they had to watch over the monster... for example, they got first priority on water use. Since it had been over a dozen years since Hachishakusama had killed anyone, I have to wonder if the old men in those villages thought it was still a good arrangement.

At the time I couldn't quite believe what I was being told, of course; but then Grandpa returned with a very old lady. K-san, for that's who it was, handed me a small paper charm and told me to hold onto it. Then she and Grandpa went upstairs. While they were upstairs, I tried to excuse myself to use the bathroom... but my Grandma wouldn't let me go alone, and she insisted on keeping the door open and an eye on me as I was using the facilities. This is when I started to really understand just how serious my grandparents felt the situation was.