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Category: Japanese Superstitions 

The Human-Faced Tumor: Jinmensou (Ep. 95)

On today's episode I'm going to tell you about an affliction that involved a strange growth on some part of your body that had the face of a human and did horrible things.
Jinmensou human-faced tumor

Good Luck Superstitions in Japan (Ep. 91)

It's been a rough couple of years, so today let's talk about some Japanese good luck superstitions.
Snake skin

Halloween Episode: Kokkuri Spirit Boards and WTF?! (Ep. 87)

Kokkuri or Kokkuri-san is the name for the Japanese ouija or spirit board. It's also the name for the spirit who visits during the game.
Kokkuri-san

Mushi Okuri: Sending Off the Bugs (Ep. 79)

Mushi Okuri is a yearly event, usually taking place sometime in June or July, when the locals get together to ceremoniously expel harmful insects from their fields and pray for a bountiful crop.
Mushi Okuri Sending Away the Bugs

Kan-no-mushi: Adorable Parasites Living Inside Your Spine (Ep. 71)

Let me tell you why your toddler might cry at night and throw tantrums. It could be a mythical parasite that lives in their spine. 
Kan-no-mushi. Illustration of a creature with a long body, small limbs, and large eyes, accompanied by Japanese text and two cylindrical structures topped with red circles.

Cursed Swords That Want to Murder You (Youtou) (Ep. 69)

A Muramasa blade is one of exceptional quality and great bloodlust. It’s called a youtou  (妖刀) in Japanese. Depending on how you translate that, it could mean cursed sword, mystic sword, or demon sword. In this episode I talk about one of the most well known youtou made by Muramasa Sengo.
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi cursed sword

Kanreki: Your Auspicious Years, Yakudoushi: Your Calamitous Ones (Ep. 60)

Kanreki is the celebration of a 60th birthday. They’ll don a red vest, called a chanchanko, a red billowy hat, called an e-boshi and be given a white fan to hold. Yakudoshi are the ages you're believed to be more susceptible to sickness, misfortune or some other disaster.
kanreki chachanko

Food Superstitions and Sayings (Ep. 56)

Why shouldn't you eat crab and watermelon together? What will happen if you don't eat all the rice in your bowl? Today I'll answer these and a whole lot more. Japanese food superstitions and sayings are quite interesting and sometimes funny.
A crab and persimmon image

Creepy Children’s Song (Kagome Kagome) (Ep. 53)

In Japan "Kagome Kagome" is an old children's game and the song that goes along with it. It's interesting because the mysterious lyrics have several different interpretations and most of them are pretty grim.
strange children playing
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About The Uncanny Japan Podcast

Speculative fiction writer, long-term resident of Japan and Bram Stoker Award finalist Thersa Matsuura explores all that is weird from old Japan—strange superstitions, folktales, cultural oddities, and interesting language quirks. These are little treasures she digs up while doing research for her writing.

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