Japanese Urban Legends ~ Hanako-san of the Toilet

Halloween is in just a few days. The day was mostly unheard of in Japan when I arrived here many moons ago, but the past few years it has gained popularity at a remarkable speed and is now everywhere! Anyway, in the days leading up to the day I thought I'd share a few Japanese urban legends that I've heard and like.

Let's start by today looking at Hanako-san of the Toilet (toire no hanako-san, トイレの花子さん)

This one has an element of daring someone to do something. Kind of like Bloody Mary, which many may be more familiar with in the Candyman form.

The dare here is if one is brave enough, one should visit the third stall in the girl's restroom on the third floor of a school. Once there, knock three times and ask "Are you there, Hanako-san?" That's the dare.

The urban legend states that if you are extremely unlucky, in answer to the question, you will hear "I'm here." If you hear that, you are basically screwed because both options are bad. If you open the toilet door, Hanako-san will be standing there covered in blood; she will pull you in and close the door and that's the end of you. If you choose to run upon hearing the reply, you won't get far: she will have predicted your move and her bloody hand will already be around your legs and she will pull you in to your doom.

There are tons of variation. I think one of the movies added that she can only be summoned between 1 and 3am (the hour of the ox). Another says that she's in the fourth stall rather than the third, playing on the Japanese belief that 4 is unlucky (the word for four—shi—sounds like the word for death). Still another version says you should start with the first stall and then knock on every stall until you either run out of stalls or summon her and die. Other versions replace the little girl with a three-headed lizard.

In other versions Hanako becomes more tricky, asking if they want to be friends, then death to the person who answers the voice and goes to investigate. There are even versions that replace Hanako-san with Hanako-kun, a boy.

Some versions of the story do include a way to escape her and save yourself. It is said that if you have perfect grades, she will spare you. I think it's safe to say this exception was probably added by teachers to try to scare the kids into studying harder.

You can imagine the game, with kids telling others to prove they aren't scared by going and attempting to summon Hakano-san.

The urban legend dates back to the 1950s. Hanako was a popular girl's name in the 50s. The tale has been fairly popular for all of the past 70 years.

And like all good scary stories, there is an origin story to it. It's said Hanako-san died during WWII when her school was bombed while she was hiding in the toilet. As with most urban legends, however, there are many versions of the origin story. Another version of the story says one of her abusive parents found her hiding out in the toilet and beat her to death there. Another claims she was severely bullied and committed suicide in the toilet stall and now she punishes all school kids as revenge.

In recent years the urban legend jumped to film, anime, and manga. She even appeared in the child's comedy anime Yo-kai Watch. I've heard some say that Moaning Myrtle, the school toilet ghost in Harry Potter, was based on Hanako-san (though according to a few web searches I did while writing this post, Rowling denies this).

So, dear reader, are you brave enough to try to summon Hanako-san?