We continue our Halloween look at Japanese urban legends. This series is growing a bit long now, so I'll put the links to the other entries at the bottom of the page instead of up here.
Anyway, today let's look at Teke Teke (テケテケ), aka Kashima Reiko (仮死魔霊故).
That first name might seem a little strange, but it will make more sense in a moment.
Teke-Teke is the ghost of a schoolgirl. What is most unique about her, or more horrifying, is that she has no bottom half. She runs about on her arms, which creates a teke teke sound. So you see her name is actually an onomatopoeia. Just like the headless horseman, she is constantly searching for her legs.
Now I have to apologize, dear readers, because I might be cursing you by writing this post. You see, the story goes three days after hearing this tale, you will catch sight of a ghost with no bottom half. She will know you and she will chase you. Escape is impossible. Even with only her arms it is said she can travel even faster than a car. When she catches you, well... say goodbye to your lower half. She will slice you in half with a scythe and take your legs as her own.
But there is a way to escape this fate. Keep reading to find out.
There are several versions of story. Many of them overlap with a story called Kashima Reiko so let's go into that one.
The only origin I've heard for the story of Teke-teke is that she was abused and home and bullied at school and so she tried to commit suicide. She did so by jumping in front of a train and being sliced in half as a result.
The story of Kashima Reiko expands on this. Well, one version of her story does. There are also many versions of that one. The one I'll tell you here goes that she was an office worker in Hokkaido who was assaulted and raped by an American GI shortly after WWII. So traumatized by this that she decided to kill herself by leaping in front of a train. Instead of being hit and killed instantly by the front train car, she fell onto the tracks and was cut in half. Due to the cold Hokkaido night, she didn't die and she dragged herself to the station where she begged for help. The attendant was too scared to do anything, so he just covered her with a plastic tarp and ignored her. She died slowly and painfully. Because of this, her hatred turned her into an onryō, a vengeful ghost.
There are several versions of possible ways to escape. One of them says that she will come at you three times after you hear her story. The first two times if you say her true name, Kashima Reiko, she will disappear. In some tellings, on the second time to get rid of her you need to make a chant based on her name in kanji (仮死魔霊故): "Kashima Reiko. Ka as in mask (仮面), shi as in death (死), ma as in demon (魔), rei as in ghost (霊), and ko as in accident (事故)."
But on the third day.... on the third day, you are doomed. In order to avoid that, before the third day you must share her store with someone else. That is the only way to be rid of her.
If that sounds familiar, that's because it's the same way to drive away the vengeful spirit Sadako in The Ring (Ringu). I can only assume the movie borrowed from this legend.
This story is thought to have been inspired by the true story of a woman who threw herself in front of a train at Akabana Station in Tokyo in 1935. Her legs were also sliced off, but the train stopped with the wheel still on her which stopped the bleeding. She remained alive long enough to answer the conductor's questions and be taken to the hospital where she died some hours later.
Anyway, better pass the story on to someone else as soon as possible if you want to be safe!
This look at Japanese Urban Legends now has a few entries. Go read them all if you are interested.
- Hanako-san of the Toilet
- Kuchisake-onna, the Slit-Mouthed Woman
- Aka Manto, aka Red Paper Blue Paper
- Hone-onna, the Bone Woman
I think tomorrow I'll take a break from these and do my usual Hive Goals post, but I may come back to give you more on the day after. See you then!
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David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. |
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