The Suspension Bridge

(Translated by Saya)
This is a true story that really happened to my friend, although he never told me the exact location where it took place.
The incident caused two deaths, and he himself had to be quesitoned by the police over and over again.
I heard the story in question from my friend while we were still at college...

It happened when my friend and his six coworkers at his part-time job went for a drive to a suspension bridge in a certain prefecture in the Chugoku region.*1
They split off and drove separately in two cars.

My friend was the driver of the second car.
In the first car which drove ahead of him, there were the manager and a couple, and in his own car there were the remaining four people including himself.

Although they set off in the morning, due to the many stops they made on the way, the sun was already setting when they arrived at the suspension bridge.
The suspension bridge ran across a deep valley in the middle of a mountain.
As they approached the bridge, it began to drizzle, and fog started swirling around them.

There was an open space in front of the bridge, and if the weather were fine, they would have parked their cars in there and crossed the bridge to the other side on foot and come back.
(The other side of the bridge was a dead end. The bridge was left there for sight-seeing.)
However, the moment they reached the open space, the first car came to an abrupt halt. 
"What are they doing...?"
The four people, who were inside the second car which also stopped about 10 metres behind the first car, had no clue as to why the manager stopped his car. For some minutes, those in the second car just sat there looking on.



But the first car made no attempt to move, so my friend tried to open the door and go over to there to see what was happening, but right at the same time, the couple who sat in the back seat of the first car flew out of the car.
Alarmed, my friend too got out of his car, and tried to walk over to them and ask them, "What happened?" but the couple, with their hands joined, started sprinting, and in a flash, they climbed over the guard rail at the edge of the open space, and threw themselves down the valley.
The four of them were totally astounded, and ran to the guard rail and looked down the valley, but they couldn't see anything because of the thick fog.

They couldn't believe what had just happened and stood in a daze for a moment, but soon they remembered about the manager and walked back to the first car to see if he was alright.
The manager was in the driver's seat, his hands tightened on the steering wheel until the white of his knuckles showed through his skin; and he kept muttering under his breath:
"Mustn't go mustn't go mustn't go mustn't go mustn't go mustn't go mustn't go."

They couldn't do anything else but call the police.
The police soon arrived on the scene, and the deranged manager was taken away in an ambulance.

As might be expected, the couple was later found dead.
The rest of the people in the group had to endure a seemingly endless interrogation by the police, but in the end it was concluded that the couple committed a double suicide.


My friend later paid a visit to the manager in the hospital, and asked the manager what happened on that day.
The manager told him that, as they drew near to the bridge, a girl dressed in an old-fashioned kimono suddenly appeared out of the fog.
The startled manager immediately stepped on the brake and stopped the car.
The girl wore her hair short and was dressed like someone in a historical drama or from the Meiji period*2, and she was somehow smiling at him.

A girl with short hair in kimono

He was creeped out and thought perhaps he should run away, when he realised that the car was already surrounded by a group of children who were dressed in a similar fashion to the girl.
The manager sensed he was in a danger and promplty began chanting a mantra.
The children who surrounded the car joined their hands together and started singing:
"Kagome~ Kagome~ The bird in the cage ~..." *3
At the same time, the manager heard the children's voices in his head, saying, "Come with us, come with us, come with us..."
The manager gripped the steering wheel and muttered "mustn't go mustn't go mustn't go mustn't go mustn't go..." and kept chanting the mantra.
Then the next moment, the couple who sat in the back seat got out of the car,  joined their hands with the children, and together they all started running.
And then they climbed over the guard rail... towards the valley....

"Of course the police didn't believe my story. I'm not even sure myself whether it was real or not."
The manager said at the end of his story.

Another person who was with us and listening to my friend's story chuckled, saying, "You sure are good at making up a story!"
But my friend said, "It's true, that was how they died."
I also think it is true.



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The Chugoku Region

*1 The Chugoku region - the westernmost region of Honshū, the largest island of Japan. It consists of the prefectures of Hiroshima, Okayama, Shimane, Tottori, and Yamaguchi. (Wikipedia)

*2  The Meiji Period - a Japanese era which extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan, during which Japanese society moved from being an isolated feudal society to a Westernised form. Fundamental changes affected its social structure, internal politics, economy, military and foreign relations. The period corresponded to the reign of Emperor Meiji (Wikipedia)

Children playing kagome kagome

 *3 Kagome Kagome - is a Japanese children's game and the song associated with it. One player is chosen as the oni (literally demon or ogre, but similar to the concept of "it" in tag) and sits blindfolded (or with their eyes covered). The other children join hands and walk in circles around the Oni while chanting the song for the game. When the song stops, the Oni tries to name the person standing directly behind them.

The song is a subject of much interest because of its cryptic lyrics which vary from region to region, and many theories exist about its meaning, but neither have been definitely explained. (See Wikipedia  for the meaning of lyrics and some of the theories regarding the song)

The video below: Kagome Kagome song

Here is a theory that was not on Wikipedia:
In olden times, it was not rare for the families in poor villages to sell their own children.
Kagome Kagome was a ritual to decide which child would be sold.
When they finished singing "Who stands behind you now?" the child who stood behind the child at the centre was chosen as the one who would be sold.
The child at the centre would normally be Oni, but in this ritual the child would act as a god's medium.
Because it was considered as a god's will, no one could raise an objection against the decision.