“I want to tell the story of how I got lost in the mountains a long time ago and was saved by a bear.”
If you would like to be notified of future posts, follow me on:
My Instagram:
⭐️UPDATING REGULARY π
πππ» If you’d ever like to repost my translated stories or use them in any other way, I’d really appreciate it if you could include a link back to my blog. I put a lot of effort into creating my posts,
and personally, it would make me really happy to have that acknowledged. Thank you so much! ☺️❤️
————————
A 2 chan Thread (2015)
1: (OP)
I’ll write it once this thread gets going.
2:
Okay
4: (OP)
Alright, it’s up.
I comment a lot, but this is my first time starting a thread, so I’m kinda nervous.
Anyway, let me explain how I got lost first.
Back when I was in middle school, I went alone to my grandma’s place.
Her house was way out in the countryside, surrounded by mountains.
I was a total city kid, so I loved going there because I could mess around in nature.
That time too, I was all hyped like “WOW, nature lol,” fishing, helping in the fields, just having the time of my life.
7:
A life in the countryside would be UN-BEAR-Able to me.
8: (OP)
So it was either the third or fourth day of my stay—I don’t really remember—but suddenly I thought,
“Hey!! Let’s go pick some sansai (wild mountain vegetables)!”
Yeah, stupid idea.
I borrowed a bunch of tools from my grandma and headed into the mountains
(though her place was already technically in the mountains).
I started climbing through areas with no real paths, pulling out and cutting plants she’d said were edible.
I was having way too much fun.
⭐️Links:
⭐️YouTube Video
9: (OP)
People often call me a moron and I was definitely a moron then too.
My grandma had warned me,
“Don’t go past that tree over there. It’s dangerous.”
But I got all fired up like,
“I’m young, I’ll be fine! I can handle it! No problem!”
And I went ahead anyway.
Long story short, I went too far, slipped, rolled down a slope, and got lost.
10: (OP)
The slope wasn’t so steep that it looked impossible to climb back up.
But when I fell, I smashed my leg into a small tree and got covered in cuts and bruises,
and I think I twisted my ankle too—there was no way I could climb.
But again, being stupid, I thought:
“I think I came from this direction, so if I walk this way I’ll reach the village.”
So I started dragging my leg and moving forward.
But as you can imagine I was heading to the exact opposite direction.
11: (OP)
The farther I went, the more the path disappeared.
It was summer, so my stamina was getting drained fast.
The water I had in my plastic bottle ran out pretty quickly.
But still no sign of the village or a walkable path.
By evening, I had lost all hope.
When it got pitch black, I honestly thought, “So this is how I die.”
12:
I am full of expectation.
14: (OP)
So there I was, in total darkness.
I thought, “I’ll just sleep for now,” but of course I couldn’t sleep and this wasn’t exactly a situation where anyone could have slept.
Then I heard a rustling sound.
I figured it was probably just a bird or something and I didn’t pay much attention.
But then I noticed the basket behind me—the one with the wild vegetables—was being dragged away.
I turned around and saw this big, hairy wild boar.
“WTFHHHWHAT?!?!?!?!?!”
I screamed something completely incomprehensible, and that was my mistake.
The boar locked onto me.
It rammed into me—thankfully it wasn’t going very fast or from far away, so it wasn’t too bad—but then it bit my arm.
All I could do was yell “Help, help.”
I remember that part clearly.
And then I passed out.
15: (OP)
I’m listening
16: (OP)
When I came to, it was early morning, and it was dim around me.
For a second I thought, “Did I die?”
Then a sharp pain shot through my arm and I realized it wasn’t a dream.
I don’t know what happened exactly, but when I tried to get up, I found the boar scattered around.
It was torn into pieces - bones here, chunks of meat there.
I’m really bad with gore, so I passed out again right then.
17:
Whatever it was, maybe it just got full off the boar and left you alone.
18: (OP)
When I woke up again, the sun was almost directly overhead.
I figured it was around noon.
The boar was completely gone, which was a relief.
I stood up to check my surroundings.
Then I turned around, thinking, “My basket…”
And there it was.
A bear cub.
The cub was casually taking mountain vegetables out of my basket and eating them.
We made eye contact, but the cub looked at me like, “Whatcha looking at?” and went right back to grabbing the next veggie.
I stood there dumbfounded, thinking, “Bears eat plants too…?”
And then it hit me—
What if this cub had killed the boar and saved me?
It was smaller than me, but still about my size (I was around 157 cm back then).
Even so, a full-strength bear punch could probably take down a boar.
I convinced myself it must have saved me.
I shakily muttered, “Th…th…th…thank you…”
The cub ignored me completely and kept eating.
19: (OP)
“All right, before the cub changes its mind, I need to get out of here!! Run!!”
That was the only thought in my head.
“Screw the basket, it’s yours!”
And I took off at full speed.
Except I’d completely forgotten my injured leg.
So yeah, I fell.
Smashed my nose into a tree root. Nosebleed everywhere.
Dragging my leg, crawling on the ground, repeating “Run, run, run,”
I suddenly saw some legs in my field of vision—thick, shaggy fur.
I thought, “The cub…?”
I looked up.
It was just a bear.
A full-grown bear.
I glanced back—the cub was still eating vegetables.
I looked at the bear again.
Its mouth was covered in blood.
And at that moment, everything clicked.
“Oh. This one killed the boar.”
21: (OP)
I accepted death.
I realized I couldn’t run anymore, so I prostrated myself on the ground.
But seconds passed, and the bear didn’t attack.
All I could hear was its breathing.
I raised my head.
The bear looked at me like, “What?”
I thought, “Ah… parent and child.”
I slowly stood up.
For some reason, the bear also stood up on its hind legs.
I said something stupid like,
“Uh…don’t worry, I’m not fighting, I’m not fighting, I’m sorry,”
And then the cub suddenly charged me and tackled me.
Of course I went down.
Unlike the boar, this thing was heavy. It hurt like hell.
I thought the cub was about to attack, but instead it started shaking me with its paws, flipping me over and stuff.
I figured if I reacted the wrong way, I’d die,
so I just let it do whatever it wanted to me.
22: (OP)
So while the cub was rolling me around, the parent bear stopped it with its paw.
Even bears exercise restraint, apparently.
I was thinking, “Please just go away already”…when the parent bear started walking.
Me: “YEEEEESSSSSSS”
But then the cub grabbed my leg with its mouth.
Me: “Wait—what?”
And yeah, I got dragged. Absolutely got dragged.
Me: “Let go! LET GOOO!!”
The cub let go right away.
“Oh, so you do understand me,” I thought.
Then the cub tried to get me to stand up.
I was like, “Am I supposed to stand…????”
So I stood up.
Then the cub pressed its face against my back and started pushing me forward.
Me: “Does this mean… I should follow you?????”
Figured if I ran, they’d just chase me anyway,
so I dragged my injured leg and followed the parent bear.
23: (OP)
After walking for a while, I heard the sound of water.
I thought, “Oh yeah… I’m thirsty.”
And then hunger hit me too.
Right, I hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday.
The cub stole all my mountain vegetables, so at least I wanted to drink as much water as I could.
The bear family reached a river and started drinking.
I copied them and gulped down water like crazy.
I figured if I could just fill my stomach with water, it’d help somehow.
Drinking made me feel a bit calmer.
The cub started playing in the water.
The parent bear moved into the shade and sat down.
Me: “What is this… what am I supposed to do????”
It was hot, so I also moved into the shade.
I needed to figure out how to get back to the village.
But my body was wrecked, and I knew I had to recover a bit first…
I thought too much, and nothing came together.
Me: “Hey… you don’t know which way the village is, do you?”
For some reason, I said that to the parent bear.
Parent bear: “……”
Obviously no reply.
But while thinking about how to get back, I somehow realized,
“At least these bears aren’t dangerous.”
Just that realization gave me a sudden sense of relief and mental space.
Once I relaxed, my thoughts shifted to stuff like:
“So this is what bear fur feels like,”
“They kinda feel like dog fur,”
“The cub doesn’t smell much, but the parent bear kinda stinks,”
Before I knew it, I was observing bears.
24: (OP)
While I was chilling with the bears, another bear appeared.
Running full speed.
For some reason, I didn’t run. I just relaxed like,
“Oh hey, their friend’s here.”
When the other bear showed up, the parent bear jogged over to it.
Then it made this weird sound like “vooon” and called the cub.
The cub immediately stopped playing.
I was wondering what was going on when—
A dog appeared.
Just a Shiba Inu.
No doubt about it. A Shiba.
It clicked instantly.
“A matagi (traditional hunter) must be nearby.”
25:
Were they Higuma (brown bear)?
27: (OP)
No idea.
All I’ll say is it was Shimane Prefecture.
26: (OP)
The moment the Shiba saw me, it started barking like crazy.
I panicked.
And I suddenly thought,
“I don’t want these guys to die!”
So I pointed in some random direction and shouted,
“Y-you guys run! You’ll get killed!”
The bears reacted immediately.
All three of them jogged off into the forest and disappeared.
28: (OP)
Even after the bears left, the Shiba kept barking nonstop.
So I said, talking to it in human language just like I did to the bears:
“I’m not one of them! I’m not a bear! Where’s your owner?! Hey, take me to him!!”
Then another Shiba showed up, saw me, and also started barking like mad.
A full-on dog chorus. My ears were dying.
Me: “You’re too loud. Quiet down. Where’s your owner?”
Old man: “UWEAAAAAAAARRRGGGHHHHHH”
Me: “!?!?!?!?”
Old man: “YOU’RE ALIIIIVE!! YOU’RE ALIVE!! I FOUND YOU, YOU IDIOTTTT!!”
Turns out, the dogs weren’t matagi dogs at all.
They weren’t even hunting dogs.
They were just some old guy’s regular pet dogs that were there to help search for me.
29:
There are matagi in Shimane?
31: (OP)
>>29
It was just something a stupid middle school kid came up with. Don’t worry about it.
I know now they are only in Tohoku region.
⭐️Link:
32: (OP)
After that, I staggered back to my grandma’s house with the old guy.
The moment I saw my grandma, I just broke down crying, yelling,
“UOEEAAAHHH GRANNMAAAAA!!”
Totally embarrassing.
My grandma hugged me tight, crying too, saying,
“So glad you’re safe!”
That night, still sniffling and crying, I told her everything that happened while I was lost—
about the bears saving me and all that.
I figured no one would believe it, but then my grandma said something I never expected.
Grandma: “Oh, those must’ve been the Yamamoto family’s bears.”
Me: “…Huh?”
34: (OP)
Later, we went to visit the Yamamoto family (pseudonym), pretty late at night.
And there they were— the three bears, chained up like it was normal.
Me: “What the hell?”
Yamamoto-san : “I was wondering why you got home so late—turns out you did a good job out there! Hahaha!”
Cub bear: “What.”
Parent bear: “……”
You might think I’m making this up, but it’s true.
The Yamamoto family kept bears.
Apparently, way back in the day, there used to be several households that kept bears,
but now almost all of them are gone, and only the Yamamotos were left.
(Feeding them costs a fortune, apparently.)
Still, I couldn’t help thinking,
“Why the hell are you letting them roam free, you moron.”
35: (OP)
And the chains were something else—super janky, homemade-looking things that made you want to ask,
“Do they really work?”
Weird laughs came out of my mouth.
According to Yamamoto-san,
“What’s wrong with letting my pets loose on my own land?”
Okay… but still.
36: (OP)
Then time passed.
This week—decades later—I went back to my grandma’s place
(she’s still alive, by the way).
I visited the Yamamoto family again, but the bears had all died over ten years ago.
That honestly made me sad.
I asked, “You didn’t have them taxidermied or anything?”
And they said,
“Don’t say something so cruel.”
Honestly, I was thinking,
“Says someone who was letting the bears roam free,”
but I kept that to myself.
38: (OP)
That’s the end.
I started this thread because I felt kinda sad, knowing the bears were gone.
I mean, of course they were used to people…
But if the bears hadn’t been there,
the boar probably would’ve killed me.
So I’m incredibly grateful.
39:
That was super interesting. Thanks for sharing!
41:
It was a good one.
43: (OP)
Interesting
44: (OP)
Sorry, sent that too early.
I’ve just heard something really interesting, so I want to add something.
45: (OP)
Glad my ID’s still here lol.
I was talking to my parents about this,
and it turns out my mom actually saved a bear once.
46: (OP)
My grandma in the countryside is on my mum’s side.
Before she got married, my mum one day went into the mountains to pick wild vegetables, where apparently she found an injured bear cub.
My mum isn’t a moron like me, but she felt sorry for it and thought,
“Maybe it’ll eat mountain vegetables,”
so she placed some in front of the cub.
The cub, though weak, ate them eagerly.
That was all for that day.
But the next day, my mum went back into the mountains again.
Coz she couldn’t stop worrying about the cub.
48: (OP)
The cub was still there.
This time, she gave it fruit and raw meat she’d brought from home.
She fed it for about three days.
On the fourth day, it was gone.
She figured it must’ve been okay.
Then, about three days later, she went to help with farm work at the Yamamoto family’s place.
And there, in the yard, was a bear cub tied up.
At this point, you can probably guess the ending—
the parent bear from my story was that very cub.
49: (OP)
My mum says,
“I guess bears repay kindness too,”
but honestly, can coincidences like that really happen?
50: (OP)
By the way, young Yamamoto-san back then apparently said,
“It was injured and cute, so I took it home.”
Yamamoto-san then was just as crazy as he is now.
52: (OP)
Sorry, I just really wanted to write this last part too.
Thanks to everyone who read it.
But seriously people, normally, if you see a bear, just run.
53:
Doesn’t necessarily mean they really were the Yamamoto family’s bears though.
54:
Very interesting.
58:
That was a heartwarming story.
Hope everyone ends up happy.
59:
It was really fun to read!
42:
Nice work!
That was incredibly interesting.
There is a story from the Edo period too about bears helping people who got lost,
so bears really are smart.
—————————————————-
⭐️More LINKS:
Japan’s Deadliest Bear Attack Surge: Inside a National Crisis (CNN)
 |
| I won’t forgive this guy who made this ⬆️ comment!π‘ (Just Kiddingπ€£) |
Comments
I hope you’re having a good time wherever you are!
Thank you for your continued love for my blog!
I hope I can be much more active and post a lot of more interesting stories this year! π
Much LOVE!❤️