【Horror】Ryoumen Sukuna

I work in construction.

Recently, I got a job to tear down an old temple in Iwate, Japan. The temple wasn't used anymore.

While we were working, a co-worker called me over.
"Come here."

I saw a long, dark wooden box at his feet when I went over.

I asked, "What's this?"

He said, "Not sure. I found it in a sealed room at the back of the main hall. I'm going to call the maintenance company."

The box was about 2 meters long. It looked ancient. The wood seemed rotten.

There was a white paper stuck to it with writing on it. But it was hard to read because it was so old.

Some of the writing said something like:
"Taisho?? Year?? July?? Using a curse, sealed both sides of Skuna??"

The box was nailed shut so that we couldn't open it.

The maintenance guy said he would ask the former head monk about it the next day.

So, we left the box in a nearby shed.

The next day, I got a call from the maintenance guy before I got to the site.

He said, "About the wooden box, the former monk said, 'Never open it!'

He said he'll take it and needs your help."

I should tell the supervisor about the box, so I called him.
I said, "About the box from yesterday..."

He replied, "Oh, that! The two Chinese part-time workers we hired? They opened it on their own! Please come quickly."

I rushed to the site with a bad feeling.

5 or 6 people were standing around. The two Chinese workers were sitting in front of the shed. They looked shocked.

The supervisor said,
"These guys opened the box last night for fun with their friends. The problem is what's inside. Could you take a look?"

Inside the box was something that looked like a mummy.

It had its hands up like a boxer.

But the strange thing was... it had two heads. It looked like conjoined twins. I thought it might be a deformed person or maybe a fake.

The supervisor said, "These two won't speak after seeing this." They sit there, not talking."

We asked the two Chinese workers what happened. But they just sat there, even though they spoke good Japanese.

Oh, and I just remembered. The mummy was strange.

It had two heads, two arms on each side, and two standard legs.

I've seen weird things online, so I wasn't too scared. I just thought it was a deformity or a fake.

The two workers were taken to the hospital.

While we debated calling the police, an old monk, over 80, arrived with his son driving.

He shouted, "You opened it! You idiots opened it! It's over now…"

We were shocked by his anger. Then, the monk started yelling at his son. He spoke with a strong Iwate accent. But I'll explain in regular Japanese.

The monk said, "You were supposed to send the deity Ryomensukuna to the temple in Kyoto! Didn't you send it, you fool?!"

He was so loud you wouldn't think he was over 80.

The monk then said,

"Who opened it? Those people at the hospital are probably doomed. But I'll do a purification for the rest of you."

We were scared, so we let him chant a Buddhist prayer over us.

He hit our backs and shoulders with a Sutra. It took about 30 minutes.
After that, the monk took the wooden box with him and said,

"I'm sorry, but you guys won't live long."

Afterward, one of the Chinese workers died in the hospital from a heart attack. It confused the doctors.

The other was sent to a mental hospital. Three of the demolition workers got sick with a high fever.

And I stepped on a nail and had to get five stitches.

I'm sorry. The monk's son said at the last minute.

"It's better to talk in person."

But I was able to hear some of the story over the phone.

He said,
"I can only tell you so much."

It took about 30 minutes. The monk's son was a pretty talkative guy.

Here's what I learned:

Son: "I'm sorry. My father was very insistent. Even a phone call is risky."

Me: "No, I'm the one who asked too much. What exactly was that thing?"

Son: "That was a deformed human displayed in a sideshow during the Taisho era (1912–1926)."

Me: "So, was it living in that conjoined state then? Like Siamese twins?"

Son: "Yes. It seems it lived in a village in Iwate for a few years after its birth. But, its poor parents sold it to a human trafficker. That's how it ended up in a show tent."

Me: "I see... But why did it end up like a mummy?"

Son: "To be precise, it's a self-mummified monk."

Me: "You mean it chose to become like that itself?!"

Son: "...You're going to tell this to someone, aren't you?"

Me: "To be honest... I want to."

Son: "That's fine, you're honest. Well, I'm not planning to tell you everything... That thing was forcibly made that way. There was a crazy cult group at that time. Please excuse me for saying the name of the group. I think they are still quietly active..."

Me: "If I ask, will anyone know, oh, that group?"

Son: "I don't know; I don't know. It's a super secret, a real evil cult."

Me: "I see..."

I'm sorry. My PC suddenly turned off, so I'm late...

Son: "The cult leader was a crazy guy. He only used 'Gehou' (taboo practices)."

Me: "Gehou?"

Son: "Yes, simply, it means 'things you shouldn't do.' A while ago, the Shingon Tachikawa sect was criticized for being a heresy and using Gehou. But what they do is not as extreme."

Me: "...like what specifically?"

Son: "And there are no documents from that time. He used a pseudonym. He wasn't a public figure to start with. The cult still exists. But there's probably no link to the current leader. But let me tell you the name... Mononobe Tengoku. That's the name of the cult leader."
Me: "Mononobe Tengoku. That's a pseudonym, right?"

Son: "Yes, that's right, a pseudonym. And when this Tengoku went to the show tent, he bought several deformed people for a lot of money. That includes the so-called Siamese twins."

Me: "...then what?"

Son: "Do you know 'Kodoku'? It's written as 'poison insect.' The insect character is a special one made of three 'insect' characters."

Me:"Is that the curse method where you put several poisonous insects in a pot and use the last one alive?" (I saw it in a manga long ago, lol)"

Son: "Yes, that's it! How do you know it? That's amazing."

Me: "Well, a little... and then?"

Son: "Right, so Tengoku did that Kodoku with humans."

Me: "Put humans in a confined space? You're kidding, right?"

Son: "This is a story I heard from my father. I don't 100% believe all of it... Should we stop here?"

Me: "I'm sorry! ... Please continue."

Son: "Okay. So he did that with several of those deformed people. I don't know if it was at the cult's HQ or elsewhere. He shoved them into an underground room. And that's how the Siamese twins survived."

Me: "How long were they confined?"

Son: "I don't know the details. But imagine a time when they had to survive by eating their comrades' flesh and waste."

Me: "I'd rather not imagine that..."

Son: "And Tengoku rigged it from the start so that the Siamese twins would survive. He delivered a fatal wound to the other deformed people with a blade. Then, he threw them in when they were barely alive. They were deformed, but they looked like Asura statues. 'Tengoku might have liked their divine looks.'"

Me: "I see..."

Son: "So, they survived. But for Tengoku, they were just tools. So, they were immediately locked up in another room alone and starved to death. Then, they were preserved. They became living Buddhas. That's what my father called the end of Ryomensukuna."

Me: "What is Ryomen Sukuna?"

* His explanation needed to be more detailed than Mr. 476's. But it said the name came from a monster called Ryomen Sukuna. It had two faces and four arms in ancient mythological times.

Me: "I see..."

Son: "Tengoku made Ryomensukuna the main object of his cult, a cursed Buddha (Jujutsu)." "He thought he had made a cursed Buddha. It could kill others, or even more, if misused."

Me: "Who was the target of the curse?"

Son: "...My father said it was the state."

Me: "You mean Japan itself? That Tengoku is insane."

Son: "Yes, he probably was. But the power of the curse wasn't just that. He put something in the belly of Ryomensukuna..."

Me: "What is it?"

Son: "It's the bones of ancient people. They were the 'people without worship.' The Yamato court called them rebels and traitors. He put the powdered bones in the belly..."

Me: "Where did he get something like that...!?"

Son: "You've seen it on TV or in the newspaper, haven't you? When ancient ruins or tombs are dug up, some people do the work. The security around that seems to have been lax back then... it seems that's where he stole them from."

Me: "It's a hard story to believe..."

Son: "Right? I thought so, too. But look at all the disasters that happened mainly in the Taisho Era."

1914 (Taisho 3): Big eruption of Sakurajima (9,600 injured)
1914 (Taisho 3): Big earthquake in Akita (94 deaths).
1914 (Taisho 3): Explosion at Hojo coal mine (687 deaths)
1916 (Taisho 5): A big fire in Hakodate
1917 (Taisho 6): Big flood in Eastern Japan (1,300 deaths)
1917 (Taisho 6): Explosion at Kirino coal mine (361 deaths)
1922 (Taisho 11): A landslide in Oya-Shirazu killed 130 people in a train accident.
The Great Kanto Earthquake struck on September 1, 1923 (Taisho 12). It killed 142,800 people and left many missing.

 

 

 

The Great Kanto Earthquake: See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia

Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kanto-daishinsai.jpg

Me: "What about it?"

Son: "They say all these are the areas where Ryomen Sukuna moved."

Me: "Really! Did the cult have branches all over the place? Or maybe it's just a coincidence (I laughed at this point)."

Son: "I also think it's a silly story. On the day of the worst disaster of the Taisho era, the Great Kanto Earthquake, Tengoku died right before the earthquake happened."

Me: "Did he die?"

Son: "I heard he took his own life. There's also a rumor that he wasn't a pure Japanese..."

Me: "How did he die?"

Son: "He slit his throat with a Japanese sword in front of Ryomensukuna. And then there was a note written in blood..."

Me: "What did it say?"

Son: "It said,

 

"Japan should perish.""

Me: "...That was just before the Great Kanto Earthquake, right?"

Son: "Yes, that's right."

Me: "...It's a coincidence, isn't it?"

Son: "...Probably a coincidence."

Me: "Where were Ryoumensukuna and Tengoku at that time...??"

Son: "They were near the coast of Sagami Bay, close to the earthquake's epicenter."

Me: "...And how did Ryoumensukuna end up in that temple in Iwate afterward?"

Son: "My father didn't tell me about it."

Me: "The monk was complaining about why it hadn't been moved to a temple in Kyoto. What was that about?"

Son: "Ah, you heard that... It was about 30 years ago. But I was supposed to become a monk like my father. I made a mistake, then... The temple was left abandoned after that... That's about all I can tell."

Me: "I see... Where is Ryoumensukuna now?"

Son: "I don't know. And I haven't been able to contact my father for a few days... He has been followed by a strange car since he brought it back."

Me: "I see... But why did you tell me so much even though you said you wouldn't tell me anything?"

Son: "Remember what my father said? 'Sorry, but you guys won't live long.'"

Me: "..."

Son: "Okay, I'll end it here. Don't call me anymore."

Me: "...Thank you."

That was the gist of our phone conversation... I don't believe all of it. I'm feeling sick, so I'll log off for the day.

Sorry for the long posts and consecutive postings.

 

Source: https://5ch.net/
With permission from 5ch, I have translated and reposted it here.