The Enigma of Amigara Fault

[cyberghostface]

Posting this has become sort a semi-Halloween tradition so without further do, Junji Ito's most famous story.

Following an earthquake in an unnamed prefecture, a fault near to the epicentre of the quake is discovered on Amigara Mountain (the name Amigara meaning "empty shell").

Owaki, a hiker, is lost on the mountain.







Scientists examining the holes announce that there is no way to find out how deep into the mountain the holes go. The holes are not natural and must have been dug from the inside. They figure that the accumulation of soil over the centuries eventually sealed up the entrance, yet they have no way of knowing why the holes were made or who would have the technology to do it.

Owaki sees Yoshida looking for something, and asks what. She explains she came here because on TV, she had seen a hole in her own shape. She swears it is her exact silhouette and was meant for her. Owaki's sceptical, but another man called Nakagaki overhears and says that the same thing happened to him.



The scientists' equipment can find no trace of Nakagaki. A rescue squad is dispatched, but have to retreat after getting no more than five meters inside the hole.

Owaki camps out overnight and has a nightmare in which he is Nakagaki.



When Owaki awakes, Nakagaki hasn't been found. Yoshida tells Owaki that she has found her own hole at the foot of the mountain.

In front of a news crew reporting on Nakagaki's disappearance, a man climbs up to one of the holes. He shouts "This is my hole! It was made for me!" and disappears inside. All the people present at the site begin climbing into "their" holes.







They kiss.

That night, Owaki has another dream. In this one, he is a criminal in the past who has committed a horrific crime. His sentence is to enter inside a hole in the mountain that was dug out for him.



Owaki wakes to find that Yoshida has unblocked her hole and disappeared into it.



As he sits mournfully by the mountain, he hears a noise and to his horror sees his own hole beside him.







As a bonus... from Gunshow Comic...



Happy Halloween!

Comments

[penguinzero]

I've seen a pretty big disconnect between what I think of as the Western and Japanese traditions of horror from time to time (though the categories aren't universally applicable), and this is an excellent example of it.

Western horror tends to have rules and logic to it. A vampire is a being with superpowers that drains blood to feed. It uses those powers to its advantage, and generally behaves like a sensible if hedonistic human being would given those powers and a healthy dose of self-centered arrogance. It has defined weaknesses, and generally will operate by the same or similar rules in any story it shows up in. It's recognizable and understandable -- the horror comes from its power over you, whether that's a powerful mental charm that leaves you unable to think straight or just its ability to pin you down with superhuman strength and drink your blood. Other Western horrors are similar -- werewolves have rules about how and why they become wolf-monsters, and generally behave like we imagine vicious wild beasts with a taste for human flesh to behave. Ghosts exist for a reason, have rules for what they do, and can often be dealt with by working through whatever unresolved issues they have. There's exceptions, but usually a Western monster will be recognizable and understandable on some level -- it's just overwhelmingly powerful. You can defeat it, if you use the right weapon, or say the right prayers, or are the right kind of person. It just might be powerful enough to kill you before you can manage that.

Japanese horror, at least the traditional kind, doesn't go in for that so much. It's about mystery, irrationality, and the unknown. Things can happen that we have no logical explanation for, and that *can* have no logical explanation. Monsters don't act logically, or often even according to recognizable emotions. Threats may come from the darkness, from the wilderness, or from seemingly normal things that suddenly turn on you. More than that, it's also about the irrationality of the human mind. People are seized by passions and compulsions that make no sense, and though they may fight against them, they eventually can't help but give in, even it will lead to their own destruction. The stories are comfortable with ambiguity -- they may leave even what exactly happened open to interpretation, much less why.

Ultimately, traditional Western horror says, 'The world is a dangerous place, and only by knowing what's happening and behaving properly can you save yourself.' Traditional Japanese horror says, 'The world is a strange and unknowable place, and there is nothing in it you can truly trust and understand, not even yourself.'

[q99]

Though in this one, I think there *are* rules, just not ones that give a way out.


If you see the holes and you're one of the people with a hole, you will feel a desire to go to the site. If you see your hole, that will increase to a very strong compulsion, that grows with time. Fear and obstacles may delay you, but in the end you'll be drawn to removing obstacles and enter your hole. Once you've entered your hole, you will be transformed.


Junji Ito's stories often have rules, just not always helpful ones. Like, there's the tree with addictive sap. You're safe if you don't eat the sap. And the Death Stench of Gyo works with certain mechanisms....

[atom_punk]

My criticism is not about the way people in this story are inexplicably compelled to go into their hole, it's about how the holes are ridiculously specifically shaped like a key and a lock.

And even taking into account what you describe as the Japanese theme of "fearing the unknown" this story feels like it falls short.

We KNOW with certainty that hole belongs to the main character because it is ridiculously specific to his shape and hair.

We KNOW what happens to people who go into the hole because of that last panel. That's not a hallucination or a dream sequence like the earlier ones, that's literally a guy SEEING what happened to the protagonist.

The only thing we don't know is why they are compelled to go in there :p

The story is just not for me I suppose.

[cyberghostface]

it's about how the holes are ridiculously specifically shaped like a key and a lock.

But that's kind of the point. These holes are thousands of years old and match up to people today. If you can accept such a premise on top of everything else (such as a human body distorting into such a fashion) that it has a shape for their hair shouldn't be hard to swallow.