【A Tale of The Curious Face】 : Classic Japanese Ghost Story

In this Japanese Ghost Story ‘The Curious Face’, a strange, sad face appears nightly on a traditional shoji door until a brave boy interacts with it, mysteriously banishing the apparition forever.

The Gost Story of “The Curious Face”

Once upon a time in the thriving city of Edo, Japan, a peculiar event would occur in an old house nestled in a quiet corner. This mystery has been occurring for as long as anyone can remember, and many people have seen it.

Each night, when the moon peaked in the sky, a small face, about the size of a child’s fist, would materialize on the shoji, a traditional sliding door made of translucent paper, leading to the house’s dirt floor. The face consistently emerged in the same spot as if tied to a set of invisible rules.

The visage was not terrifying or grotesque; it bore an expression of profound sadness. This melancholic face, having haunted the occupants’ dreams, would disappear without a trace as dawn broke.

Despite the yearly replacement of the shoji paper by the owner, the face would stubbornly reappear, much to the awe and fear of the house’s inhabitants. Attempts to uncover the origin of the face bore no fruits, and none dared to touch the spectral imprint.

Everything changed one fateful night when the house owner’s curious son decided to interact with the face. With an ink brush in hand, he traced the face and, without a word, retreated into the shadows.

The following morning, the occupants found the shoji paper replaced, and the trace of the face was nowhere to be seen. The sudden change sparked confusion, but what left them most astonished was that from that day onward, the face never reappeared.

Upon being questioned, the son only whispered, “The face has disappeared.”

From then on, the enigmatic face never made its presence in the house again. The son’s strange act and the original purpose of the face remain an enduring mystery, but the occupants have come to believe that the son confronted the apparition and resolved the haunting conflict.

This intriguing story is still told as a ghost tale within the city. The house remains standing, no longer haunted, a simple, old house. Yet, people passing by in the late-night hours often report a peculiar sensation, a lingering fear that the melancholic face might manifest again at any moment…

Notes of the Ghost Story “The Curious Face “

Cultural Background

The story happens in a place called Edo, which is what people used to call Tokyo a long time ago. Back then, Japan had lots of unique stories and legends about ghosts and other spooky stuff.

The story talks about a ‘shoji’, which is a door made of paper and wood that you can see shadows through. These doors are found in many traditional Japanese homes.

The story also mentions a tradition of replacing the paper of the shoji every year, which is like saying goodbye to the old year and welcoming the new one. However, the face keeps coming back, suggesting there’s something it’s trying to tell or something it can’t let go of.

Psychic Analysis of Ghost Story

The face could be a ghost that’s somehow linked to the house. It appears every night and disappears every day, like it’s stuck in a loop and can’t move on because it has some unfinished business.

The face looks really sad, so maybe the ghost had a tough time when it was alive or has some regrets. Instead of being scary, it comes across as mysterious and makes people feel sorry for it.

The son in the story decides to draw over the face with an ink brush, which might be his way of acknowledging the ghost and what it’s going through. Even though it’s not clear why he did this, when he says “The face has disappeared”, it sounds like he did something that helped the ghost to finally move on.

In a nutshell, this story is a spooky tale from old Japan about how acknowledging and facing our problems (or in this case, a ghost!) can help to solve them. The son’s actions are left a mystery, which makes the story even more interesting because it keeps us guessing.