Kesagake - the maneater of Sankebetsu

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Akuma

Feeder Fish
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Apr 26, 2013
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Kyoto/Japan
That incident from 1916 is not very known outside of Japan. In Japan it is very well known. It happened in a remote area of Hokkaido, in the northern forests of Japan. A large bear attacked for many days villages of the area. He hunted humans as prey. He attacked families during night in their houses and committed massacres. 7 people were killed in just a few days. Kesagake (thats how the bear was named) was so smart that he started to trick people. Several hunting strategies failed and people went so desperate that they tried to lure him into a trap with the dead bodies of some of his victims. People started to believe he is a yōkai (demon). It went so bad, that the case went to the imperial palace. Even after the death of Kesagake, people left the villages there. Its ghost villages in that area now with a shrine and a small museum.

If you are interested into the case you can read about the details here:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankebetsu_brown_bear_incident

It is very interesting and a very rare event and burned into japanese public memory. What makes it even more interesting is, that some of the involved army members swear that the bear imitated human voices.
 
reminds me of the lions that went on a human killing spree for a while in Africa a long time ago


being attacked and eaten by an animal is top 3 of my list of ways I don't wanna die. I made a thread about it
 
That's really interesting. Thanks for sharing! Didn't even know there were bears in Japan.
 
That's really interesting. Thanks for sharing! Didn't even know there were bears in Japan.

We have very large bears in Japan. Some reach the size of a grizzly. Most of them live in northern Japan on Hokkaido. They are normally shy creatures. Sometimes accidents happen. And if one tasted human meat then you have a problem.
 
Yes that's what they said in the Wikipedia article - once they've tasted human they'll try to get more. Are they only on Hokkaido or are there populations on the islands in the south?
 
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