Aokigahara is a wonder of nature and a place of pristine beauty, despite its unnatural feel. That being said, beauty is not what has made the Sea of Trees as famous (or rather, infamous) as it has become.
No, it is most famous as a forest where people come to die–a suicide forest.
In the past sixty years or so, nearly five hundred people have gone to Aokigahara to end it all. Locals say they can tell the difference among a tourist, a care taker, and those who have come to the forest to die – not surprising, since they’ve had sixty years of practice.
Some try to attribute the trend to the novel Nami no To. In the novel, two lovers go to the forest to kill themselves–the Japanese version of Romeo and Juliet. While some believe the novel may have spurred the trend, it doesn’t seem likely that a novel was the sole causal factor. After all, suicide and death have always been associated with the Sea of Trees. Maybe it is the dark, quiet forest that calls to the sad and the lonely, a terrible Siren. Maybe the thought of dying on the slopes of holy Mount Fuji brings some measure of comfort to those who feel their life no longer has meaning. Then again, it could really be the novel; after all some bodies are found with a copy of Nami no To tucked amongst their last earthly belongings.
I don’t know. I think the only answers lie with the ghosts haunting Aokigahara, and last I heard they weren’t saying much.
Oh I didn’t mention the ghosts? The forest has long been associated with ghosts. One type of ghost in particular: the Yurei. These are the restless dead, spirits who have been torn from life unnaturally. They howl their suffering to the winds. But maybe that’s simply the winds whistling through the stillness in the Sea of Trees, being mistaken for ghostly moans by frightened and superstitious travelers.
In any case, the Japanese take the idea of Yurei very, very seriously. Yearly sweeps are made of the forest looking for suicide victims. Beyond these, the members of the forestry service go about their daily duties, but keeping a watchful eye out for bodies. Now and then they find one. Many times they’re hanging from low branches, decomposed and gnawed by wild things. They cut the poor soul down and take the body back to the station, to a special room built for the dead. A room with two beds.
See, the Japanese believe that if the body were left in the room alone, the Yurei will scream its agony all through the night. Worse still, the body of the dead will rise up and enter the regular sleeping quarters. To prevent this, someone must share the room with the body.
You read that right. Some poor sap gets to spend the night in a room with a rotten corpse.
Strange bedfellows indeed!
Dear reader, as you fall to sleep tonight, please keep the poor Yurei of Aokigahara in your thoughts and prayers. It is sad indeed that people can become so disillusioned with life that they would choose to end it all. In the darkness. Alone.
Oh, and pay no attention to the wailing outside your window.
I’m certain it’s only the wind.
Sources:
Aokigahara: Japan’s Forest of Death
