English Version
Mount Mihara, an active volcano on Izu Oshima in Tokyo’s Oshima Town, has long been tied to eerie stories and tragic history.
One rumor says that, during a live television broadcast long ago, a human-like figure was seen walking on Mount Mihara while it was erupting. The story is often told as one of the volcano’s strangest sightings, though details remain unclear.
Mount Mihara is also known to horror fans as the fictional place where Shizuko, the mother of Sadako in Ring, is said to have died by suicide.
The mountain’s real history is also grim. In January and February of 1933, students from Jissen Girls’ School died after jumping into the crater. After those incidents, Mount Mihara became widely known as a suicide site. In 1933 alone, 129 people are said to have died there in the same way.
Suicides continued to occur periodically afterward, and Mount Mihara became known alongside Aokigahara Forest as one of Japan’s most infamous places associated with suicide.
Today, Mount Mihara is a real volcanic area in Motomachi, Oshima Town, Tokyo. Visitors should follow official trails, obey closures and volcanic warnings, and never approach restricted areas or the crater edge.
Japanese Language
昔テレビの生放送中に、噴火中の三原山で歩いている人影が映ったという話があります。また、リングの貞子の母親志津子が自殺したという設定になっている場所でもあります。1933年1月と2月に実践女学校の生徒が火口へ投身自殺したことをきっかけに、自殺の名所となり、1933年だけで129人もの投身自殺がありました。その後も自殺は定期的に起こっており、青木ヶ原樹海と並ぶ有名な自殺スポットとして知られています。東京都大島町元町
