706: Part 1 — 2011/02/27 04:09:24
This happened back in the Shōwa era,
when my aunt was commuting to the hospital to care for her father—my grandfather—
who had been hospitalized with cancer.
My grandfather’s hospital was an old municipal hospital out in the countryside,
quite far from the family home.
Most of the patients were elderly people nearing the end of their lives.
My aunt said it felt like some kind of “ubasuteyama”—
a place where the elderly were quietly abandoned to die. ※
Every day, the patients seemed to pass away one by one.
姥捨て山（ubasuteyama） refers to a Japanese folktale in which the elderly are carried to a mountain and left to die.
Used metaphorically for bleak elder-care situations.
Even so, my aunt tirelessly visited my grandfather,
filling in for my grandmother, who had to support the family financially.
It was her way of repaying the grandfather who had raised her.
The hospital’s treatment, whether because they knew his time was short or because they treated all elderly the same way,
felt like mere formality—just drugs prolonging life rather than true care.
But among the staff, there were some nurses who genuinely tried their best.
One elderly nurse, especially, treated my grandfather with extraordinary devotion,
as if going far beyond her official duties.
One autumn day, when it seemed my grandfather truly didn’t have long to live,
the elderly nurse was tending to him when she suddenly said to my aunt:
“Sato-san (our family name)… your family is connected to the Sato clan of samurai heritage, isn’t it?”
My grandfather had grown up in a normal household and later became a schoolteacher,
but my aunt had vaguely heard hints of such ancestry.
So she was shocked and asked:
“How did you know that?”
The old nurse dodged the question,
but when she finished taking care of my grandfather and was leaving the room,
she turned to my aunt, looked her straight in the eyes, and said:
“You will someday marry into the Suzuki family.
But you must never visit ○○ Temple.
Not once in your entire life.
If you go there… it will cost you your life.”
○○ Temple enshrines a famous warlord who was betrayed and assassinated by his own retainers.
It’s a well-known local tourist spot.
My aunt thought,
“Now that she mentions it… our family has never gone there, even though it's nearby.”
She found it strange.
Soon afterward, my grandfather passed away.
My aunt retrieved the body and thanked the doctors and staff before leaving the hospital.
Unfortunately, she never saw that mysterious elderly nurse again.
707: Part 2 — 2011/02/27 04:13:32
Several years passed after my grandfather’s death,
and my aunt eventually married through an arranged meeting (※).
Her husband’s family name was Yamada.
※ Cultural note:
見合い（omiai） = Japanese arranged marriage meeting, not forced marriage; families introduce potential partners.
My aunt felt a little disappointed, but also a bit relieved—
thinking, “So he’s not from the Suzuki family after all.”
However, at the wedding, a congratulatory telegram arrived from the Suzuki family,
and though not from the main branch, several Suzuki relatives attended the ceremony
—as relatives of the groom, Mr. Yamada.
Surprised, my aunt later asked her husband about it.
He told her:
“The Yamada family is actually a branch family of the Suzuki clan.
We’re still connected as relatives.”
She had no idea.
Even though it was an arranged marriage, no one had ever told her this.
At that moment, she realized:
This must have been what the old nurse was talking about.
Years passed.
Her son was born.
And she almost forgot about the strange prophecy.
Then, one day during her son’s elementary school field trip,
the phone rang shortly after she finished her housework in the early afternoon.
It was the vice-principal.
Her son had fallen from a height during the trip and injured himself.
Next, the homeroom teacher called, apologizing over and over:
“We’re taking Yamada-kun to the hospital immediately.”
My aunt had no driver’s license, so she couldn’t go alone.
She called her husband at work,
and he rushed home so they could drive to the hospital together.
My aunt was frantic with worry—
but also filled with another fear.
The hospital they were taking her son to
was located at the foot of the mountain where ○○ Temple stands.
But she had no choice.
Her husband, who knew nothing of the old nurse’s warning,
hurriedly started the car.
They drove for nearly an hour toward the surgical hospital in the neighboring town.
Her husband was silent the entire time,
cutting through the countryside roads until they reached the mountain path leading to the next town.
Then she saw it:
A roadside sign:
“↑ ○○ Temple”
A cold fear ran through her.
Is this…?
Is this what that old nurse warned me about?
Am I being drawn toward ○○ Temple?
As they emerged from the mountain road and approached the neighboring town,
my aunt suddenly realized how strange her husband’s behavior was.
He was silent.
Rigid.
His face pale.
Aunt: “Do you think our son is okay?”
Husband: “…Yeah.”
Aunt: “How much farther?”
Husband: “…Almost there…”
He barely responded.
His expression was tight, distant—
like he wasn’t fully present in his own body.
This was terrifying,
because her husband was usually warm, talkative, and kind.
Something was very wrong.
スポンサーリンク
708: Part 3 — 2011/02/27 04:16:16
Sensing my aunt’s growing suspicion,
her husband suddenly pressed harder on the accelerator.
Eyes wide open, staring straight ahead.
My aunt said,
“Hey… what’s wrong? You’re driving way too fast!”
But he didn’t answer.
Something was wrong—
terribly wrong.
Normally she never raised her voice at her husband,
but fear for her injured son
and the dread of ○○ Temple mixed violently inside her.
Up ahead, she saw another sign:
“↑ ○○ Temple”
Given the distance, they would reach the temple in 10 or 20 minutes.
Aunt: “Hey… are you sure this is the right road to the hospital?”
Silence.
Is he… not in his right mind?
Aunt: “Hey! Answer me!”
She shook his shoulder.
Her husband snapped: “Shut up!”
Aunt: “What’s wrong with you? You’re acting strange!”
But he ignored her completely
and kept pushing the car faster.
Aunt (shouting):
“Stop the car! I’ll take a taxi the rest of the way!”
No response.
Only faster driving.
This is wrong.
He’s not himself.
I have to stop the car.
I have to get to the hospital for my son…
She reached toward the driver’s side—
thinking she could pull the brake lever herself.
Her husband bellowed:
“What do you think you’re doing!?”
He slapped her hand away violently.
She flinched—
and in that moment, she felt certain:
Her husband had lost his mind.
And it was because they were nearing ○○ Temple.
The car sped up even more.
Then she saw a large sign ahead:
“Right → ○○ Temple
Left → City Center”
Aunt (screaming): “STOP THE CAR!!”
But the car didn’t slow.
Her husband began turning the steering wheel right,
toward the temple—
In panic, my aunt grabbed the wheel
and yanked it hard to the left.
Her husband slammed on the brakes.
The car spun and screeched to a halt—
barely stopping before the fork in the road.
Her husband turned to her, eyes wide with madness,
and reached for her neck.
My aunt panicked and tried to escape the car.
But as she reached for the seatbelt,
her husband grabbed her hand and pulled her forcefully toward him.
His face twisted with a frightening expression,
his hands gripping her shoulders with inhuman strength.
She thought:
“It’s true.
I should never have come near ○○ Temple.
Just like that nurse warned…”
Then her husband said a single word:
“…I’m sorry.”
709: Part 4 — 2011/02/27 04:19:22
The next moment—
A powerful slap struck my aunt’s face.
Then another.
And another.
Her husband shouted:
“Hey! Snap out of it!”
My aunt’s vision blurred.
She whispered:
“You’re… you’re going to kill me… help…”
Husband: “What are you talking about!? Wake up! Are you out of your mind?”
Her awareness slowly returned.
In front of her was her husband—
looking terrified.
Aunt: “Are you… back to normal?”
Husband: “Back to normal?
From the moment you called me, you’ve been the strange one!
What is going on!?”
He continued:
**“Once we got into the car, you fell asleep for a while.
Then you woke up and said:
‘Let’s go to ○○ Temple to pray for our son,’
‘Since we’re here, I want to sightsee around the area,’
and I told you,
‘Our son comes first.’
Then you got angry,
started yelling,
‘Stop the car,’
‘I’m going to take a taxi to ○○ Temple,’
and you kept getting in the way of my driving!
And at the fork in the road,
you tried to force the wheel toward ○○ Temple!
If my brakes hadn’t worked,
we would have died!”**
My aunt was stunned.
Everything she remembered
was the opposite of what her husband described.
And now that she thought about it,
she couldn’t clearly recall anything
from the moment she got in the car.
She told herself:
Calm down.
Get to the hospital.
Your son is waiting.
On the way, she told her husband
about the prophecy from the old nurse.
He was shocked—
though he brushed it off as “a strange coincidence.”
Her son had fallen from the stone wall of a castle ruin in the park they visited during the field trip.
He needed nearly ten stitches in his head,
but thankfully had no lasting injury.
Later they learned that the castle ruins
were the former home of the warlord enshrined at ○○ Temple.
They also found out something else:
The first phone call her aunt received—
supposedly from the vice-principal—
had never been made.
Only the homeroom teacher had called.
To this day,
neither my aunt
nor anyone in our family
has ever visited ○○ Temple.
