Hasshaku-sama

Overview

Hasshaku-sama is a Japanese internet-era urban legend originating on 2channel describing an unnaturally tall female ghost roughly 2.4 metres in height who, having become fixated on a child, pursues them with a deep masculine 'po, po, po' laugh and an ability to imitate family members' voices.

Details

Origin:

Japanese internet folklore originating on 2channel; the canonical story is set in rural Japan but the legend itself is now globally circulated through creepypasta communities.

Regions:

rural Japan (canonical story setting)

First Reported:

2008-08-01

Full Account

Hasshaku-sama (八尺様, 'Lady Eight Shaku', sometimes romanized Hachishakusama) is a modern Japanese urban legend that originated as a creepypasta-style ghost story on the anonymous Japanese imageboard 2channel (2chan). The traditional account is told as the recollection of a teenage boy who, while staying at his grandparents' rural house, sees an extraordinarily tall woman in a flowing white dress and a wide-brimmed sun hat looking over the garden wall and emitting a deep, hollow 'po, po, po' laugh. His grandfather recognises the description as Hasshaku-sama and explains that once she has fixed her attention on a child she will pursue them, that she is able to mimic the voices of family members to lure the victim out, and that the family must hide the child within a salt-protected room while a Buddhist priest is summoned. Her name describes her height: hasshaku ('eight shaku') is roughly 240 cm (about 7 ft 10 in / nearly 8 ft) using the historical Japanese length measure (1 shaku ≈ 30.3 cm). Hasshaku-sama emerged in the 2000s and is one of the most influential 2channel-born ghost legends, frequently illustrated in fan art, manga, and short film, and frequently re-told and adapted in Japanese and global creepypasta communities.

Also Known As

• Hachishakusama (Japanese (alt. romanization))
• 八尺様 (Japanese (kanji))
• Eight-Foot-Tall Woman (English)

Etymology

Origin:

Japanese internet folklore on 2channel; the name is built from hasshaku (eight shaku, an old Japanese length measure) + the honorific -sama.

Meaning:

'Lady Eight Shaku' — referring to the entity's signature unnatural height of approximately 2.4 metres.

First Use:

Popularised on 2channel in the mid-2000s; commonly cited as having appeared in 2008 in the form of the now-canonical greenhouse story.

Timeline

• 2008-08-01 — Canonical Hasshaku-sama narrative posted on 2channel describing the grandparents'-house encounter (Seeds the modern urban legend)
• 2014-01-01 — Hasshaku-sama becomes a recurring figure in fan-art, doujinshi, and short-film projects in Japan (Transition from text-based creepypasta to multimedia legend)

Sightings & Evidence

Cultural Significance

Treated as a fictional internet horror figure, but circulated in the same storytelling register as older Japanese ghost stories.

Related Phenomena

• Hanako-san — Earlier Japanese school-bound urban legend ghost; both target children and operate by ritual rules
• Kuchisake-onna — Slit-mouthed woman urban legend, similarly fixated on a chosen victim
• Kunekune — Another 2channel-born Japanese creepypasta entity
• Slender Man — Western internet-era unnaturally tall pursuit-figure
• Teke Teke — Japanese urban legend ghost defined by an unusual physical feature and pursuit behaviour

Tags

Sources

• Japanese urban legend: Hasshaku-sama — Kowabana
• Yokai and Urban Legends: Hasshaku-sama — Grimoire of Horror