My Culture and Alma Mater by Megan Higa of Aiea, Hawaii

My Culture and Alma Mater

by Megan Higa

Aiea, Hawaii 

I believe one of the many reasons why it is such a pleasure to be living in Hawaii is that lots of us are surrounded by people of many cultures and backgrounds. We were born and raised where the diversity is like no other. I have been exposed to myths, legends, and folklores mainly through my friends and family who are of Japanese descent, as well as in my high school where people tell stories that get passed down from generation to generation. 

Japanese Myth, Legend, and Folklore

Based on my mother’s side I am nisei, a child whose parents or a parent is an immigrant from Japan. I grew up with the stories of Japanese legends, myths, folklore, not all very happy stories, however, are well known throughout the people of Japan and have been passed down from generation to generation. Kappa and Oni are famous Japanese mythical creatures many times found in traditional folklore. Kappa usually plays pranks on people or commits crimes such as kidnapping and killing. This creature resembles a combination of different animals – a monkey, turtle, and frog, and is usually green in color. Kappa inhabit rivers, one of their characteristics is a balanced plate on its head which should be kept filled with water. An empty, dry plate could cause the loss of their supernatural powers and sometimes even death. Legends say to take a deep bow if you ever encounter a Kappa. They are attracted to politeness and will bow back causing them to spill the water from their plate and allowing time for your escape. The second creature Oni is often used in traditional stories portrayed as a bad guy, the villain. They are very large in size, red or blue colored, have horns, and like to feed on humans. They all possess muscularity and strength, said to cause disasters and control the hell world. Both Kappa and Oni are considered real and to this day, people journey out to desperately find living proof of these mythical creatures. 

The Ring is a well-known Japanese horror film based on a girl named Sadako, once a living human with psychic powers. She is said to have disappeared after a certain doctor abused her psychic powers to his dark advantage. The film has been remade into an American version as well. The movie portrays a story about a group of characters who unwittingly watch a short film that curses them to death within seven days. There are different opinions about Sadako, some say she is fiction while others say she truly existed. Regardless, the legend of Sadako continues to live and be told as the movie remains one of the scariest films that exists to this day. 

The urban legends told by the Japanese never fail to deliver the chills, another scary story comes to mind about Kuchisake-Onna. Kuchisake-Onna, which translates to the slit-mouthed woman is called so because of her mouth that stretches from ear to ear. There are many tales of how her mouth became slit: failed plastic surgery, an injury from a car accident, a punishment, and more. She wears a mask to cover her mouth in public, then shows children while asking them if she is beautiful—wrong answers will get them killed. They are neither to say yes or no, but, answer that she looks average which makes her confused and biding time for them to run away. As it is common for people to regularly wear masks in Japan, the Kuchisake-Onna is barely noticeable and could be haunting many children every day. 

Aiea High School

Hawaii has been said to have many spiritual grounds, one including my high school. I attended and graduated from Aiea High School, which is said to be built on an ancient burial ground. During the four years I was a student there, my friends and I would spend late nights ghost hunting, creeping around the buildings and hallways in the hopes to encounter something traumatic. There was a story my band director once told me in my freshman year, a story from when he just started working at the high school. Being part of the band required a lot of time. Practice, meetings, and cleaning up often took place until dark. One night, he and some other student officers were having a meeting, when the light from the main room started to flicker. Curious, they all stepped out to check on the light switch which was still switched into the on position. They gathered that it must be the light bulb and that it should be all right once the bulb is replaced. They went back into the band room office. Ten minutes later they heard a loud cymbal crash accompanied by some drums, once again coming from the main room. They all rushed to see what had happened and there, they saw the whole drum set broken up and on the floor. There was nobody else present in the room and the doors were locked. The drum set shouldn’t have just come apart like that. The security cameras in the band room were broken so there were no other witnesses to be had, just the band director and a few students who heard but did not see what caused these events. The band director joked that it must’ve been spirits who wanted to play a small prank on them.

There was the band room and then there was the part of Aida known to be the most haunted, R building. R building is located at the very top and far side of the campus, past the main entrance followed by a long hallway of other buildings and stairways. All students and staff knew this was the place to go when you were at school during the dark hours. One night after we had come back from a band competition, some friends and I decided to walk around the school while we waited for our ride. It was around 11 pm with minimal lights around the area and completely nobody around. Some of us fooled around and started to hide and scare each other, it was all fun and games. However, when we approached the R building, nobody spoke a word. We slowly walked the first floor, then up the stairs to the second floor. Then suddenly, we heard a loud and aggressive, continuous knock coming from inside a classroom. We were running away frantically towards the next building when the loud sound had stopped. Young and reckless, we decided to go back. Lights were off, the doors were locked. Nothing. The next week, we tried again. Nothing. The next few weeks for as long as we had the chance to be there at night, we hoped to encounter something similar, but nothing happened. Rumors and similar stories like these have been circulated around the students and staff, but nobody had experienced it more than once. It was like the spirits are coming to play with us once and only once, not more, not less. Just another spooky story to tell the oncoming generation of Aiea High School graduates. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjOWPD7hJhw 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzR2GY-ew8I

Works Cited

“Yokai.com.” Oni | Yokai.com, yokai.com/oni/. 

Scary For Kids, et al. “Kappa.” Scary For Kids, 21 Aug. 2014, www.scaryforkids.com/kappa/. 

-, Prof. Geller, et al. “Kappa - River Demon in Japanese Folklore.” Mythology.net, 8 July 2018, mythology.net/japanese/japanese-creatures/kappa/. 

Scary For Kids, et al. “Sadako.” Scary For Kids, 27 Aug. 2014, www.scaryforkids.com/sadako/. 

Scary For Kids, et al. “Kuchisake Onna.” Scary For Kids, 18 Feb. 2018, www.scaryforkids.com/kuchisake-onna/. 

“Home.” Hawaii Travel Guide, www.to-hawaii.com/haunted-hawaii/oahu.php.