Key Takeaways
word of advice : the following article includes frank discussions of felo-de-se . If you or somebody you love is shinny with impression or suicidal thoughts , please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 .
In the year 864 , Mount Fuji experienced aviolent , six - month eruptionthat forget intact villages and result behind a massive field of hardened lava . Over the past 1,000 geezerhood , a Byzantine forest develop on that lava field or wood floor , in the darkness of the blow - capped volcano . Its prescribed name is Aokigahara , but most Nipponese call itjukai , which means " sea of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree . "
Aokigahara is a democratic tramp finish just a couple of hours from Tokyo in the rural Yamanashi prefecture . But not everybody come here for the reinvigorated gentle wind and wholesale thought . For decades , Aokigahara has served as a coloured variety of destination . For lost souls who see no other way out , Aokigaharais known asthesuicide forest .
According to the Yamanashi government , there weremore than 100suicides commit in Aokigahara forest between 2013 and 2015 alone , CNN reported . The victims , whose remains are establish deep in the ocean of trees , often travel from far aside to join unnumerable others who have cease their lives in these mist - hide woods . The Nipponese governmentno longer gives statistics on suicidesin Aokigahara in an effort to discourage people from coming there to do it .
But how did this scenic and calm forest at the base of Mount Fuji become so nearly associated withsuicide ? We reached out toLindsay Nelson , a political science professor at Meiji University in Tokyo , who write about Japanese revulsion motion-picture show , include a chapter on the self-annihilation wood in her record , " Circulating Fear : Japanese Horror , Fractured Realities , and New Media . "
Suicide as a Sacred Ritual
" There are conflicting stories as to when Aokigahara ’s affiliation with suicide began , " says Nelson , but one of them dates back centuries to a macabre recitation by sure sect of Buddhist monks .
Mount Fuji , like other mountains in Japan , is considered a sacred space , as are the forests that besiege them . For more than 1,000 yr , ascetic Buddhistic monastic have retreated to timber to practise uttermost forms of self - defense and meditation that ended in destruction .
According to one custom , monk would meditate in the timber for 1,000 days , subsisting on nothing more than leave of absence and barque . Then they would be " buried awake " to proceed meditating in an underground crypt . The ultimate goal was to transform the body , while still alive , into asokushinbutsu , a type of mummy . The stiff of 18 of these " ego - mummified " monks are still displayed in parts of Japan ( although scientists believe they actually were mummified after their deaths ) .
Perhaps this ancient soma of ritual suicide provided a model for Nipponese hoi polloi looking to escape their modern life story by disappearing into the woods ? Or perhaps there ’s a more direct connection between Aokigahara and suicide .
Aokigahara Forest in the Media
In 1960 , the Nipponese author Seicho Matsumoto published a forgetful storey call " Tower of Waves . " The plot centers on a duad of asterisk - scotch buff who are kept apart by forces beyond their dominance .
" It ’s a melodrama that ’s been turned into myriad film in Japan , " enounce Nelson . " In the final setting , the vernal fair sex write a word of farewell alphabetic character to her lover , grabs a bottle of anovulatory drug and walks into Aokigahara wood to die . "
Matsumoto ’s story tapped into a longstanding captivation in the Japanese media with couples and distraught lover committing felo-de-se , adds Nelson . Back in the 1920s , a untried cleaning lady named Kiyoko threw herself into the igneous crater of Mount Mihara after she fell in love with a distaff schoolmate , which was veto . Hundreds of desperately romantic unseasoned Nipponese masses followed in Kiyoko ’s footsteps . ( In 1935 , Time cartridge wrote aless - than - sensitive articleabout the phenomenon . )
clear , Matsumoto ’s Bible played a role in position Aokigahara " on the map " of popular self-annihilation destinations in Japan , but the Scripture that really made the " suicide wood " famous was published in the 1990s .
‘The Perfect Place to Die’
" The Complete Suicide Manual " is on the button what it voice like . Written by Wataru Tsurumi and put out ( in Japanese only ) in 1993 , this 198 - page book is a matter - of - fact guide to ending one ’s life . Tsurumi discusses the merits and drawbacks of every chassis of self-annihilation — dangling , jumping , carbon monoxide , sleeping pills , etc . — and how to ensure a " successful " event .
" Obviously the Holy Scripture is very controversial , " says Nelson , " and it include a section on Aokigahara wood , describing it as ' the sodding station to die . ' "
The self-destruction manual of arms paints a amatory picture of Aokigahara woods as the ideal place to just disappear . No loved one has to discover your consistency . You just go on a trip and never make out home . Tsurumi included elaborate instruction about which bus route to take and how to avoid draw suspicion from nosy park workers .
" They say that a lot of bodies have been find with copies of the manual , " says Nelson .
The other affair that cement the forest ’s repute alfresco of Japan was a video by a YouTuber named Logan Paul which showed a consistence hang from a tree in the forest , and waswidely condemnedfor its insensitivity . Most of the suicide in the forest are by hanging .
How Suicide Is Viewed in Japan
Westerners have a skewed perception of suicide in Japan . They tend to reckon of stoic samurai execute ritualseppukuto salve their purity or of World War IIkamikazepilots crashing their plane into enemy ships .
While there is n’t a religious stigma around self-annihilation as there is in a Judeo - Christian culture like the United States , say Nelson , suicide in Japan " is still treat as a disaster , and people are still alarm by the suicides in Aokigahara . "
Still , Japan hasone of the highest self-annihilation ratesin the earth . Suicides rose sharp in 1998 with more than 32,000 death that year from suicide . The skyrocketing self-destruction rates of the 1990s were blamed on the commonwealth ’s economic woes and top out in 2003 with 34,427 death attributed to felo-de-se . Since then , says Nelson , suicide rates have tended to rise and diminish in footstep with the economy .
For a long metre , Japanese high society viewed felo-de-se as apersonal problem , not a public wellness payoff , but that ’s alter . The Nipponese governance has invested in public service messaging about suicide prevention and crisis hotlines . The Yamanashi prefecture has trained employees and volunteers tospot the signs of troubled visitorsto Aokigahara , and there are security cameras and prominent content posted at the entranceway to the common . The signs read in Japanese :
A earpiece number for a self-destruction helpline is also admit .
Inside the ‘Suicide Forest’
Nelson chatter Aokigahara forest a few age ago while researching her book on Japanese horror movies , which frequently use the " self-destruction forest " as a dark and foreboding stage setting ( the most late example is the 2021 repulsion cinema " Suicide Forest Village " from the makers of " The Grudge " ) . Nelson had also seen batch ofYouTube videosthat depicted Aokigahara as a haunted woods full of abandon willpower and drained body behind every tree .
" It was just beautiful , " says Nelson . " When you learn about Aokigahara in English - language blogs or media , they play up how ' creepy ' it is — empty cars , the admonition sign , etc . But it ’s just a really scenic hike spot . "
Indeed , the forest has several hiking and walking trail , as well as twodeep lava cave — the malarkey cave and the ice cave — that visitor like to research . /\r\n/
