A haunting in Honjo: Tracing old Edo’s most famous ghost stories
Today a modern commuter hub, the Kinshicho neighborhood was once the epicenter of some of old Tokyo’s most chilling ghost stories. | JOHAN BROOKS
Oct 30, 2026
As dusk falls and Tokyo Skytree shimmers against the darkening sky, the neon-lit shopping streets, department stores and red-light district clustered around JR Kinshicho Station gradually give way to a quieter, almost deserted urban landscape.
At Daisan Kameido Junior High School, members of the brass band are still practicing, and wavering strains of music drift through the open windows into the autumn evening. Beside the school’s main gate stands a weathered stone marker with the inscription: “Remains of Oitekebori.”
This is a registered historic site associated with a haunted moat that appears in what is known as Honjo Nana Fushigi — the Seven Mysteries of Honjo, a group of ghost stories, urban legends and uncanny folk tales tracing back to the Edo Period (1603-1867).
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