In Japan, the heat of the summer is the time for telling ghost stories. In the United States, we wait for Halloween. One of the most famous ghost stories is "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," a story by Washington Irving that tells the tale of the headless horseman who rides his horse through the night.
Japan has its famous ghost stories too. So light the bonfire and break out the marshmallows while I tell you a ghost story from Shiraishi Island.
One summer night, two men were fishing in their boats. They were near the shore when one man saw a light coming down the mountain. He looked very closely. It was a "hitodama," (a head engulfed in flames). Soon another ball of light rolled down the mountain and the two heads fought each other while hovering over the trees. The fishermen looked closer and realized the two heads were samurai heads: Heike and Genji warriors. Later, a tomb was found in that same place on the mountain. The end.
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