Kowabana Encyclopedia: Futamono

Found in: Kowabana 72: Mysterious Mountain Monsters

Futamono. The name can be split into “futa” (two) and “mono” (things), which may give you some idea of what type of creature to imagine here.

A third grader is taken to stay with relatives during Obon by his father. Just two or three days; an exciting prospect for a young boy who’s never had a sleepover before. His family home is way out in the countryside and surrounded on all sides by mountains.

He makes friends with a cousin two years older than him, Shin-kun. They are warned by their grandparents to, of course, not go near the mountains. However, unlike most stories of this type, the two boys are actually given a solid reason for why they shouldn’t go there.

“During Obon, all our ancestors return to the mountains, so we have to prepare for them at home and wait. That’s why you can’t go up there.”

Sounds fair enough. Don’t go near the mountains or you might run into some ghosts. But as the boys are playing outside, they notice something shining on said mountains. But even with binoculars, they can’t really tell what it is.

Shin-kun suggest they get closer to check it out, despite their grandparents’ warnings. But it’s getting dark, and the narrator fears his ancestors might already be on the mountain. They really should go home.

Yet Shin-kun insists, and because the narrator doesn’t know how to get home by himself, he reluctantly follows. They pass through a shrine gate and start climbing the mountain. Once again using his binoculars, Shin-kun seems to finally see whatever shining thing caught their attention.

It seems to be whipping up a small tornado. It’s spinning around and around, and it kind of looks like a person, but that can’t be. It’s a strange colour. But as Shin-kun stares at it, blood starts pouring from his nose and he freezes on the spot. He can’t move. Then his body starts twitching and convulsing violently as drool trickles from his mouth.

The narrator runs all the way back and spots a local on the way. She panics when he tells her they were on the mountain and takes him back to his grandparents house. Naturally, everyone starts running around in a panic as well, and the men ready up to go back.

This time, he gets a new warning. Once they enter the mountain, nobody is to speak. And whatever they might hear, do not turn around. If “it” closes the distance between them, they’re all done for.

They find Shin-kun in the same position he left him in, but as they leave, the narrator hears a voice. “Hey… Hey… It’s pointless…” Now their car won’t start, so the family run back to the house on foot.

It seems that whatever was on the mountain, it’s now coming for them, and they must prepare. The boys’ fathers change into white clothes, and then the narrator is stripped and has water from the family well poured over his head. It’s here that his grandmother finally tells him what that “thing” was.

Futamono. A creature not of this world. Nobody has seen it for decades because nobody has broken the rule not to climb the mountain during Obon. Even she thought it a mere fairy tale by this point.

The narrator is taken to a dark room on the second floor with his father. They must protect him from Futamono. Futamono can see far and wide, and so he must remain hidden. At the same time, they must also keep an eye out for it and know if it’s coming, so he’s told to use the binoculars and look through the curtain. If he sees the creature, silently hand the binoculars to his father.

Hours pass. The creature glows and disappears in the distance as it gets closer. And then he finally sees it up close. Like Shin-kun said, it looks like a person spinning around like a tornado. But not just one person. Two of them, joined into a single creature, but only from the head to the torso. Neither side has a lower body, so they’re basically connected at the waist, the one at the bottom using its arms like legs to move.

Because this strange creature is somehow connected at the waist but able to fully spin around in a 360 degree circle, that means one head can be looking in one direction while the other head looks in the other. And its eyes, pure white, are also all moving around independently of each other, scanning the area. It can see everywhere all at once.

This strange creature has hair, short and straight at the front, long at the back. Mullet town. Its skin is also pale and covered in spots like bruises.

But as the narrator is staring at the creature, he realises his father has slapped him. Numerous times. He was becoming so drawn to the creature he didn’t even realise it. Blood is now dripping from his nose.

His father spies the creature as well, and once the family confirms its location, it’s time to get the narrator out of there. An escape route has been planned, and he’s told to climb into a black bag they’re going to hide in one of the many cars they’re about to leave in.

As they’re driving, he hears a banging on the car. They keep going, and eventually it stops. It seems to have moved on to another car now. They eventually arrive at a temple, and for the next two hours and 40 minutes, a monk reads prayers to him.

After that, the narrator is not allowed to return to his grandparents’ house until he become an adult. Shin-kun also managed to survive, but his parents had to quit their jobs and take up religious training for five years to finally be strong enough to help him. The ordeal also turned his hair pure white, although nowadays, he and his family are all alive and well.

Futamono is an interesting creature. The story itself heavily borrows from Hasshaku-sama (a creature setting its sights on a young boy who must remain hidden, then basically ferried out of town in numerous cars designed to confuse the creature), and also Kunekune (seeing the creature causes you to be drawn to it and lose all sense of reality and sanity). But its visuals are rather unique and striking.

Futamono is said to be composed of basically the upper halves of two people (hence the name). Each of this halves can spin independently, and on top of this, each eye can also move around independently, giving it essentially visual coverage of everything all the time. It has pale, blotchy skin and, the real horror, a mullet. It can also speak, and will do so to lure you from safety and into its grasp. It also shines and glows from a distance, and can spin so fast it looks like its whipping up a mini tornado. Certainly an interesting visual.

It’s not exactly stated what will happen once Futamono gets you, but as we can see from Shin-kun, it’s basically the Kunekune effect where one loses their mind. It takes five years of intense religious training by his parents to finally bring him back, but by that point, the experience has turned his hair white, a common trope for someone experiencing something so horrifying that it has changed them forever.

But what is Futamono? The story mentions that people in the village are forbidden from climbing the mountains during Obon. The excuse is that it’s because their ancestors are returning, so they must wait for them at home. Considering that’s where Futamono lurks, this is likely just a story told to keep people safe from the creature, and ultimately, we’re never told what it is, where it comes from, or where it lurks outside of Obon season. Perhaps it’s always there but it strongest during Obon, the season when spirits return. Who knows.

In the end, Futamono seems to be a singular creature that’s tied to this one particular village surrounded by mountains on all four sides. As long as one doesn’t enter those mountains during Obon, they should be fine. But if you do happen to spot it, don’t look at it for too long. Before you know it, your mind might be lost forever…

You can watch an interesting skit featuring the creature (in Japanese) here: