Kowabana Encyclopedia: Utatenuma
Found in: Kowabana 166: Spine-chilling Mysteries
Utatenuma is a strange creature, if we can even call it that. Three friends go out for a drive one weekend without any particular destination in mind. After driving for several hours, they stop an an opening on a mountain somewhere. There’s a sign nearby that says they’re a 30 minute walk from some castle ruins, so they decide to check it out. It’s only 3:30 in the afternoon, after all, so they have time.
But after walking for around 20 minutes, they reach a split in the road and no sign telling them which way to go. They go left. Instead of some castle ruins, they find an abandoned temple instead. Most of it has either collapsed or been removed, but either way, it’s in bad shape.
They find the main hall and inside there’s a piece of old, yellowed paper with something written on it. “Utatenuma.” The writing is beautiful, but they have no idea what it means. “Numa” means swamp, but there’s no swamp nearby.
With nothing else of interest, they leave, take the other path, and find themselves at the castle ruins finally. From this high up on the mountain, they can see the temple grounds they were just exploring, but one of them notices something odd. Something that looks like a giant black hole on the edge of the garden, probably a few metres in length.
When an animal seems to disappear into it, and then the hole moves, he gets even more confused. It appears to be a hole, but now it’s floating in the air. So, it’s not a hole, but rather, something flat, round, and black. This time a bird flies into it, and it just disappears.
And whatever it is, it seems to notice them, as it starts moving towards the castle ruins. If they try to go back now, they’ll run into it on the way. They need to find another way out. The friends run through some nearby bushes and follow a narrow trail down the mountain… In the opposite direction of their car. But not like they have much choice, so they keep running.
The strange thing follows them, and when they finally descend the mountain and reach the road, they hear an explosion behind them. When they turn around, the black thing is gone. All they can see is some smoke, and now there’s a dull ringing in their ears from the loud sound.
The friends eventually get back to their car, but they have no idea what that thing is, what it wanted, or why it was in the abandoned temple with the note “Utatenuma.”
This story was shared online in 2013 and the OP claimed it took place roughly a decade early, putting all of this in the early 2000s. But what was the creature they saw? There has been much discussion over this, including what its name even means. “Numa” means swamp, but “Utate” by itself doesn’t mean anything these days.
Some have pointed out that “utate” can be found in old Japanese, and it held a negative meaning. Something pathetic, deplorable, wretched. In that case, does it mean something like a “wretched swamp”? Well, maybe. It’s described as being a large black hole several metres across, and anything that gets near to it seems to disappear into the abyss.
Others point out that some current dialects of Japanese have the word “udade” which also means something similar. It can mean something creepy, something gross, something terrible. Considering the creature’s location, and the handwriting found in the very old, very abandoned temple, the name likely comes from some ancient local dialect, but it’s probably safe to assume it doesn’t mean anything nice.
Others have also compared Utatenuma to SCP-280-JP, so maybe check that out if you’re interested as well. It’s unknown whether one inspired the other, but the similarities are interesting.