Episode 47: Monstrous Maneater: The Sankebetsu Brown Bear Incident

Today we are heading back to Hokkaido, Japan in 1915 when a monstrous creature thought to be a demon stalked, killed, and ate villagers while hunters desperately tried to stop it over six snowy nights. Today on The Odder, we are talking about The Sankebetsu Brown Bear Incident which is still considered the worst animal attack in Japanese history. Reinforce the walls and windows and let’s hope the bear passes our house by and Let’s Go!

Want to request your own personalized episode? Email me at theodderpod@gmail.com!

Follow us on facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/theodderpod
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theodderpodcast
Twitter: https://twitter.com/theodderpod
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theodderpodcast

Please rate and review!

Music Credit
"Ripples" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

"Mountain Emperor" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

"Finding Movement" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Main Theme:
"Dream Catcher" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Transcript

1. Hello and welcome to The Odder Podcast. I’m your host Madison Paige and today we are heading back to Hokkaido, Japan in 1915 when a monstrous creature thought to be a demon stalked, killed, and ate villagers while hunters desperately tried to stop it over six snowy nights. Today on The Odder, we are talking about The Sankebetsu Brown Bear Incident which is still considered the worst animal attack in Japanese history. Reinforce the walls and windows and let’s hope the bear passes our house by and Let’s Go!
2. Hey Odders, how is everyone doing today? How did everyone like our haunted ghost tour of Alcatraz last episode? I’m sure several of you heard the strange knocks in the background as I talked about the inmate who was murdered and then proceeded to haunt solitary. And if you are wondering if I did that for special effect. I didn’t! I honestly have no explanation for that strange knocking noise and I proceeded to sleep with the lights on for 3 whole days. Was it just me or did anyone else have a visit from the thing with glowing eyes? If you really enjoyed it or if you didn’t, please leave a rating and review, they really do help! For the returning listeners, welcome back, for the new listeners, welcome welcome to The Odder podcast where we are a trail mix of all things unknown, unsolved, and just plain odd. If you have an idea for an episode you think would be fun, good news! I do listener requests so if you want your own personalized episode, you can send me an email at theodderpod@gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you and know what you want to hear from me! Also it was brought to my attention that a few episodes back, you guys were treated with another set of missed clicks that did not get caught in editing and the best I can offer is a big fat oops. At least I didn’t cuss on that one cause usually I do. If you catch a click in a future episode or hear me repeat myself, apologies, It’s going to happen again but I do my best to prevent it. I’m so happy you guys are back with me today for another episode where we deep dive one of my personal favorite subjects, maneaters. I have always been a fan of creature features and something about this genre has always had my interest. So today we are talking about the Sankebetsu Brown Bear Incident also called the Rokusen-sawa bear attack or the Tomamae brown bear incident. A series of ferocious attacks from a single brown bear that occured over the course of six snowy nights during the Taisho Era of japan leaving seven dead and three injured. The bear was so bloodthirsty and intelligent that many in the village thought it was actually a demon. 
3. When I ask you to think of Japan, what comes to mind? Most people will respond with cherry blossoms, geisha, or an anime that they enjoy. Few people would respond with a brown bear. Even less people would respond with a series of brown bear attacks. But the worst animal attack in Japanese History is commererated not only with a shrine called the  "Sankebetsu Brown Bear Incident Reconstruction Location '' but also a restored house depicting the acts that occured and a large statue of the monster that committed them. Standing on it’s hind legs, an impossibly large black bear with its claws outstretched and its mouth wide in a fanged roar, leers over the garden fence in a sight that would frighten anyone who sees it. It was a sight that was very real in December 1915 in Sankebetsu Rokusen-sawa, a small pioneer village in the Teshio Province in Hokkaido. 
4. It was dawn in mid-November of 1915 at the Ikeda family house in the village when an Ezo brown bear appeared from the surrounding forest. Ezo Brown Bears, also called Ussuri Brown Bear, are one of the largest subspecies of the popular Eurasian Brown bear. They are comparable in size to a Kodiak and are distinguishable for their almost black fur and elongated heads. Their habitats actually bring these bears into risk of predatory attack from Siberian Tigers meaning they not only have to grow large but be ferocious to survive. 
5. It was not unusual to see a bear near the village as Sankebetsu was still newly settled so encroachment from the wildlife was still common. However, that does not mean it was a comfortable experience and the sight of the bear frightened the family horse enough to raise an alarm. The bear, spooked by the appearance of humans, took some nearby harvested corn, and fled back into the trees. The family assured that their horse was unharmed before shrugging off the bear and returning to their day. 
6. However, the bear would reappear on November 20th, at the same family house. Worrying that it would soon grow tired of the stolen corn and turn on the much needed horse, the head of the household called his second son Kametaro and two hunters from the villages nearby to come deal with it. 
7. When the bear made a third appearance on November 30th, the three men shot at it but were unsucessful in killing it. They did wound it however and when tracing its footprints towards Mount Onishika the next morning, they found several bloodstains. Hoping to come across the injured bear and finish it off, they persevered until a snowstorm forced them back. They returned and hoped that the injury would leave the bear too wary to return to the settlement.
8. They could not be more wrong. 
9. The bear would reappear and begin its carnage on December 9th at the Ota family household at 10:30 am. Abe Mayu was the wife of a farmer and was on the property caring for a baby named Hasumi Mikio. The bear approached the homestead from the wilderness and attacked without warning, killing the baby but biting it on the head before turning to Mayu. She desperately fought back by throwing firewood in an attempt to defend herself as she ran but the bear chased her down and dragged her into the Imperial Forest of Sankebetsu. When others returned to the house, they described it as covered in pools of blood. 
10. A thirty man search party was quickly pulled together and entered the woods hoping to track down the killer bear and collect the remains of Mayu. They were barely 150 meters in when they ran right into the creature and attempted to shoot it. However, of the five men that shot, one one managed to hit it. Injured but still moving, the bear escaped. The hunters continued to check the area and found buried in snow at the base of a fir tree the remains of Mayu. All that remained of her was her head and parts of her legs. The bear had clearly attempted to hide them in order to come back later. 
11. They returned to the village and relayed what they found, the encounter with the bear, and all agreed that once an animal had a taste for humans it would not stop hunting them. They had to kill it in order to keep the village safe. 
12. Gathering at the Ota family home with guns, they awaited to see if the bear would return and at 8:00pm, it did. However, even though they had been ready for the monster, the massive size of the beast and terror it inspired caused the men to panic and only one was able to fire. The shot missed and the bear returned to the forest. 50 guardsmen who had been posted 300 meters away at the neighboring Miyoke house had been alerted to the events and arrived shortly after. They decided to head into the forest and go downstream on what they hoped was the bears trail. 
13. The house they had left behind had actually been a place of refuge from women and children after the first reported attack on the Ota family home. After they were informed of the bear's reappearance and left to hunt it down, they couldn’t have known that the monster was actually heading directly for the people they had left behind unguarded and unprepared. 
14. Miyouke Yayo, the lady of the house, was cooking a late meal to feed everyone who remained. She had her fourth son Umekichi tied to her back and was tending to the pot over the fire when a sudden rumbling took her attention. Turning to her window, she watched in horror as the massive bear came barreling through and entered the house. The commotion caused the cooking pot to tip over on the stove and douse the flames, plunging the home into darkness. Now the women and children hiding in the Miyoke home were not only unguarded, they were trapped in pitch blackness with a man eating bear. 
15. Yayo attempts to run but is tripped when she is seized around the legs by her second song Yujiro. The bear pounces on her and bites the infant tied to her back. A guard by the name of Odo had remained but the sight of the bear mauling the mother and infant was so terrifying, he turned and ran for the door. This draws the attention of the bear however who abandons Yayo and chases him down. Yayo is able to stagger to her feet, gather some of her children and escape while the man eater goes after Odo who has taken refuge behind some furniture. He is able to carve his claws across the man's back before turning on the third son of the Miyouke family and a boy named Haruyoshi who is the fourth son of the Saito family and kills them both. It clamps its jaws around Haruyoshi’s brother Iwao before turning on his pregnant mother Take and mauling her. 
16. In later statements, it would be said that Take begged the bear to leave her belly alone and eat her head instead. 
17. The guardsmen were still downriver but realized that their search was not going well and turned back. On the way to the Miyouke home, they came upon the injured Yayo who told them of the terrible attack on the house. They raced back, hoping to rescue any survivors. When they arrived, they could still hear the sounds of the bear inside and assuming it had killed everyone, proposed setting the house ablaze to kill the unholy creature. Yayo prevented this, hoping perhaps some of the children inside may still be alive. 
18. They instead made a plan to drive the bear out by splitting up into two groups. One went to the back of the house and rattled their weapons and shouted until it frightened the monster into the doorway. However, the head guards gun jammed and the others could not get a clear enough shot. In the confusion, the bear raced from the home and returned to the forest. Cautiously, they gathered torches and entered the destroyed home. 
19. A boy and girl named Rikizo and Hisano were found injured but alive amongst the many dead validating Yayo’s prevention of the house burning. They collected the injured and moved them all to the Tsuji family home near the river before assembling everyone in the schoolhouse to make a plan of attack. 
20. Saito Ishiguro, whose family had been massacred by the bear, was unaware of the happening in the village and had been sent earlier to report the maneater to the authorities and district police. Miyoke Yasutaro, whose house the slaughter had occured in had heard of a local man named Yamamoto Heikichi who was rumored to be an expert bear hunter. He planned a visit to his house to ask for help with the creature. 
21. Yamamoto listened to Miyoke’s report before claiming that he knew this bear and that it was in fact a notorious man eater who had mauled and killed three women in a neighboring village. This bear was called Kesagake or “the diagonal slash from the shoulder” which referenced a white pattern on its coat that stretched from its back to its chest. Miyoke begged the man to help them kill the bear but Yamamoto had fallen into alcoholism and pawned his gun. He refused to help the village. 
22. The two men returned to the village on December 11th and learned the gruesome fate of their families. More driven than ever to kill the creature, they formed a group of men and waited at the Miyoke residence, feeling that it would return there looking for the bodies of its victims. However, the night passed with no sighting of it. 
23. News of the killer bear reached the Hokkaido Government Office on December 12th and a sniper team was organized and sent to deal with it. Volunteers and guns were collected from nearby towns and after being given permission from the Imperial Forest Agency, they set out to kill the maneater. Chief Inspector Suga, the branch office commissioner, arrived in Sankebetsu to inspect the volunteer group and view the scene of the crime. 
24. The bear did not reappear on the 12th. 
25. The bodies of the dead had been removed from the Miyoke household but it was decided that since bears often buried their kills and returned later that utilizing the body of one of the victims, they could hope to draw the killer out. This plan received heavy backlash, especially from the families of the deceased. However, it was decided necessary to keep the rest of the village safe and they continued with the plan. 
26. The six member sniper team, including a reluctant but forced Yamamoto Heikichi, gathered around the Miyoke house. The bear approached the dwelling, peered inside but left and returned to the forest. It did not appear again that night and the plan was deemed a failure. 
27. At dawn on December 13th, what the bear had actually done that night was discovered. At least eight houses had been ransacked including the Ota family's house. The structures had been damaged and their winter food stockpiles eaten. Chief inspector Suga kept spirits high by cheering for the volunteers. They searched the town but found no further sign of the bear. It was decided that utilizing the 60 armed men, it was best to try and hunt it down in the surrounding mountains. 
28. Signs of the bear heading downstream were discovered and officials worried that it was looking for a new village to terrorize and attack. Suga constructed an ice bridge across the river and arranged snipers and guards to cage the bear in. That night, a sniper on the bridge reported seeing a strange shadow in the trees on the opposite shore. Suga called out, thinking it was a man but when the shadow did not respond, he opened fire. The shadow turned and disappeared into the forest and while the captain was disappointed they had not managed to kill it, he believed they had at least managed to wound it. 
29. The next morning, on December 14th, the men investigated the spot where the shadow had been and found a bear's footprint and blood spatter. Kesagake the killer bear had been injured. With an incoming snow storm threatening to cover up the tracks, it was decided this was the last chance to kill the monster, Yamamoto and a guide immediately set out after the bear alone rather than wait to gather help. 
30. Yamamoto was familiar with the animal and managed to successfully track the beast down. He found it lying beneath a Japanese oak and carefully approached until he was within 20 meters. He then raised his rifle and fired first into the bear's heart and second into its head. 
31. Kesagake was finally dead. 
32. Yamamoto and his guide were so thrilled to have finally slaughtered the man eater it is said they sprung out in cries of Banzai! They hauled the carcass back to the village and displayed the demon that had haunted everyones dreams for the past 6 days. 
33. The bear was strange. It weighed in at a whopping 750 pounds and measured 8.9 feet tall. Its fur was dark brown with golden patches and its head was unusually large on its body. They estimated it to be about 7-8 years old. Slicing open the bear revealed parts of the victims killed in the Miyoke house still in its belly. 
34. In order to act revenge on the bear for the lives it had taken, the villagers took it apart, boiled, and ate it. They kept the skull and fur but that has been lost with time. 
35. When you google the Sankebetsu Brown Bear Incident you will find several grainy black and white pictures which claim to show the mythical monster however, there were never any real photos taken of it. In fact, the story wasn’t even officially recorded until years later. The official story of events was not even written down until 46 years later by an agriculture and forestry technical officer named Kimura Moritake who tracked down people who had lived in Sankebetsu during the time of the attack and compiled the best account of events he could. This account would be reprinted in 1980 and then published officially in 1994 as 
    The Devil's Valley” by Kyodo Bunkasha
36. A huge rainstorm hit the region after the bear's killing and some would attribute it to the bear's own vengeance for its death. This storm would be known as the “Brown Bear Storm” and would contribute to the rumors that the bear was in actuality a demon. Yayo and Odo would both recover from the wounds they sustained in the attack on the Miyoke house although Odo would die the next spring after drowning in a river. The baby Yayo had tied to her back would unfortunately pass away from the wounds he had sustained during the mauling three years later. 
37. The devastation of the attack and fear of another drove many to leave the Rokusen-Sawa area and the village became a ghost town until 1946 when post war revitalization sent six families from Osaka into the area. 
38. However, those that left the town still carried the events of the bear attack with them. Okawa Haruyoshi was the six year old son of the mayor of Sankebetsu village at the time of the attack. He would grow up to be a prolific bear hunter and swore an oath to kill ten bears for every victim of the one that terrorized his village for those six snowy days. By the time he had aged to 62, he had an impressive 102 bears under his belt. He then retired and constructed the Bear Harm Cenotaph which is a shrine where people could go to prey for the dead villagers on July 5th, 1977. 
39. His son Takayoshi was a bear hunter in his own right and was known for an eight-year chase that culminated in the killing of a 1,100 lb male brown bear who was nicknamed the north sea Taro which is stuffed and displayed at the Tomamae Local Museum. 
40. In 1990, the site of the attack was restored. Now there stands a shrine called the "Sankebetsu Brown Bear Incident Reconstruction Location" which features not only a recreation of a typical home for the area but also a massive statue of Kesagake outside of the home. 
41. Over the years, many people have tried to understand why the bear suddenly attacked the way that it did. Most maneaters are found to be old or injured in a way that prevents them from hunting their natural prey. Usually dental issues such as a broken canine or jaw that prevents them from biting down hard enough to kill or an injured or deformed limb that stops them from chasing down faster prey. Humans may be at the top of the food chain but we are there for brains not brawn. In a one v one match with any natural predator, we are sorely outmatched and quite easy prey. While no records of dental or deforming injury on the bear exists, if the story is correct, it was shot and wounded before turning on humans. When it first arrived at the farm house, it went after the corn and then the horse first. Was the bear injured in some way from the gunshot that made it seek out easier prey? 
42. Some believe the attack occured as the result of the bear waking up too early from hibernation. In Japan, this is known as “"the animal which doesn't possess a hole". If the animal had not had enough to eat before attempting hibernation and woke up from hunger or was woken up by an outside source, this could have driven it to a higher ferocity and desperation to eat. There was also a high rate of deforestation in the area as pioneers moved across the land. This may have driven away the bear's natural prey and left it struggling to survive. It may have ventured closer to the humans at first in an attempt to find food before utilizing the humans as a substitute themselves.
43. Unfortunately, we don’t know what caused such a bloody bear attack and we likely never will. However, the incidents that colored those nights have stuck with the people and the region and have even inspired media like the 1990 movie Yellow Fangs. In a world of technology and commercialism and consumerism, it can be easy to forget just how vulnerable we actually are. How easy it would be for nature to turn on us and take us down. To accept the fact that to most predators, we are a lesser prey. Hopefully, we never have to be reminded of this ourselves by looking up in time to see a monstrous bear breaking through our window and fighting for our lives against a demon in the dark. 
44. Well, that’s all for this episode. So what do you think? Why do you think the brown bear turned to man eating? Would you survive in a dark room with a mad bear? Do you want to visit the shrine? Let us know what you think on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and leave a review. The Odder Pod is also on TikTok. Come follow us there! Have a suggestion for a show? Send me an email at theodderpod@gmail.com with your request and whether you’d like me to mention your name, your alias, or nothing at all. Remember this is The Odder Side so give me something cool, creepy, or confusing to deep dive for you. If you liked the show, leave us a review! They really help! Remember that our grasp on the food chain is a delicate one. The Odder Podcast posts every other Thursday. Thanks for listening and I’ll see you next time on The Odder side.