At the foot of Mount Fuji, the highest peak in Japan is a forest about 30 km2 wide with called Aokigahara. With its dense canopy of trees, people call it “Sea of Trees”. But in recent decades this place has a new name: “Suicide Forest”.
< strong>A dark, quiet place to the point of haunting
For some visitors, Aokigahara is a place of irresistible natural beauty and serenity. Hikers love to trek through the bush Dense trees or tangled roots on the ground provide a panoramic view of Mount Fuji. Sometimes school students also come here to visit and explore famous ice caves.
Tree The mortar here grows rapidly on the hard lava from the largest eruption of Mount Fuji in 864. However, there is something strange about this forest that is difficult to explain. The trees grow so close that most of the time visitors will be in darkness. The gloom is only slightly reduced when sometimes a beam of sunlight shines through the gap in the treetops.
In that almost absolute silence, every sound sounds strange . Almost no wild creatures live in this area. The density of trees makes it difficult for animals to enter in search of food.
This is not an ideal destination for backpackers. Under the twisted tree canopy, the roots grow on the ground creating many strange shapes and the lava ground creates a scary space. Anyone who enters here often easily gets lost. Due to the winding rows of trees, it creates a mysterious maze with no way out.
According to local government statistics, it is estimated that each year up to 100 people come here to end their lives in this forest.
Rumors about the mysterious suicide forest
The first deaths in this forest came from a bad custom In ancient times, it was called “ubasute” in Japan.
During feudal times when famine was raging, people would take old people into the forest and leave them to die. Since then, rumors about the souls of the deceased who cannot escape haunting trees have resurfaced. Japanese folk culture call those spirits “yurei” that hang around the tree. Even people walking through the forest have described hearing crying sounds, making this place even more mysterious.
But the climax of everything started in 1960 when history was “dark”. ” of Aokigahara Forest begins. That was the year Japanese writer Seicho Matsumoto released a novel titled “Nami no Tou” (roughly translated: Unwind) with the content of a loving couple who ended their lives in this forest. The book became famous but also created a “wave of suicides” in Aokigahara forest. It is estimated that thousands of people came here and ended their lives.
Since the early 1970s, every year there has been a small search team consisting of police volunteers and journalists scouring the area. place in the woods to search for bodies. They almost never return empty-handed.
In recent years the number of bodies has even increased significantly. The highest record was in 2004 when 108 bodies in various states of decomposition were found. In 2010, 247 people tried to commit suicide in the forest, but only 54 people returned to life. The time when most people seek death takes place in March – the last month of the fiscal year in Japan.
Today the local government has established a patrol team to regularly search around the area. area with the hope of providing advice to help people with suicidal thoughts return to life. Inside the most remote places, there are many warning signs with the words: “This life is a precious gift your parents give you” along with a support hotline.
Japan is one of the countries with the highest suicide rates in the world. After the global recession that occurred in 2008, this number continued to increase to the point that the government had to stop publicizing the number of suicides in Aokigahara forest in recent years.
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