The Split Sacred Tree Awakens the Mountain God’s Wrath| A Chilling Japanese Horror Story
The Reason the Split Sacred Tree is Feared
In a small village nestled at the foot of a mountain, there stands a tree known as the “Split Sacred Tree."
It rises near the village’s entrance, a symbol of the mountain god’s faith, revered by the villagers for generations.
But there is a legend passed down through the years: each time the tree’s split deepens, disaster strikes the village.
The villagers are forbidden to touch the tree.
One year, a great flood engulfed the village. Another year, a landslide claimed several lives.
“The deepening split is a sign of the mountain god’s anger,"
the village elders would say, repeating their warnings. No one dared defy the taboo.
Shintaro was born and raised in this village.
As a child, his grandfather often told him stories about the sacred tree, stories that sent chills down his spine.
Yet now, as an adult, he brushed them off as mere superstition.
It had been a long time since he returned to his hometown.
His grandfather had passed away, and Shintaro had come back to organize the old house.
The village felt frozen in time, a strange stillness hanging in the air.
But among the unchanged scenery, his eyes were drawn to the sacred tree standing at the heart of the village.
The tree was unmistakably different.
Its split had deepened, as if the entire tree were crying out, trying to convey something.
The villagers avoided the tree, structuring their lives to steer clear of its presence.
Passing elders whispered, “It’s split again…" in hushed tones as they turned their backs and walked away.
Shintaro found himself staring into the depths of the split.
A cold wind swept past, and he thought he heard a faint sound coming from the tree.
It wasn’t just the sound of the wind—it felt like a low, rasping whisper.
“Is someone there?"
The question escaped his lips before he could stop himself, but the only answer was the sound of the wind.
Yet, within that sound, he felt something unspoken, a presence beyond words.
“When the split deepens, something happens—"
His grandfather’s words echoed in his mind.
A strange mix of unease and curiosity swirled in Shintaro’s chest.
He didn’t know it yet.
By gazing into that split, he had taken the first step into something from which he could never turn back.
The Strange Sound from the Split and Its True Nature
Shintaro stood before the split in the sacred tree.
The cold wind blowing through it sent a shiver down his spine.
“It’s just a split in the tree… that’s all it is,” he told himself.
Yet no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.
The sound coming from the split wasn’t just the wind.
“Come…”
A low, rasping voice was unmistakably mixed in.
There was no one here. No one who could possibly make such a sound.
Shintaro turned around, looking behind him.
But there was nothing—just the swaying trees filling his vision.
He turned back to the split.
At that moment, he noticed the entire tree trembling slightly.
“Am I imagining things?” he muttered.
But then, a dull, deep noise came from within the split.
Something was moving.
Shintaro felt certain of it as he hesitated, hand outstretched toward the split.
But just as his fingers were about to touch it—
“Leave…”
The clear, commanding voice reached his ears, freezing him in place.
He stumbled back, his gaze tearing away from the split.
An unsettling feeling took hold of his chest, an instinct screaming at him to leave this place.
Without another thought, he turned and hurried away, the sacred tree at his back.
That night, Shintaro dreamed a strange dream.
In it, he found himself once again standing before the split.
From within, a pale shadow reached out slowly, and a low voice resonated.
“Do not open the split…”
When he awoke, his forehead was drenched in cold sweat.
The Strange Happenings in the Village Brought by the Split
The next morning, Shintaro walked through the village.
A strange stillness lingered in the air, different from the usual quiet of his hometown.
There were few people to be seen, and the children’s voices that used to echo through the village were nowhere to be heard.
“Was the village always this silent…?”
Shintaro paused, scanning his surroundings.
An old house’s window quivered slightly, and he had the eerie sensation that someone was watching him from inside.
But when he moved closer, no one was there.
It was then that Shintaro encountered the village elder, Furukawa.
“You’ve been near the sacred tree, haven’t you?” Furukawa said.
His voice was stern, almost accusing. Shintaro hesitated, caught off guard.
“How… how did you know?” he managed to ask.
Furukawa’s expression darkened as he began to speak.
“The split in that tree isn’t just a crack. It’s where the mountain god’s anger seeps out.”
“The mountain god’s anger…?”
Shintaro repeated the words, unsure of their meaning. Furukawa let out a long, heavy sigh.
“When the split deepens, something always happens to the village. In the past, anyone who touched it disappeared… That tree is not something to be meddled with.”
A cold unease spread through Shintaro’s chest.
The dream he’d had, the strange sound he’d heard near the split—Furukawa’s words connected them all.
“Then… does that mean something’s going to happen because I touched it?”
Furukawa didn’t answer. He just stared at Shintaro with a grave expression.
That night, strange events began to unfold in the village.
The wells’ water turned murky, and dogs across the village began howling uncontrollably.
By morning, rumors spread that the central stone monument had split clean in two.
Shintaro couldn’t stop thinking about the split in the sacred tree.
If it truly was the source of the mountain god’s anger, he couldn’t leave it as it was.
“I have to find out what’s happening…”
With a determined heart, Shintaro made up his mind.
The Anger and Taboo of the Mountain God Revealed by the Split
Shintaro stood once more before the sacred tree, cloaked in the stillness of the night.
Furukawa’s words from earlier that day echoed in his mind.
“When the split deepens, something always happens…”
The weight of those words compelled him to return.
The tree loomed in the darkness, exuding an eerie presence.
Cold air wafted from the split, sharp and biting against his skin.
“Is this… the mountain god’s anger?”
He muttered to himself, his voice barely above a whisper. Slowly, he stepped closer to the split.
Suddenly, the wind stopped. A heavy silence descended, pressing in from all directions.
Then, that rasping voice echoed in his ears once more.
“Restore it…”
The words seemed to come directly from within the split.
Trembling, Shintaro peered cautiously into the dark fissure.
At first, he saw only shadowy depths. But then, something began to stir.
A white shape emerged, crawling slowly from the depths of the split.
“What… is that?”
Shintaro’s heart pounded in his chest, the sound echoing in his ears.
The form resembled a human, yet its face was shrouded in darkness.
Only the eyes—or what seemed like eyes—gleamed red, glowing like embers.
The figure fixed its gaze on Shintaro and spoke again.
“Do not widen the split. What lies sealed here is the mountain god’s anger…”
The voice was calm, yet heavy with both fury and sorrow.
Shintaro gathered his courage and asked, “Sealed? What do you mean by that?”
The figure did not reply. Instead, its glowing eyes brightened, and the entire split began to quake violently.
The ground beneath Shintaro’s feet shook.
“What’s happening? An earthquake…?”
He struggled to keep his balance but was knocked off his feet by a sudden gust of wind from the split.
“If the split widens, everything will end… Restore it…”
As the figure’s voice faded, the entire tree trembled violently.
A deafening noise erupted from the split, and the tree’s surface began to peel away as if it were crumbling.
Shintaro scrambled to his feet and ran as fast as he could.
As he fled toward the village, he glanced back over his shoulder.
The split had grown even wider, gaping like an open wound.
“Before anything worse happens…”
A swirling mix of terror and a heavy sense of responsibility churned within him.
The Whisper of the Mountain God: A Warning from the Split Sacred Tree
Shintaro returned to his grandfather’s house.
Yet, the image of the shadow he had seen in the split and the voice that echoed in his ears would not leave his mind.
It felt as though those words had been etched deep into his soul.
“If the split widens, everything will end…”
He still didn’t understand what it truly meant.
But the voice carried undeniable anger and sorrow.
The next morning, another strange event struck the village.
All the wells ran dry, and the torii gate at the shrine was found split in two.
“This must be because of the sacred tree’s split…”
The villagers whispered anxiously, their fear barely concealed.
Shintaro went to Furukawa and recounted the events of the previous night.
The shadow that had emerged from the split and the words it spoke.
“The mountain god’s anger… it might really be breaking free,” Shintaro said.
Furukawa’s expression darkened as he nodded grimly.
“The split can no longer be sealed. Once someone breaks the taboo, it cannot be stopped.”
Shintaro realized that the “someone” was himself.
“It’s because… I touched the split…”
Regret surged through him, but it was already far too late.
That night, Shintaro encountered the shadow again in his dreams.
It said nothing, only gazed at him silently.
But in that gaze, Shintaro felt a plea, as though it was trying to convey something.
“What… do you want me to do?” he asked.
The shadow did not answer. It simply faded away, leaving behind only the image of the tree’s split.
A few days later, Shintaro decided to leave the village.
The fear he felt in front of the split and the events that followed were too much for him to bear.
But even after leaving the village, the whisper never left him.
On quiet nights under the moonlight, he would sometimes hear a faint voice near his ear.
“Go back… Restore it…”
The voice would fade quickly.
Yet, the gaping split in Shintaro’s heart would remain, never to be mended.
This story is a work of fiction. Please enjoy it as entertainment.
If you were born and raised in this village, do you think you could have followed this taboo? Let us know in the comments!
Click here to leave a comment!