Note: Hyakumonogatari — Japan’s Ritual of Summoning Spirits

There is a style of gathering in Japan where people tell supernatural tales, called Hyakumonogatari.
In this ritual, a candle is blown out at the end of each tale, and when all one hundred candles have gone out, something is said to happen.

The prototype of Hyakumonogatari dates back to the late Muromachi period (16th century), and its current form is said to have taken shape in the early Edo period (17th century).
It’s amusing that people still faithfully use candles even today.

However, properly carrying out Hyakumonogatari takes time.
If you want to set the mood and finish around two in the morning, then on a summer day when the sun sets late, you would begin at around eight in the evening.
That gives you roughly four hours for one hundred stories.
Including the time spent blowing out the candles, that makes about two minutes per story.
And supernatural tales, by their nature, are told slowly so they can draw the listener in.
With that in mind—two minutes is rather short, isn’t it?

Originally, the purpose was to cool oneself by listening to frightening tales, and the “hundred” here is simply a number meaning “a great many.”
So there’s actually no need to tell a literal hundred stories.

Even so, there are accounts from the past in which people completed all one hundred stories and then encountered some kind of strange phenomenon.

Speaking realistically, in an enclosed room filled with many lit candles and several storytellers, increases in carbon-dioxide concentration and decreases in oxygen levels occur easily.
If you add to that the illusions produced by wavering light in the darkness, and the possible physical discomfort caused by carbon monoxide generated through incomplete candle combustion, then having several such factors overlap could make it perfectly understandable that someone might believe a strange phenomenon had occurred.

It has turned into a rather unromantic explanation, hasn’t it.

Incidentally, there is a relatively easy way to finish Hyakumonogatari within a single night.
Some of you may have already noticed, but during the polar night in Antarctica, there is more than enough time to complete all one hundred tales.

Of course, concerns remain—such as the cost, or whether any supernatural beings exist in Antarctica at all—but the greatest issue is that the polar night occurs in winter, so there is no need to cool off in the first place.
…Well, it’s cold even in summer, though.

On a hot summer night, why not gather with your friends and share some supernatural tales? If you do, please be sure to ventilate the room and handle fire with care.