PROFILE
Born in 1978 in Hyogo Prefecture. He has been collecting strange stories and objects since childhood. He earns a living as a ghost storyteller and has developed a deep interest in the cursed objects he has acquired through his work. He currently lives with these cursed objects in a 70-year-old apartment in Fukagawa, Tokyo. He collects cursed objects both from his daily life and by traveling to various locations around the world. He also maintains close ties with ritual practitioners and sorcerers worldwide. His major works include *Chronicles of Cursed Object Collection* (Takeshobo) and *Abe-kobe* (Futami Shobo).
Instagram: @zatoichi_
Youtube: @toshigaiku
I got the call three days ago. Suddenly, the trip is underway.
Toward the end of last year, when I asked if he would like to join us on a trip, Mr. Tanaka readily agreed. However, we had trouble finalizing the schedule. Several weeks later, I received a message asking, “Can you go in three days?” With almost no details about the trip, the reporting team flew straight to Ishigaki Island.
When I arrived at the designated meeting spot, “Amurita’s Garden and Music,” Mr. Tanaka greeted me immediately with, “I’m really sorry for the late notice. We didn’t know the festival schedule until the very last minute.” It was only then that he told me the details of this trip.
"I'm planning to participate in a festival this time, but it's a local event, and the organizers don't want tourists to come. That's why information doesn't get out until the very last minute. That's why I was late in getting in touch."
Tanaka's lunch is this restaurant's signature dish, the "Fiery Green Curry Soba." It combines a creamy green curry with Yaeyama soba noodles made with a broth of pork bone and bonito flakes, topped with plenty of locally grown vegetables.
For Mr. Tanaka, who works as a ghost story teller and collector of cursed objects, the basic rule is to travel to the source to obtain both mysterious tales and eerie artifacts. That’s why he often attends festivals.
"Ghost stories and cursed objects are steeped in history and the local culture. When you actually visit those places, you realize that seeing is believing—your understanding is completely different. I’m also interested in rituals and festivals around the world. Since they’re rooted in specific places and regions, they embody the local beliefs, people’s daily lives, and their hopes and wishes."
As I listen to these stories, one after another, I keep hearing things that just can’t be put into an article.
"Lately, I’ve been traveling to Indonesia quite often with a sorcerer I’m close friends with. Of course, these are journeys dedicated to talismans and sorcery. Banyuwangi, located at the easternmost tip of Java, is particularly known as a place with many practitioners of black magic. I’ve been listening to these people talk about talismans and sorcery. On one of my visits, I was shown a ritual of the indigenous Kujawen faith. It’s a festival and ritual held in the middle of the night at a forest shrine, where believers become possessed by spirits and enter a trance-like state. The sight of them falling to the ground and wailing in the darkness was eerie yet mystical.”
As I listened, nodding along, I began to lose track of whether this was fiction or reality. But since he insists that such a world truly exists, it really does make you realize just how mysterious this world is. He really is a fieldworker of the otherworld.
