KESAGAKE demon bear and the worst massacre in Japanese history

Most wild animals can attack and eat humans if they feel threatened. However, real beasts are special animals that prefer human flesh to any other food. Their appearance in history is very rare but they all make people terrified

At the end of 1915, a terrible event took place in the village of Sankebetsu, about 11 km from the west coast of Hokkaido. This is said to be the most brutal and haunting bear murder in Japanese history.

At that time, Sankebetsu had just been reclaimed, so there were very few people living, people often encroached into the forests to expand their living area or hunt. This is also home to many species of ussuri brown bears including a giant male bear named Kesagake.

It all started one morning in November 1915, when a huge brown bear appeared near the Ikeda family's house. This unexpected encounter made the horse panic, the brown bear did the same and it also ran away after stealing some corn.

The bear reappeared on November 20, 1915, causing concern for Ikeda and his family's safety, as well as the well-being of their horses. In response, Ikeda, his children, and two villagers devised a plan to hunt down and eliminate the bear to avert potential disaster.

The original strategy was to surprise and confront the brown bear as it attempted to return and resume its food theft. Unfortunately, the strategy failed as the bear fled and Ikeda pursued it to Mount Onishika but eventually lost track of it. Thinking the bear wouldn't return due to being wounded by gunfire, the search was called off. However, this assumption proved to be incorrect, leading to the start of a nightmare.

After just one week, on December 9, 1915, the bear reappeared seeking vengeance. It broke into the home of a resident named Ota, where only his wife, Abe Mayu, and their small child were present. Realizing the imminent danger, Mayu attempted to divert the bear's attention away from her child by throwing objects at it, but her efforts were futile. The bear ruthlessly attacked and killed the infant before turning on Mayu and dragging her into the nearby forest. When the villagers arrived, all that remained were bloodstains and deep claw marks on the walls and floors, with the baby's body tragically trampled.

The day after the tragedy, around 30 individuals attempted to locate the bear in anger. Shortly thereafter, they discovered Kesagake and fired at it, but the creature survived and managed to flee. They located Ms. Mayu's body buried beneath the snow, but no longer whole.

Realizing that this was a man-eating beast and fearing that it might return to attack Ota's house and the surrounding area, the villagers of Sankebetsu set a trap at Ota's house where it had attacked. And 300 meters away, 50 men also stood guard, but what they did not expect was that this bear was smarter than that.

This time back, Kesagake bear chose to attack Miyouke's family, a place very far away from the position the villagers were defending. At the Miyouke household at this time there were a number of women and their children inside including Miyuoke's wife, but later some guards moved out of the house to check the surrounding area.

Taking advantage of this time, the bear sneaked into Miyoke's house. It rushed through the window and grabbed Ms. Yayo. She was now carrying her child on her back. She tried to escape but could not make it in time. The bear attacked and bit her. the baby's back. Odo, the remaining guard outside the house, when he heard noises inside, he opened the door, causing the bear to be distracted from Yayo and attack him.

While trying to defend himself, he was scratched on the back by it. It then moved on to attack Yayo's third son. The next person in the bear's sights was a pregnant woman. Someone said that she begged the bear to spare the child in her womb, but how could it understand. It killed both her and her unborn child

While the bear was distracted, Yayo escaped and alerted everyone. When people arrived at the place where the bear was still in the house, some people suggested that the house should be set on fire to burn the bear alive. But this idea was rejected because there could still be survivors inside. So they split into two directions, one at the back of the house and one at the front. Soon the bear appeared at the front door.

Even though they tried to corner it and shoot it, the bear was still quick to escape. After this tragedy, some injured people escaped, but three people were still killed, including two children and a pregnant woman. So in just 2 days, the demon bear Kesagake killed 6 people, including the baby in the woman's womb.

On December 12, the news was transmitted to the authorities in Hokkaido and they immediately sent a sniper team to assist the villagers, determined to kill the demon bear at all costs. The villagers and the sniper team set ambush traps everywhere, but it seemed the bear had sensed danger, it did not appear even though it had attacked repeatedly before. Finally, the locals asked a famous bear hunter, Yamamoto Heikichi. They asked him after the initial attack but he refused, but after the bloody bear murder at Miyouke's house he agreed to hunt this bear down.

On December 13 the bear appeared again, but this time it only took all the food stored and then returned to the mountain. That same night they spotted the Kesagake bear and shot it but once again let it escape. On the morning of the 14th, after examining the riverside and following bear footprints and a few blood trails, they finally found Kesagake.

Without delay, Yamamoto quickly approached and put two bullets straight into the heart and head of the demon bear. The bear, weighing 340kg and 2.7m tall, finally collapsed into the cold water

What's scary is that when people cut open its stomach, the human body parts were still intact in its stomach

Regarding the cause of the attack, many people believe that the demon bear woke up early while hibernating because of hunger. This has caused its ferocity to increase. In addition, deforestation may have also contributed to this attack due to the area being logged, the overlap of human and bear habitats, and the lack of natural prey due to the deforestation. Deforestation has likely caused brown bears to seek food near human habitation, and when prevented, bears become aggressive and attack humans.

To this day, this is still the worst bear attack on humans in Japanese history. After the incident, fearing more bear attacks, many villagers left, and Sankebetsu eventually became a ghost village.

Later, at the Uchidome Bridge over the Sankebetsu River, a temple was built called the Sankebetsu bear incident memorial site. Here the story is faithfully recreated and fully explains the events that happened