100 Ghost Stories (Hyaku-Monogatari)

This is a classic Japanese ritual for summoning a ghost, called Hyaku-Monogatari (Hyaku meaning hundred and Monogatari meaning tale).

The Modern Version (practiced since the Edo period)

Prepare a hundred candles. You will need a group of people, up to a hundred in number.

Sit in a circle. Light all the candles and place them at the centre of the circle. Make sure the room has no source of light save that of the candles.

One by one, tell one another ghost stories. As each story ends, blow out one candle. When a hundred ghost stories are told and all the candles are put out, leaving the room completely dark, a ghost will appear in the middle of the circle.

The Ancient Version (from a source written in 1666)

A blue andon.

Ao-andon (Blue Andon), one of the monsters said to appear at the end of Hyaku-Monogatari. Ao-andon is a female demon with long hair, horns, and teeth painted black, clad in usually a white kimono.

The ritual should be done during a New Moon.

Prepare three rooms (or if that is impossible, two rooms will suffice), adjacent to each other. Preferably, these rooms should be arranged in a way that they draw the shape "L" when viewed from above.

The room in which a group gathers should be completely dark; the next room likewise. The third room should contain a hundred andons (a lantern with a wooden flame and paper shade) and a mirror on a table.

The paper that the andons are made of should be blue in colour. All participants should also be attired in blue, and all should enter the first room without carrying swords. Put away any other weapons and such dangerous objects from the room (although there were some who would adorn the room with a sword, to ward off evil).

When a story is told, the storyteller has to grope his way in the dark to the third room, where he is to put out one andon, look himself in the mirror, and return to the first room once more. The group are allowed to continue storytelling while the previous storyteller is away. The stories here do not have to be only about ghosts or monsters; they could be of enigmas or curses.

When all the stories are told and the true darkness descends, something supernatural will happen.

In reality, when they used to perform such rituals, they often stopped at the 99th story and waited until the daybreak. It was because the true purpose of the ritual was to test one's courage, and they did not want the risk of actually summoning a supernatural being.