The Legend of Hanako-san
Hanako-san, or Toire no Hanako-san (トイレの花子 (はなこ)さん, “Hanako of the Toilet”), is a Japanese urban legend about the spirit of a young girl named Hanako-san who haunts school toilets. This legend has been part of Japanese culture for over 70 years and has been portrayed in a variety of media, including films, manga, anime, and video games. There are many different versions of the legend, but the most popular one is that Hanako-san was a young girl who was killed during World War II while playing hide-and-seek during an air raid.
The legend of Hanako-san is well-known in Japanese schools, where children may challenge classmates to try to summon Hanako-san. To summon her, it is said that individuals must enter a girls’ toilet (usually on the third floor of a school), knock three times on the third stall, and ask if Hanako-san is present. If she is there, she will reply with some variation of “Yes, I am.” Depending on the story, the individual may then witness the appearance of a bloody or ghostly hand, be pulled into the toilet, or be eaten by a three-headed lizard.
Hanako-san has made appearances in numerous films, manga, anime, and video games. In the 1995 film Toire no Hanako-san, she is depicted as the benevolent spirit of a girl who committed suicide, and who haunts the toilet of a school. She was later depicted in the 1998 film Shinsei Toire no Hanako-san, in which she is portrayed as a vengeful ghost who haunts the middle school she attended before she died. The character also appears in the manga series Hanako and the Terror of Allegory, written and illustrated by Sakae Esuno, as the roommate and friend of Daisuke Aso, a private detective who investigates urban legends.
Hanako-san is also depicted in the manga series Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun by Iro Aida, in which the character is portrayed as a young boy. An anime television series adaptation of Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun produced by Lerche premiered in early 2020. Other anime series which feature Hanako-san include Kyōkai no Rinne, GeGeGe no Kitarō, and Ghost Stories. She also appears in the anime and video game franchise Yo-kai Watch, although she is renamed Toiletta in the English versions.
The Hanako-san legend has been popular and well-received in Japan. It has been incorporated into other media, including the 2020 young adult short story “Who’s at the Door?” The legend has also been compared to other urban legends such as Aka Manto (“Red Cape”), Akaname, Bloody Mary, Madam Koi Koi, Moaning Myrtle, and Teke Teke. Hanako-san has become a fixture of Japanese urban folklore, and her legend has been passed down from generation to generation.
