The Festival Music with No Festival
In old Tokyo, people heard drums and flutes in the night, a festival somewhere close, but when they went looking, there was nothing there.
What was reported
Honjo, a district of old Edo, now Tokyo, had its own set of 'seven wonders', strange happenings that everyone knew. One was the tanuki-bayashi: festival music of drums and flutes heard late at night, as if a celebration was going on just around the corner.
Those who followed the sound could never find it. It always seemed to come from somewhere else, and by dawn it had stopped. People blamed tanuki, the Japanese raccoon dog of folklore, said to drum on their round bellies to lead people astray.
Explanations offered
On still nights, sound can travel surprisingly far, especially over water and flat ground, and may seem to come from the wrong direction. Music from festivals or rehearsals in distant districts is a likely source. Edo's seven wonders were also simply a well-loved local tradition of stories.
- When
- Told since the Edo period
- Where
- Honjo, Sumida, Tokyo, Japan
- Witnesses
- People of old Edo
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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