Chapter 1 - Prologue 1
"Frontier" = A region far removed from the central area or city. A border.
※※※※※※※
"Kakarichou! I hear the Jomon Tunnel's been appearing a lot lately."
Yoshimura, who had finished his lunch first, spoke up abruptly in a low voice.
"Jomon? Tunnel? What's that, just the name of some tunnel?"
Nishida gave a half-hearted reply while shoveling fried rice into his mouth.
"Ehh? Are you serious? You don't know the stories about Jomon Tunnel!?"
Yoshimura voiced his maximum surprise, though he was mindful of the surroundings in the crowded diner. He then continued quietly, as if suddenly understanding.
"Ah, you're from Sapporo, Kakarichou. I guess it's not strange if you don't know... No, wait, I'm from Sapporo too! That's not even an excuse!"
After playing the straight man to his own joke, he continued with renewed vigor.
"It's a pretty famous haunted spot, even for Hokkaido! ...No, actually, Jomon Tunnel seems to be quite famous nationwide!"
Nishida, who had never had a particular interest in ghosts or the supernatural since childhood, felt the words go in one ear and out the other. However, he couldn't very well cut off his subordinate who had gone to the trouble of starting a conversation, so he feigned a bit of interest.
"A haunted spot? So you mean 'those' appear there?"
"Yeah, exactly! Ghosts! Ghosts!"
"And where is this tunnel?"
"It's in the next town over, Ikutahara. Though it's almost on the border with Rubeshibe..."
"I drive through that area sometimes, but was there a tunnel?"
Nishida looked puzzled, unable to recall one.
"No, not the road—the railway! It's JR, JR!"
Yoshimura cut him off before Nishida could finish his question.
Now that he mentioned it, Nishida remembered passing through a tunnel between Ikutahara and Rubeshibe when he took the JR.
"Ah, that place... There was a small tunnel there, wasn't there? They appear there?"
※※※※※※※
The Jomon Tunnel is a tunnel over 500 meters long, constructed over roughly three years starting from March of Meiji 45 (1912) (the Taisho era began on July 30 of that year) and completed in Taisho 3 (1914), following the laying of the railway line from Kitami to Nayoro (the Okhotsk Loop Line Concept).
At the initial stage of the railway laying concept, two routes were considered: a coastal route passing through the Okhotsk Sea side from the Abashiri direction toward Yubetsu, and an inland "mountain-side" route passing through Rubeshibe and Engaru toward Yubetsu.
Naturally, a fierce lobbying battle intensified between residents and politicians along both proposed lines, as a railway would bring local benefits. Consequently, President Goto of the Railway Bureau (equivalent to the President of the National Railways during the JNR era) was forced to conduct a comparative survey.
As a result, engineers were dispatched for a survey in 1909 (Meiji 42), but they were shocked by the harsh natural environment of the Jomon county border (between Tokoro and Monbetsu counties), and it seemed the coastal route had gained the advantage.
However, the issue had already taken on a political character. Perhaps because the pressure from residents along the mountain route on politicians proved effective, the central government was forced to adopt the mountain route. This decision would later lead to a great tragedy.
Among the construction work for the mountain route that began this way, the work near the Jomon Tunnel stood out for its difficulty. Dense forests where even transporting materials was a struggle, the appearance of brown bears (it remains a brown bear habitat today)...
And since snow did not accumulate inside the tunnel, work continued even through the harsh winter (at the time, working in winter would have been utterly impossible if not for tunnel construction. Especially in a region with such heavy snowfall). Needless to say, the construction took place under conditions that would make any sane person flee. In other words, many "tako-beya laborers" (T/N: forced laborers kept in 'octopus rooms' or slave-like conditions), who had been brought there through deception, were assigned to the work.
Their meals were devoid of nutrition, and they worked from dawn until sunset. Their shoulders were rubbed raw by the mokko (a transport tool made of a flat cloth like a straw mat with two hanging ropes attached to the four corners) they carried, and cases where maggots bred in those wounds were apparently common. Furthermore, if their work efficiency was poor or if they were disobedient, they suffered abuse, being beaten and kicked with whips and shovels.
Naturally, many people began to suffer from beriberi and other illnesses due to malnutrition. As soon as they were deemed too weak to work, many were buried alive (a contributing factor was the prevailing theory at the time that beriberi was a contagious disease), died from lynching after being caught trying to escape, or were eaten by bears even if they weren't caught.
Therefore, it is almost certain that the number of victims exceeded 100; some construction workers from that time even testify that "nearly 400 people might have died." There are also testimonies that more deaths occurred on the Ikutahara side (the exit toward Engaru) than on the Rubeshibe side (the exit toward Kitami). Through such a gruesome process, the Jomon Tunnel was finally completed in Taisho 3, leading to the full opening of the "Yubetsu Line" in Taisho 5.
However, it might be said that the "ghost stories" thereafter, rather than the "facts" themselves, were what made the Jomon Tunnel known to the general public. It seems that being assigned to Jomon Station (now abolished) was extremely disliked by JNR employees at the time, as it was said that family members and staff would fall ill.
Moreover, stories such as specifically "seeing fireballs," "signals going out," "hearing groans," or "when a train tried to pass through the tunnel, a man covered in blood stood in the way, so the train made an emergency stop to investigate but no one was there—and when it tried to depart, he appeared again, repeating this so the train could never leave," and "ghosts appearing in the station's official residence" were spreading among JNR employees involved with the Jomon Tunnel. It's only natural they would dislike it beyond just being "creepy." Furthermore, the Jomon Tunnel is located right in the mountains, far from human habitation. One can understand their feelings all too well. Eventually, in Showa 34, the "Kanwa Jizo Statue" was erected with the cooperation of the then-town of Rubeshibe, local volunteers, and the Nakayubetsu Maintenance District (JNR) to appease the spirits of the victims.
This was intended to ease the anxiety of nearby residents and JNR employees, but it also seems JNR had a desire to eliminate "disruptions to the schedule" (publicly, JNR's involvement in the erection is not acknowledged, but since there were real impacts such as accidents and train stoppages in addition to easing staff reluctance, it is thought JNR had no choice but to hold a memorial).
And in fact, around the Jomon Tunnel, many human remains believed to be victims of tako-beya labor have been discovered or unearthed from the Taisho era to the present day. One could even say the ghost stories have a clear basis in a sense. Additionally, separate from this Jizo statue, a memorial monument for the victims of tako-beya labor was erected by local volunteers in Showa 55 (1980) on the site of the former Kanehana Elementary School, a short distance from Kanehana Station.
By the way, rumors that "hitobashira" (T/N: human pillars; human sacrifices buried alive in the foundations of buildings) of tako-beya laborers stood within the Jomon Tunnel had already been circulating locally since immediately after the completion of construction. A discovery that seemed to support this was made in Showa 45.
A skull was discovered by a maintenance district employee in the wall of the tunnel during repairs. However, no further testimonies of discovering anything resembling human pillars have been obtained (Author's Note: There are various theories regarding this, including one that several full skeletons were found), so there is room for debate as to whether they were buried as human sacrifices. In any case, there is no room for doubt that the fact that many human remains have been discovered around the Jomon Tunnel since long ago tells the story of how many victims there were.
It is an undeniable fact that many prisoners and tako-beya laborers were involved in the construction of railways and roads in Hokkaido other than the Jomon Tunnel, and many victims occurred in those construction projects.
Besides the Jomon Tunnel, the Central Road (including the current National Route 333), which opened despite many victims from harsh forced labor by prisoners, is also known as the "Kitami Road" or "Prisoner Road." Sites called "Kusarizuka" (T/N: Chain Mounds), where prisoners who died during construction were buried crudely with soil while still shackled by their feet, are still scattered around the area (Reference: http://www.city.kitami.lg.jp/docs/7135/). Also, there are many places where "hitobashira legends" are whispered, such as the Koshikawa Bridge on the former Konpoku Line, which was abolished in the Showa 40s.
Furthermore, the administration, especially the police, cannot turn a blind eye to the "reality" that they effectively "overlooked" or "tacitly approved" such inhumane or illegal acts (it seems there were even policemen who more actively sided with the contractors due to bribes and the like). Moreover, because a legal system known as the "petitioned constable system" (https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%AB%8B%E9%A1%98%E5%B7%A1%E6%9F%BB) existed for a time, it seems the police sometimes sided with those oppressing the laborers almost openly and legally.
It cannot be denied that the history of Hokkaido's development has many "dark" aspects. However, unfortunately, as the railways built at the cost of many sacrifices are abolished and the "regions" face depopulation and aging, such facts are gradually being buried in darkness. And at this moment, the reality is likely that we can do nothing but watch with our fingers in our mouths.
※※※※※※※
On the way from the diner back to the station after Nishida's meal, Nishida was given an outline of the ghost stories of Jomon Tunnel by Yoshimura. Even though it was a ghost story, the more he heard, the more he began to feel it was indeed a "haunted spot" with a sense of reality. Even though he was someone who basically not only had no interest in such stories but also held a strong sense of suspicion toward them, perhaps the tragedy that actually occurred was what gave him pause.
Just as that conversation ended, the "Engaru Police Station," their workplace, came into view. Their subordinates waiting to take their turn for lunch must be waiting, so to make up for their slightly late arrival, the two almost unconsciously broke into a trot.