The Most Dangerous Games: The Journey Of The Spirit Ritual

Previously: The Music Box Ritual.

Are you feeling bold? Like you want to go on an adventure? Like you’d like to take a journey? Have I got a game for you. The journey you’ll be taking in this Japanese ritual game, however, isn’t a physical one. It’s exactly what it says on the tin: Welcome to the Journey Of The Spirit ritual game.

Journey Of The Spirit — or, alternatively, Journey of The Soul — has been around at least since 2013; July of that year is when it was posted to the Okaruto Tumblr. I assume it was originally posted to 2ch, although precisely when and in what thread, I haven’t been able to determine.

[Like what you read? Check out Dangerous Games To Play In The Dark, available from Chronicle Books now!]

I did manage to dig up a copy-paste of the post in its original Japanese, the context of which supports the idea of it having first seen the light of day on 2ch — it’s on a blog in the company of numerous other copies of classic Japanese 2ch tales of terror, like Kotoribako and Resort Job — but this is the only other copy of it I’ve found so far.

The page on that blog isn’t dated, but for whatever it’s worth, the earliest (and only) Wayback Machine capture of it is from August of 2014. The Okaruto translation predates this, though, so clearly it’s older than that.

Journey Of The Spirit bears a few things in common with some other Japanese ritual games from the late 2000s, so it may have popped up sometime around or shortly after then. I’m thinking here of the White Kimono Game, the 10-Day Dream Ritual, the Thumb Game, and the Little Finger Game — particularly those last two.

Why those two? Well, they’ve got a… let’s call it a motif in common: Loose appendages not connected to a larger whole. The “larger whole,” as it were, is not someone you actually meet in Journey Of The Spirit, but they do seem to be the main antagonist.

In Okaruto’s translation, this person is identified by the name “Kichibe,” although who Kichibe might be is never fully explained. You may occasionally see this person identified as Yoshibei, as well, although that’s usually just how Google Translate renders the name, and, well… Kichibe is probably more accurate. I’m more inclined to go with a translation by an actual human when it comes to stuff like, y’know, names and such.

In any event, this one of those games you play just for the experience — or, maybe, the bragging rights. There’s no prize; there aren’t even really any “winning” conditions. You just have to follow the instructions — and follow them exactly — in order to survive, and earn the right to tell others the tale.

As always: Play at your own risk.

Players:

• At least four participants.

Requirements:

• A dark, quiet room.
• Bravery.
• Strength of will.
• The ability to follow directions to the absolute letter.

Instructions:

The Preparations:

1. Begin at any time.
2. Assemble all participants in the dark, quiet room.
3. Turn off your phones. Ideally, don’t even bring them with you in the first place; leave them outside the room, powered down and unplugged.
4. Seat all participants in a circle on the floor.
5. Join hands, each participant with the two players on either side of them.
6. Close your eyes — all of you.
7. Remember to breathe.
8. Once your eyes are all closed, count to 10 — each player, silently to themselves.
9. Keep breathing. Do not open your eyes.
10. After you reach the count of 10, your bodies will — in the physical world — fall softly to the ground. You will not be directly aware of this occurring, for you have now entered the realm of the spirit; only your spirit may take this journey.
11. You will know it has occurred, however, when the world comes back into focus — when your eyes open again, in the realm of the spirit.
12. Now the journey begins.

The Journey:

1. You will find yourself standing on a road. There will be darkness beyond it, but the road itself will be well-lit — luminous, even. All participants will be present, together on this road leading to the unknown.
2. At this point, one of you will become the Principal.
   
   You cannot choose who will become the Principal; it will be decided for you. By who — or by what — no one can say; and yet, somehow, you will know who has been chosen. You will know has been tasked with the journey ahead.

3. Principal: What follows is for you. Do not deviate from these instructions.
4. Begin walking down the road. It will seem long, and perhaps empty, but keep following it; do not stray from the path. Lead your friends; they will follow.
5. (Friends: Follow.)
6. When you meet a woman dressed in white, with long, black hair, she will offer you a box. Take it when she offers it. Carry it in your left hand. Do not open it — not yet.
7.  Keep walking down the road. Do not stray from the path.
8. When you reach a fork in the road, stop for a moment and observe carefully what you see down each fork.
   
   One fork will lead into a grove of bamboo. The other will lead down a set of stone steps.
   
   Do NOT choose to descend the stone steps.

9. Take the fork leading into the bamboo grove.
10. Resume walking. Do not stray from the path.
11. When you reach a small hut, open the door with your left hand. Enter the hut; lead your friends in with you.
12. The last participant to pass through the door is responsible for shutting it behind them. They should shut it with their right hand.
13. The hut will be empty inside, save for a box in the center of the room.
14. Principal: Open the box with your right hand.
15. Inside, you will find a finger — the fifth and smallest finger, cut from the hand of… someone. Someone you have yet to meet.
16. Now is the time to open the box you received from the woman at the start of your journey. Open it with your left hand.
17. Take the finger from the second box and place it inside the first box. Do this using your right hand. Then, close the first box, again using your right hand.
18. Pick up the box — the one now bearing the finger — with your right hand. Exit the hut, taking the box with you. Your friends should follow suit.
19. (Friends: Follow.)
20. Resume walking, following the road in the same direction you were headed when you stopped at the hut. Do not stray from path — no matter what you hear ahead.
21. For, at this point, you may, in fact, hear something ahead of you: A slight crunching — the sound of footsteps on a worn road, slow and steady, growing louder as they go, as the person they belong to draws nearer.
22. Soon, you will see this person.
    
    This person is a solider, or a warrior.
    
    This person is fleeing battle.
    
    This person is walking towards you.

23. Continue walking straight ahead. Do not attempt to move out of the way of this person coming towards you; do not attempt to avoid them in any way.
    
    You wouldn’t be able to even if you did try.

24. Continue walking. Walk, even as the person approaching you keeps coming nearer.
25. Walk, even when it seems as though you are about to meet.
26. Walk, even when it seems as though you are about to collide.
27. Continue walking… and this person will pass straight through you.  
28. Continue walking. Do not stray from the path. And, no matter what you might hear behind you, do not — do NOT — look back.
29. Keep walking.
30. When you meet an old man, open the box and offer him the finger inside. He will take it. He will thank you. And he will vanish.

The Return:

1. After the old man vanishes, you — all of you — will awaken in the physical world, returned to your bodies in whatever state or position they were in when you left them behind.
2. Be careful, though:
   
   The person who the finger belongs to?
   
   You haven’t met them yet… but you might now — and soon.
   
   They may have followed you out of the realm of the spirit and into the physical world.
3. Did you remember to turn your phones off? All of you?
   
   Good.
   
   Because if you didn’t…
   
   …Well…
   
4. …Watch your caller ID.
   
   If it rings, and you don’t recognize the number — don’t answer it.
   
   You don’t want to talk to whoever is on the other end, in that case.
   
5. Trust me.

Additional Notes:

There are no rules to this game other than the rules laid out here.

You MUST follow these rules.

If you are not planning to follow the rules, do not play this game.

Additional Warnings:

Pay special attention to the following rules in particular.

You MUST NOT, under ANY circumstances:

• Perform any action with the opposite hand to the one specified.
• Take the path leading down the stone steps.
• Look back after the soldier passes through you.
• Call out to your friends after the soldier passes through you.
• Fail to follow the instructions in any way, or fail to complete them in their entirety.
• Leave your phone on while playing the game.

Should you fall short of these requirements, you will not make it to The Return.

None of you — not you yourself, Principal, or your friends.

And if you do somehow make it?

That might be a good time to get rid of your phone. Change your number, if you can. Lock it down tight. Only give it out to people you know personally, and only to those who can be trusted with it. Don’t give it to anyone else, and don’t use it for anything else.

If it rings with an unknown number, despite all of that…

…I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.

***

Follow The Ghost In My Machine on Bluesky @GhostMachine13.bsky.social, Twitter @GhostMachine13, and Facebook @TheGhostInMyMachine. And for more games, don’t forget to check out Dangerous Games To Play In The Dark, available now from Chronicle Books!

[Photos via 강춘성, GAIMARD, Pexels, Walkerssk, Tamal Roy, Glavo (remixed by Lucia Peters)/Pixabay]