Hachishakusama (Eight‑Foot‑Tall Woman) - The “Po. Po.” Sound That Draws Closer Even from Afar
My grandparents’ house was in the countryside.
Behind the house was a field, and next to it stood an old storage shed.
When I was little, I used to play there alone.
There were bugs you’d never see in the city, rusty farming tools, and piles of discarded plastic containers.
That day, I was playing near the shed.
The sun was strong, and I was sweating.
My grandfather was pulling weeds beyond the field.
It wasn’t the kind of time when anything scary should happen.
Then I heard a sound.
“Po.”
At first, I thought it was a bird.
“Po. Po.”
But the sound was strange.
It didn’t sound like a bird crying—
more like a person imitating one with their mouth.
I looked up.
A woman was standing at the far end of the field.
She wore a white dress, something like a one‑piece.
A wide‑brimmed hat covered her head.
But she was too tall.
Her head rose a full head above the stone wall.
I thought maybe I was mistaken because she was far away.
Maybe she was standing on a ridge.
But she wasn’t.
She was standing on flat ground.
And she was impossibly tall.
“Po. Po. Po.”
The sound came from her.
Her mouth wasn’t opening wide, yet that low, uncanny voice kept echoing.
It sounded like a woman… and also like a man.
I couldn’t move.
The woman