Last week as I was browsing Wikipedia, I came upon an article on nensha (念写). It is the ability to psychically imprint an image from one’s mind onto surfaces or the mind of others.

In 1910, an assistant professor from Tokyo University named Fukurai Tomokichi conducted a well-known research regarding ESP. His first subject was Mifune Chizuko who read messages written inside hidden envelopes. Mifune, however, was viewed as fraudulent. Later that year, Tomokichi found Nagao Ikuko who was said to have nensha. As an experiment, Nagao was to “burn” an image onto a dry plate sealed inside an airtight X-ray proof metal box. Like Mifune, Nagao was seen as a charlatan. Depressed, Nagao developed a fever and succumbed to it. As for Mifune, she committed suicide in 1911.

I noticed there was something vaguely familiar with the story. I later realized that it was narrated in the fifth episode of Mouryou no Hako. At first I thought the narration was merely to provide a backstory for Enokizu Reijiro, the self-proclaimed psychic, but it was interesting to discover that it was based on an actual event.

The anime mentioned that despite the negative reputation he has earned, the professor was undeterred with his research. The anime didn’t mention though that in 1913, Fukurai met Takahashi Sadako who was said to have developed nesha through mental exercise. Sadako was able to convince several skeptics in her favor.

Now I am sure the name Sadako brings up an image of a woman crawling out of a well or a television screen. Oddly enough, Shizuko, the mother of the Ring cycle’s Yamamura Sadako, is based on Takahashi Sadako. Shizuko was a psychic. In a public demonstration of her abilities, Shizuko was mocked and accused as a fake. Defending her mother, Sadako, also a pyschic, attacked and killed a reporter. Sadako was eventually sealed under a well but survived through sheer will. When a resort was built on top of the well, Sadako, through nensha projected her spite into a blank videotape which, when watched would kill the viewer after seven days.

It seems Sadako, through nensha, has also “burned” her image into the Japanese pysche and to the rest of the world as well.

Going back to Mouryou no Hako, it has been a year since it came out and I recall writing a Mouryou no Hako post around this time of the year. It has been a year indeed but why, oh why, does the final episode remain unsubbed?

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