While looking for the ruins of a pre-WWII village deep in the mountain wilderness, a group of college students find themselves stuck thanks to a sudden thunderstorm. With no phone service, they decide to wait out the rain in a mansion. But little do they know, a ghastly fate awaits them…

Hinatsugimura has a story and art by Aki Shimizu. English translation is done by Eleanor Summers, and lettering by Madeleine Jose. Published by Yen Press (February 10, 2026). Rated M.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

Yamanba aren't the best known ayakashi, but for my money they're among the most interesting. Born out of female rage according to some sources – yamanba are said to be the result of women accused of crimes being driven from villages into the mountains – these woman prey on travelers. Typically they eat them, but in Aki Shimizu's Hinatsugimura, Touko, the strange supernatural woman on Hinatsugi Mountain is trying to make her daughter beautiful.

Strictly speaking, she's not a yamanba, or at least that word is never used to describe her or her daughter Kiriko. But it's hard not to imagine that Shimizu was inspired by the legends, especially when we get into the origins of the purported lost village where the story takes place. Rumors say that it's a pre-war town deep in the mountain's forested area, possibly abandoned or haunted. That's how Minato and his friends end up there – they're exploring for their college club. But the truth is much more sinister and supernatural. I don't want to give away too much, because a lot of the fascination of this book is how the mysteries unfold. But suffice it to say that Touko is absolutely driven by rage at the unfair way she was treated long, long ago.

Minato's story bookends the volume, which makes the second and third chapters feel a little out of place, as they deal with different characters. One of them is important, but the others are just sort of there. But in the framework of Minato's experiences, Shimizu also spins a story about how parents can harm their children by imposing their own desires on the child, which is central to both Touko and Kimiko. Minato's a bit more of a catalyst than a character, but that works. This is the women's story, and he's just there to support it.

The book comes with a hefty content warning for body horror, and it can get pretty unsettling and outright gross. It doesn't feel excessive, though, and it is important to the plot. My only major complaint is that Yen Press doesn't include any cultural notes, which I feel would have been helpful given the folkloric background of the book. But even without that, this is well worth reading, and I'd definitely suggest hunting down Minako Oba's short story The Smile of the Mountain Witch after you do.