Nodogami-sama, The God Said to Bite Children’s Throats
Nodogamisama(Nodogamisama).
In Japanese it is usually written as のどがみさま, and in kanji it is interpreted as 喉噛み様.
Literally, it means “the one who bites the throat,” or “the god who bites the throat.”
However, there is something that must be clearly stated from the beginning.
This story is not a tradition confirmed in actual folklore materials or records of local beliefs, but rather a tale circulated in the Japanese internet horror genre. It is recompiled with the same plot in Japanese horror archives and translation blogs, and in some sources it is classified as “Sharekowa,” that is, a 2ch occult-board–type horror story.
Therefore, this text is not an introduction to an “actual existing belief,” but closer to an outline of the structure of a taboo belief created within an internet horror tale.
The story of Nodogamisama begins as the recollection of a middle school student who visited a rural relative’s home during summer vacation.
There was a place in that village that was repeatedly forbidden only to children.
Shrine A.
The adults never explained the reason.
They simply said, “Children must never go there.”
They did not even tell them the exact location.
Such prohibitions usually work in reve