Things that go bump in the night. Folklore. Cryptids. Ghost stories. Nihongo Legends. Welcome back to 13 Days of Otakutober 2025. This fine night, I will be sharing with you another installment of Nihongo Legends. Today, we’ll be focusing on a classic, one that Star and I have even used in a short film project; Aka Manto.
Much like the legend of Hanako-san, the legend of Aka Manto begins in a public toilet or school restroom. And similar to Hanako-san, there are different iterations of this urban legend. The most common depiction of Aka Manto is a red-cloaked figure wearing a mask. It is usually referred to as a male spirit or yokai. His legend basically revolves around a single question: “red toilet paper or blue toilet paper?” Of course, the question has different variations of itself–sometimes being red cape or blue cape, or red or blue cloak instead as the questions. The question will be asked when people are at their most vulnerable–when they are on the toilet. It sounds silly at first but it’s true. When you’re alone in the bathroom stall, sitting on the toilet, that’s when Aka Manto asks his question. When the occupant answers, and no matter the answer, you’re going to die. But depending on the way you answer, different things happen.
If you answer red paper, then you will be promptly slashed into pieces and your clothes will be soaked in blood. So not exactly the best option. However, if you go with blue, instead you will be strangled to death by Aka Manto and your face will turn blue from asphyxiation! So he really does mean red or blue when he asks you. Sometimes in urban legends, his victims try to trick Aka Manto by answering yellow or green, or by refusing to answer at all. However, all answers–even the lack of one–lead to death. For if you try to trick him, he’ll opt to dunk your head into the toilet and drown you instead. According to legend, the only chance you might have at escaping your fate is to respond “I don’t need paper” and then running out of the bathroom as fast as you can. Still, it’s pretty rare to escape Aka Manto.
Apparently, the Aka Manto legend began all the way back in the 1930s. And like most urban legends, it began in the schoolyard. For Aka Manto originally began as another school spirit. Some legends say that he’s tied to specific bathrooms and stalls. He usually haunts the oldest bathrooms that haven’t been well-kept, and that’s usually further out of the way. Generally, Aka Manto is said to haunt the fourth stall in the bathroom, as the number four is symbolic of death, and he also generally haunts a squat-style toilet. Extra creepy for sure.
Aka Manto is fairly popular in media. In the Korean show Squid Games, it was confirmed that when they are invited to play ddakji for cash, the question asking if they want a red or blue tile is a direct reference to Aka Manto. He also appears in an anime called Ghost Stories, and is reference in another k-drama called Hotel del Luna. But perhaps one of his most famous cameos, and one that I personally remember, occurs in Legend of Zelda Majora’s Mask. The game features a hand that appears in the lavatory of a hotel late at night and it is often asking for paper or muttering threatening things.
That’s all for today’s Nihongo Legends. I hope you learned something useful about Aka Manto in our urban legend crash course. And just remember, if you ever find yourself in an abandoned school bathroom after hours, don’t go into the fourth. And if you do – be prepared to answer when he asks, red or blue?
xoxo
Luna
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