Inunaki VillageĀ is a 1990sĀ Japanese urban legendĀ about a fictional village-sizedĀ micronationĀ that rejects theĀ Constitution of Japan. The legend locates the village near theĀ Inunaki mountain pass inĀ Fukuoka Prefecture. A real Inunaki Village, not connected to the legend, did exist from 1691 to 1889. Described as “small and easy to miss” in a forest located in Fukuoka Prefecture, the residents of the villageĀ refused to accept the Constitution of Japan and the legitimacy of the extant Japanese government. Near the village entrance is a handwritten sign reading: “The Japanese constitution is not in effect past here.” A small side road past Old Inunaki Tunnel leads toward the village.
According to the legend, “sometime in the early 1970s” a young couple on their way to Hisayama by car went into the forest seeking help when their car’s engine broke down. They entered the seemingly-abandoned Inunaki Village, where a “crazy old man” greeted them and then murdered them with a sickle. In another story, a telephone booth near the Inunaki bridge receives a call from Inunaki Village every night. People answering the call are transported to the village, and die from aĀ curseĀ that causes them to first lose control of their body and mind.
In reality, the area of the Old Inunaki Tunnel has been considered to be haunted due to nearby murders. On 6 December 1988, five young men abducted and tortured a factory worker whose car they wanted to steal, burning him to death with gasoline inside the old tunnel. The perpetrators were arrested and sentenced toĀ life imprisonment. The entrances to the old tunnel were sealed. However in2000, a dead body was found in a nearby dam.Ā Nippon TV received a letter from an anonymous person, which described the legend of the couple murdered in the village and urged the Nippon TV crew to visit the place.