What is Japan’s Bigfoot (the Hibagon)?

In the early 1970’s a gorilla like creature was spotted throughout the Mount Hiba area, in the Hiroshima Prefecture of Japan. The sightings began in 1970’s around the town of Saijo, and many would occur the next few years. The stories became well publicized in Japanese media and drew mass media attention from all over the world. The sightings grew to be so prevalent in fact that some counties set up departments just to deal with the matter. During this time, the locals started calling the creature “Hibagon,” a reference to the Hiba Mountain where the creature is alleged to live. But, after the year 1974, only a few sightings would occur in the early 1980’ s. In 1975, Saijo, the epicenter of the activity, declared Hibagon fever over for good. In this article, we will explore this mysterious creature, and dive into the sightings, theories and questions around these events. 

To begin, we must first detail how Hibagon is described, and the important differences from its North American cousin, Bigfoot. the most distinctive difference from Bigfoot is the size of the Hibagon, which is reported to be much smaller than bigfoot. Hibagon are said to be around 5 feet tall weighing around 180 pounds.

Another difference involves how it moves. While it is said to move on two feet most of the time, there are sightings that the creature does not always walk upright and is capable of moving on all fours. Bigfoot on the other hand, is almost always described as a bipedal creature. The Hibagon is described as a quiet creature, yet it doesn’t fear people. In contrast, Bigfoot is known for vocalizing and its avoidance behavior. Also, the face of the Hibagon  is said to be similar to a monkey’s, protruding outward instead of being more flattish.

Still, while differences exist, the Hibagon does have similar characteristics. One is the body smell, which is said to be foul similar to rotting flesh. Another similar characteristic is that the fur is said to be reddish brown or black in color, while perhaps not matching, its close in resemblance. 

While quite a number of sightings have occurred, the first involved a young group of school children in 1970 who were out picking wild mushrooms and cane across this cryptid. They saw a monkey-like creature moving through the brush and were horrified. 

In the same year, around July 1970, a truck driver witnessed the Hibagon. He alleged to see a gorilla-like creature on two legs stride across a field nearby a dam. The monster than ran across the road, and vanished into the forest. 

On July 23rd, 1970, the Hibagon was seen again.  A farmer would spot the creature in the tall grass and described it as being as tall as an average man, covered in black fur, and having a grotesque face with piercing, intelligent eyes.

Around the town of Saijo during that time another person saw it walking in rice paddy field.  In December of 1970 strange tracks measuring 21 centimeters in length were found in the snow on Mt. Hiba. More footprints would be found the next few years. One stretch of footprint tracks would go almost 1000 feet around the forest. 

Sightings would continue through 1972 and 1973, and interestingly almost always occurred during the summer months. In 1974 there was a significant jump in the sightings. 

One such sighting occurred on August 15, 1974, in what would be one of the few photos and perhaps most famous photos of the creature. A person driving saw a large black animal moving on the road on four legs. As the Hibagon saw the vehicle, it stood up on two legs and attempted to hide behind a tree. Like what happens all too often in Bigfoot sightings and pictures, the photo turned out to be blurry. Other hard evidence involves a video taken of a Hibagon walking along a remote mountain road, however the video is extremely blurry. 

One sighting in 1974 describe a Hibagon crossing a road on June 20, 1974. A person driving witnessed it hopping across the road. 

Many footprint tracks were found in 1974 as well as ither documented sightings. While media attention grew, the town itself became quite concerned with the animal and reporters became aggressive trying to uncover their next story. It should be noted that the town of Saigon this year came up with a controversial policy. They offered to pay town residents who witnessed the creature and came forward 5,000 yen. This was quite a bit of money as the average town resident made only around 15,000 yen a year. 

In the early 1980’s there were several sightings in the Japanese town of Yamano. In 1980, a Hibagon was seen wading across a river just outside Yamano. A year later, there was another sighting in the area as one was seen walking down a road. Then in 1982, maybe the weirdest sighting of all occurred. In this sighting, the creature was seen holding some type of tool, described as a stone axe type of tool. 

The locals in this area would begin calling this cryptid “Yamagon”, although it appears to be very similar to a Hibagon. Perhaps Yamano, which is around 30km away from the Hibagon sightings, wanted its own town monster. 

The sightings of this cryptid would stop after these events. However, the legend would not and there is much culture around Hibagon. 

Today, there are several theories about what the Hibagon is or was. 

The first states that it was an escaped Monkey or Gorilla from the zoo. The monkey could probably quickly be ruled out though as its too small. A gorilla perhaps is a better match. One rumor regarding this cryptid says that a gorilla had escaped from Asa Zoo in the city of Hiroshima, which is about 90 km from Saijo. 

This is probably the most popular theory surrounding what it was. Some suggest it could be a pet let loose too. If someone had bought a gorilla, it’s not unfeasible that they could have let it out in the wild as it got bigger. 

Still, many point out that most primates live in warm weather environments. There, it’s easier to get food such as insects and fruit. Some primates have adapted though and interestingly one primate that has is the Japanese Macaques, who evolved to eat grasses and other low-quality food. It’s a highly adaptable species, but it’s important to point out these are small animals and a 200-pound gorilla would require adequate food storage. 

One other theory is that is some sort of new type of species, one undiscovered or perhaps one that was existing and went extinct. This is certainly possible, but it seems many witnesses may have had ulterior motives such as getting paid or appearing on tv. 

It’s well documented that during Hibagon Mania, television was introduced to the area and once available, many citizens were glued to the tv. Did the prospect of becoming famous prompt bogus sightings? It almost certainly did, the question is how many?

Others believe that this was some sort of wild man or mountain man. This belief hold that someone moved into the mountains and covered himself with fur or something else. The reports were mistaken identities initially and the sightings increased due to more mistaken ids and false sightings. 

Still there are other eccentric theories too. These include, it was a monster was from radioactive fallout from the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, that the Hibagon was some sort of Alien, or the creature was from a military experiment gone wrong. 

While tales of Wild Men and bigfoot-like creatures exist all over the world, it appears the creature itself is gone although the legend has not.