Sankebetsu Brown Bear
Although the Sankebetsu Brown Bear cannot compete with others on this list for the numbers it killed, the appalling nature of its predation and cultural legacy make it a worthy addition. In total, the beast killed seven people between the 9th and 15th of December 1914, in what is still the worst bear attack in Japanese history. Awaking ravenous from hibernation, the huge brown bear proceeded to recently-settled areas where, true to its omnivorous nature, it targeted both crops and mammals. The bear, known as Kesagake (‘diagonal slash from the shoulder’), is commemorated in novels, a play, and manga.
The creature was an Ussuri brown bear, a subspecies of brown bear which rivals the famous Kodiak Bear in size. Its first appearances in mid-November 1915 at the home of the Ikeda family amounted to little more than worrying their horse. Eventually, armed with guns, the family shot the bear, but only succeeded in wounding it. Although they followed the trail of blood, a snowstorm forced them to give up the chase, and the Ikedas were convinced that the bear had learned its lesson. They were wrong, for its man-eating career would begin shortly thereafter.
Entering the Ōta family home in broad daylight, the bear killed a baby before overtaking a fleeing woman whom it killed and devoured in the forest. Attempts to recover the woman’s remains resulted in the bear sustaining another gunshot wound, but again surviving. Rightly expecting the brazen animal to return to the house again, a team of fifty guardsmen hid at the crime scene, but only one managed to fire a direct hit. Other men were guarding women and children hiding at the nearby Miyouke home, but left when they heard of the bear’s arrival at the Ōta house.
Taking advantage of this, the bear broke through the Miyoukes’ window and mauled seven people. Three were killed instantly, with two later dying of their injuries. One victim, a pregnant woman, was partially eaten. The alarm was raised and the bear was flushed out mid-meal but escaped unharmed due to confusion amongst the guardsmen crowded around the front door. With a rising number of deaths, the Hoboro police assembled a sixty-strong armed posse, which waited at the Miyouke home. Unfortunately, they did not encounter the bear, which instead opted to ransack the food stores of the Ōta family home.
Finally, on December 14th, the bear was tracked through a trail of blood and paw marks and killed whilst resting beneath a Japanese oak. It weighed an impressive 749lbs and stood at 8’85 tall. The ordeal of having a large, predatory animal enter their homes and devour people at will proved too much for residents of the town of Rokusen-sawa, where the incident took place, and the town was abandoned. The bear’s behavior has been attributed to its awaking prematurely from hibernation, which left it in urgent need of food during the cruel Japanese winter.