S T A G E D
Hyaku-Monogatari (100 Ghost Stories)
This is a classic Japanese ritual for summoning a ghost, called Hyaku-Monogatari (Hyaku = hundred, Monogatari = Tale)
The modern version (practiced since the Edo-period)
Prepare a hundred candles
You will need a group of people, up to a hundred in number
Sit in a circle. Light all the candles and place them at the centre of the circle.
Make sure the room has no source of light save of the candles.
One by one, tell one another ghost stories. As each story ends, blow out one candle.
When a hundred ghost stories are told, and all the candles are put outleaving the room completely dark, a ghost will appear in the middle of the circle.
The ancient version (from a source written in AD1666)
This Ritual should be done at New Moon.
Prepare 3 rooms (or if that is impossible, 2 will suffice), adjacent to each other. Preferably these rooms should be arranged in a way that they draw the shape "L" when viewed from above.
The room in which the group gathers should be completely dark; the next room likewise. The third room should contain a hundred andon (A lantern with a wooden flame and paper shade) and a mirror on a table.
The paper which the andon is made of should be blue in color. ALl participants should be attired in blue, and all should enter the first room without carrying swords. Put away any other weapons and such dangerous objects from the room (although there were some who would adorn the room with a sword, to ward off evil)
When a story is told, the storyteller has to grope his way in the dark to the third room where he is to put out one andon, and look himself in the mirror, and return to the first room once more. The group are allowed to continue story-telling while the previous story-teller in away. The stories here do not have to be about ghosts or monster; they could be stories of enigma or a curse.
When all the stories are told and the true darkness descends, something supernatural will happen.
In reality, when they used to perform such ritual, they often stopped at the 99th story and waited until daybreak. It was beacuse the true purpose of the ritual was to test one's courage, and they did not want the risk of actually summoning a supernatural being