Uzumaki: Spiral into Horror

“Mr. Goshima, I find the spiral to be very mystical. It fills me with a deep fascination…like nothing else in nature…no other shape…Mr. Goshima, I find the spiral to be very mystical. I’m sure you will understand how wonderful the spiral is!! It is perfect, the most sublime art!!”

Mr. Saito, Shuichi’s father, is the first victim of the spiral curse. In Chapter 1, he becomes so obsessed with the spiral shape that he commissions Kirie’s father, Mr. Goshima, to create a ceramic piece in its form. As he talks to the potter, he expounds on his passion for spirals. Mr. Saito’s monologue is one of the most explicit explanations of the spiral obsession, as his mind is already lost to the curse. It establishes the interior logic of those obsessed with the spiral and explains the maddened perspective which will characterize the rest of the book.

“Shuichi’s mother was haunted by spirals until the moment she died. By stabbing her ears, she destroyed not only her hearing but her sense of balance. As a result, she was in a constant state of vertigo…on the day of her funeral, as her body was burned…another black spiral…emerged in the sky above our town.”

In Chapter 2, Shuichi loses his second parent to the spiral curse. Mr. Saito’s spirit haunts his wife, who develops a phobia of spirals and convinces her to plunge a pair of scissors into her ears to destroy their spiraled cochlea. In doing so, she upset her body’s equilibrium and was cursed to dizzying vertigo for her remaining days. Chapter 2 establishes that the spiral curse is not limited to one’s physical form, such as with Mr. Saito. The spiral subjects Mrs. Saito to a cruel twist of fate and sensations.

“There’s something mesmerizing about her. It’s like looking down from a high place…like vertigo…it’s like looking into a spiral! You have to watch out. She’s a spiral!”

Shuichi warns Kirie about her friend, Azami, who has the power to enchant boys and make them obsessed with her. While Kirie does not sense anything wrong with Azami, Shuichi can feel the latter’s mesmerizing effect. Building off of Chapter 2, which established the curse’s intangible manifestations, Chapter 3 suggests that individuals themselves can become spirals—inspiring obsession in others.

“Ever since Shuichi’s dad’s funeral, the smoke from the crematorium has made these spirals in the air…Look, Mitsuo…soon it’ll fall into Dragonfly Pond. […] As if…the pond is sucking it in…”

While Uzumaki’s first few chapters explore the spiral curse’s effect on the mind and body, Chapter 4 establishes the curse’s effect on the soul. After Kurouzu-cho becomes cursed, ashes from the crematorium rise in spirals and fall into Dragonfly Pond. This chapter foreshadows the eventual explanation of the spiral curse—its power stemming from a mysterious spiral palace under Dragonfly Pond. Souls, both alive and dead, are called to the palace and perish there. Kirie and Shuichi themselves suffer that same end in the final chapter. Thus, Kirie predicts her own demise with this observation.

“Ceramics are made from earth and fire. In other words, it’s the work of nature. We try our best…with human hands, but sometimes nature can create things beyond our imagination.”

This quote captures Uzumaki’s theme of humankind’s relationship with nature and the universe. Kirie and Shuichi’s journey is characterized by their mission to understand the spiral curse. In the end, only a few questions are answered. Mr. Goshima’s explanation for why his latest Dragonfly Pond ceramics bake into contorted shapes reflects humankind’s impossible quest to fully understand nature. Just as Mr. Goshima admits he does not have full control over his pieces, the characters—and readers—must accept that nature is out of their control.

“In Kurouzu-cho…there have always been row houses in ruins. Some are hidden between new buildings. Some in the open, side by side. While others, on the verge of collapsing…can be found on the outskirts of town.”

The row houses of Kurouzu-cho are introduced in Chapter 5 and become increasingly important as Uzumaki progresses. After a series of storms, survivors are forced to live in the centuries-old row houses because they are the only structures to survive the vicious winds. In this quote, Kirie voices puzzlement over the houses’ seemingly random locations around Kurouzu-cho. It is later revealed that the houses form a spiral of their own, having been built by previous generations who also lived through the spiral curse and required shelter from disaster. The row houses thus reflect the spiral curse’s looming presence through time.

“They’re twisted. […] Our folks. Aside from Yoriko and me…their hearts are bent out of shape. It’s probably because they can’t accept their poverty…that they shield themselves by becoming warped. That slum collects people with twisted souls. When they fight, they can’t control themselves. There’s no way out. You can’t untangle them.”

This quote encapsulates how the spiral affects the spirit and morality of residents in Kurouzu-cho, impacting social relations. Kazunori recounts his story to Kirie, explaining that the row house residents fall into cruel habits in order to cope with poverty. They lash out at each other, denying each other happiness in the process. Later in Uzumaki, the row house residents become literal monsters: They become so crammed in the small houses that their limbs knot together and create massive creatures. Kazunori’s use of words such as “twisted” and “untangle” foreshadows this event.

“Don’t you see? It’s about mesmerism. They both have the power to attract people. Spirals suck things in…the eye follows the pattern to the center. That’s why people possessed by the spiral want to get the attention of others.”

Shuichi explains to a skeptical Kirie that the spiral curse affects behavior just as much as the body. After a schoolboy dies falling off a roof during a daring stunt meant to impress people, Kirie and Shuichi discuss the strange behaviors percolating through Kurouzu-cho. Shuichi proposes that the spiral curse is linked to mesmerism, to a deadly desire for attention. In the same chapter, Kirie’s hair becomes cursed and seeks the very attention Shuichi describes.

“Was my hair…cursed by the spiral? It grew rapidly, moving on its own as if it was alive. Every time I tried to cut it off, it started to choke me. When my family tried to take me to the hospital…it strangled me again.”

After witnessing the spiral’s effect on other people for many chapters, Kirie becomes cursed herself. Her own hair comes alive and forces her to act out around town to draw attention. Kirie’s struggle with her cursed hair is an example of how the spiral turns people’s bodies against them. The spiral is so powerful that something as innocuous as hair can create a battle for survival.

“What do you think? I’m crushing them! It’s disgusting, unnatural! These creatures mustn’t breed! They might have laid other eggs. We have to find them! And we have to find those snails.”

After two of Kirie’s classmates turn into snails and procreate, her teacher hunts down their eggs and destroys them in disgust. Kirie tries to stop the violence, but the teacher insists that the snail people are unnatural and must be hunted down. Junji Ito uses the monstrous form of the snail person to illustrate how society responds to and marginalizes differences. Kirie tries to protect the snails from cruelty and shows them compassion, but cannot save them from the mass majority who wishes them harm. In a karmic twist of fate, Kirie’s teacher turns into a snail himself on the very next page.

“The following day, six bodies were discovered in the lighthouse. One of them was the body of a boy. And still, every night, the lighthouse streams forth a swirling glow.”

The lighthouse serves as a microcosm for what is to come for Kurouzu-cho. Just as the lighthouse emits mesmerizing rays that draw people to its center, the spiral palace underneath Kurouzu-cho has a spiral orb that emits rays and draws residents to their deaths. Ito draws the lighthouse’s melted lamp and the underground orb similarly in order to establish foreshadowing. The final line of this quote states that the lighthouse still emits its rays—again, foreshadowing the spiral curse’s eternal presence in Kurouzu-cho.

“No one suspected the massacre…had been committed by pregnant women! All traces of the drills and blood-soaked gowns had disappeared the next morning. I hate to think their husbands took care of that. They needed raw blood for their babies! In several days, these babies nourished by human blood would be born!”

By Chapter 10, Kurouzu-cho begins to descend into mass hysteria. Bizarre, horrific incidents crop up all over town, such as Kirie’s experience with vampiric mothers during her hospital stay. Kirie tries to report the murdering mothers to hospital staff, but nobody believes her because the women’s husbands cleaned up the crime scene. This detail is indicative of the role that complicity plays in the spiral curse and, generally speaking, the decay of society. The cursed responsible for Kurouzu-cho’s destruction are supported by those like the hospital staff and the women’s husbands, who all turn a blind eye for the sake of maintaining normalcy.

“I want to go back to the womb. […] Doctor Kawamoto will do it. If he took us out, he can put us back in. Right now, Makio is being returned. He’ll be the first. I hope my turn will come soon.”

Much of Uzumaki’s horror is absurdist. In Chapter 11, the babies born of the vampiric mothers conspire to return to the womb. Kirie’s cousin, Keiko, is the first mother to have her child forcibly reinserted into her body. In addition to the grotesque illustrations depicting Keiko with a stitched up, bloated abdomen, the scenario is horrifying because of its reversal of the natural laws. It is one example of Ito eliciting fear by suggesting humankind’s understanding of reality is incorrect and that nature could turn at any moment.

“Sometime later they pulled us out of Dragonfly Pond. […] Like the smoke from the crematorium, the hurricane was drawn into the lake. The lake water stirred for hours, splashing the grass, heaving up clay…”

After a self-aware hurricane hits Kurouzu-cho, it is sucked into Dragonfly Pond, spiraling into the water like the crematorium ashes of Chapter 4. Multiple storms hit Kurouzu-cho soon after and are drawn into the pond as well. While the underground spiral palace is not discovered until the final chapter, Chapter 12 explains why the storms are drawn to Dragonfly Pond in the first place. The spiral orb housed in the palace is so powerful that it lures things to its center. As it grows in strength, it eventually creates a whirlpool that pulls the pond itself (and residents) underground.

“This is like the ‘butterfly effect’…‘the flapping of a single butterfly’s wings can create a hurricane on the other side of the world.’ That’s what’s happening in this town.”

Ms. Maruyama, a television journalist, travels to Kurouzu-cho to report on its destruction and finds herself trapped. When she meets Kirie, who explains the spiral curse, Maruyama interprets it as a butterfly effect. The curse could be read this way: Mr. Saito’s obsession in Chapter 1 spread to his wife Mrs. Saito, then Mr. Goshima, and then their neighbors. The increasing number of cursed residents caused Kurouzu-cho’s decay by Chapter 14.

“A lot of people have joined them. They’re wrecking all the concrete buildings. Lots of people have died doing it. You have to be really reckless to ride a twister.”

After the storms hit Kurouzu-cho and are sucked into Dragonfly Pond, the air pressure becomes so fraught that any sudden movement creates destructive storms. Society crumbles, and the town falls into anarchy. Twister gangs roam Kurouzu-cho, purposefully risking their lives to cause more destruction. The gangs also have control over any remaining food and hunt down snail people. The power they hold reflects how the residents have embraced reckless abandon as their new reality.

“We don’t have much choice. […] Kirie…it doesn’t taste bad. You should have some. We can’t afford to be choosy. It’s not like it’s really human anymore.”

On a hunt for food, one of the survivors traveling with Kirie encourages her to eat snail people meat with the rest of their party. Kirie always defended the snail people up to this point in Uzumaki, but Kurouzu-cho’s resources are so scarce that she is forced to abandon her moral code for the sake of survival. Kirie’s choice to eat the meat is one of the most frightening aspects of Uzumaki, because it is barely a choice at all—she must go against herself to live. In a cruel twist of fate, her brother transforms into a snail the very next day.

“Oh, you mean Okamoto? It’s to make sure he doesn’t run off! He’s the most vital member of our party! Look at that shell. And it’s full of meat! He’s our emergency food supply. We didn’t know how long we’d be out here. Once he’s fully a snail, we can eat him.”

As Kirie, Shuichi, and Maruyama attempt to escape Kurouzu-cho and save Mitsuo from completing his transformation as a snail, they encounter a group of fellow survivors with their friend on a lead rope. When Maruyama inquires as to why the man is tied up, they respond that he is turning into a snail and will be eaten. This is indicative of how perverse Kurouzu-cho has become: The man is not even a snail yet—but is still marked for consumption by his friends. While proponents of eating snails defend their choice because they see snail people as nonhuman, this scene frames the line between snail and human as all but nonexistent.

“So slow…We’re walking so slow…It feels like time…is leaving us behind.”

As Kirie, Shuichi, Maruyama, and Mitsuo trek the mountains of Kurouzu-cho, the more tangled and twisted the wildlife around them becomes. Spirals are everywhere, even on a cellular level. Maruyama remarks that time itself is changing: She checks her watch and finds that its hands have transformed into spirals, visualizing how time has contorted. When the group returns to Kurouzu-cho, they find that years have gone by while they traveled.

“They built them…the survivors, they did all this. […] Remember how people all over town were expanding the row houses? Building them out on both sides resulted in them connecting like this.” 

When Kirie, Shuichi, and Maruyama return to Kurouzu-cho, they discover the town has become an enormous swirl of row houses. Kirie and Maruyama are in disbelief, but Shuichi realizes that the survivors added on to the old row houses—and inadvertently created their own spiral. Here, the old row houses scattered throughout town are finally explained: Each time the curse resurfaces, survivors build row houses for refuge and create their own spiral. Time wears down most of the houses, but some remain until the next generation experiences the curse.

“Wait…take me with you…there’s supposed to be something wonderful down there…”

As Kirie and Shuichi descend the staircase below Kurouzu-cho, they encounter a body of a row house resident. They believe him to be dead and attempt to step over him. The body ends up speaking, begging the two survivors to take him to the spiral. Once Kirie reaches the end of the stairs, she finds a palace full of spirals and an orb emanating mesmerizing rays. This orb is the source of the spiral curse, so powerful that it draws all residents of Kurouzu-cho down to worship it.

“It was a city of spirals, unlike anything I’d ever seen. The ancient ruins emitted a mesmerizing light. The floor was made of everyone who had poured in from Kurouzu-cho. They were staring at the light.”

The origins of the spiral curse are finally revealed: A vast spiral palace lies underneath Kurouzu-cho, with an orb that emanates rays to influence the town’s residents. The narration suggests that the palace has existed for centuries, calling into question the degree to which anyone had true agency in the book; however, there is no clear answer. In addition, the illustration of the orb on this page mirrors that of the black lighthouse’s lamp (with its own mesmerizing rays) in Chapter 9.

“Kirie…look at the ruins. They’re like a living thing…with a will of its own. […] Spirals suck things in…the eye follows the pattern…to the center. I don’t know who…or what…built all this, or why…but every few hundred, or thousands, or tens of thousands of years…it can reach the people above ground. And though its builders are gone…maybe it’s still building itself.”

This is the last of Shuichi’s analytical musings in Uzumaki. Here, he attempts to explain the spiral curse and how long it has existed. The passage raises more questions than it answers, its purposeful ambiguity speaking to Uzumaki’s theme of the absurdity of earthly existence. By withholding a set explanation for the curse, Ito suggests that humankind, with its limited thinking, will never be able to fully understand the universe.