Minatoya Ghost Candy Shop
Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto-ken
Although hidden away from the main bustle of the city center, the Minatoya Ghost Candy shop is rumored to be the location of the most famous ghost story in Kyoto.
It is said that almost four-hundred years ago, a shopkeeper was visited late at night by a woman wanting candy. After visiting the shop for several nights, the shopkeeper became curious and decided to follow the woman. He trailed her to a grave in a nearby cemetery, and it was to his shock that inside the grave was a live baby which had been mistakenly buried with the mother. It is believed that the woman was the dead mother of the baby, and was trying to keep her child alive with the candy from the shopkeeper.
These days, the shop is run by a small family who are very kind and honest. When I asked about the ghost, the man tending the shop at the time said they had not seen the ghost (for a while?).
