Imikowa (意味怖) is a shorthand for a much longer genre name: ”意味が分かると怖い話” (”imi ga wakaru to kowai hanashi”), translates roughly to “stories that become scary once you understand the meaning.” This is used on the Japanese-speaking internet as both a genre name and a genre description: imikowa are stories that contain a twist that makes them scary. Since no short or convenient English translation really exists, I will be using imikowa as a loaned name for this type of story.

As a type of scary story, imikowa are characterized primarily by their use of a twist or some type of puzzle element within the story. The introduction on Fun! Japan’s top 15 imikowa list describes the genre as follows: “They look like normal short stories, but the moment you understand the real meaning they’ll make you shiver”. On the website Ghost in the Head, writer nls goes into more detail in their explanation of the genre: 

“[imikowa] are short stories where the true meaning is hidden behind mundane, everyday events or conversations, or where a sad reality is hidden within the story. These stories, which challenge the reader’s imagination and reveal horrors hidden within ordinary daily life, have gained popularity as an intelligent and innovative genre of ‘horror.’”

Puzzling out the real horror of the story is a key part of imikowa, so they invite and sometimes require a more active reading process from their readers: Where is the trick? What is the text hiding, and how?

Sharekowa (洒落怖) is short for “stories so scary it’s not funny” (洒落にならない怖い話), itself drawn from the recurring 2channel (now 5channel) thread title 死ぬほど洒落にならない怖い話を集めてみない？, translating roughly to ”I wanna try collecting some deadly serious scary stories,” or literally ”stories so deadly scary it’s not even funny.” It is also sometimes romanized as ”syarekowa.” The first incarnation of this thread appeared on the occult board of 2channel in 2000 and has continued to appear since then. In these threads, users will repost their favorite scary stories.

Strictly speaking, sharekowa is more of a curation term than a strict genre. Rather than being a story type defined by its structural or thematic features, sharekowa works as a kind of hall of fame for 2channel horror stories, collecting what the community considers the best of the best or scariest of the scariest. Many of the most famous stories out of 2channel, like ”Kisaragi Station,” ”Real,” ”Round hole in the basement,” and ”Hasshaku-sama” are all a part of this designation.

Hitokowa (ヒトコワ) is short for ”people are scary” (人が怖い), sometimes also rendered as ”what’s really scary are people” (本当に怖いのは人間). These are typically stories that contain no supernatural elements at all, focusing primarily on the evils of humanity. Sometimes true crime stories are collected as hitokowa.

Japanese sources will sometimes call this genre ヒトコワ系 (hitokowa-type).