The Sad Tale of the Principle Post is a one-shot manga written and illustrated by Junji Ito. It’s one of two shorts included in the 2-in-1 Deluxe edition of Gyo: The Death Stench Creeps.
In The Sad Tale of the Principle Post, a family and their friends enjoy a dinner. A guest notes that the father is nowhere to be seen until they hear his voice calling from the crawl space under the house. Everyone decides to descend to the crawl space to search for him, and they eventually discover that he has somehow been crushed by the principle post of their home. Although his wife proposes to call the carpenter, the husband insists that she shouldn’t because it would destroy the home if he were to be removed from under the post. The one-shot ends with an overview of the man’s skeletal remains, which confirms that he was left there to die just as he requested.
About the Manga
The Sad Tale of the Principle Post
Author: Junji Ito
Type: One-shot
Manga: Gyo (2002)
Demographic: Seinen
Genre(s): Horror
Status: Completed
Triggers: Death
Analysis
The father is the backbone of the family. Junji Ito offers very little information about the family itself; however, he makes their dynamics clear with the father’s sacrifice. I think that Ito offers some commentary on the pressures that men have: they are expected to be good fathers, husbands, and by extension, the providers. The father in the story is crushed by the weight of his household and decides to endure it to support his home and family. Even in death, his body continues to hold the weight of their livelihoods.
Review
I give this one-shot 5 out of 5 stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this story. I was also surprised by its length (4 pages) and the fact that I never heard of it until I read the deluxe edition of Gyo. Ito’s work is usually elaborate, confusing, and horrific, but The Sad Tale of the Principle Post is one of his most straight forward stories that still leaves you thinking. My rating for the one shot is completely separate to my rating for Gyo that I provided in a previous post. What influenced my rating for this story is the art and the themes.
I highly recommend this story to everyone who loves horror.
Until my next post,
Cassandra D. 🌙
Moonlit Media Room 