The Haunted Story of the Night-and-Day Tunnel (Yohiru Tunnel)

In the mountains of Ehime Prefecture, on the island of Shikoku, sits a tunnel whose Japanese name literally translates to “night-day”: Yohiru Tunnel (夜昼トンネル). Locals say a woman in white waits inside for drivers who cross after dark — but the name itself comes from something far more mundane, and far more human.

The Real History

Yohiru Tunnel runs beneath Yohiru Pass, a steep mountain crossing on the border between what are now Ozu City and Yawatahama City in Ehime Prefecture, southwestern Japan. Before the tunnel existed, travelers on foot had to climb the pass itself, and the crossing was so arduous that a trip begun in daylight often was not finished until after nightfall — which is where the name “Yohiru,” combining the characters for “night” (夜) and “day” (昼), is generally said to come from. The tunnel that eventually replaced the mountain footpath is roughly 2.1 kilometers long and today carries National Route 197, a major road link between the Uwakai coastal area near Yawatahama and the Ozu basin further inland.

As with many of Japan's older mountain routes, the Yohiru Pass corridor saw multiple phases of road development through the twentieth century, with the modern tunnel superseding earlier, narrower roadways over the pass. Route 197 through the area has historically been an important commercial and passenger link for the Uwajima–Ozu–Matsuyama corridor, and, like many rural Japanese mountain roads, has recorded its share of ordinary traffic accidents over the decades — unsurprising for a winding route through steep terrain, though no single catastrophic accident tied specifically to the tunnel is documented in available public records. Most of what is verifiable about Yohiru Tunnel concerns its geography and role as a transportation link rather than any singular tragic event; the darker stories attached to it are, by most accounts, a later, separate layer of folklore.

The Haunting

The best-known legend holds that a woman in a white kimono appears inside the tunnel around ushimitsu-doki — roughly 1:00 to 3:00 a.m., the hour Japanese ghost tradition treats as most spiritually charged. Drivers passing through late at night report a sudden jolt, as though they've struck something, but find nothing when they stop to check. Some say the woman then appears reflected in the side mirror instead. Other tellings attribute the haunting to the restless spirits of travelers who are said to have died attempting the old mountain crossing before the tunnel was built, unable to complete the journey from day into night. As with most Japanese tunnel legends, none of this is documented as historical fact — it is oral tradition passed between local residents and amplified online, rather than a recorded case.

Can You Visit?

Yohiru Tunnel is not abandoned — it remains part of the active National Route 197 roadway connecting Ozu and Yawatahama, so it is legal and straightforward to drive through at any hour. Visitors should treat it as a real, in-use mountain road (narrow in sections, with genuine traffic) rather than an abandoned “haunted spot,” and drive with normal caution regardless of the legend.