Uzumaki: Spiral into Horror

Uzumaki uses its concept of a spiral curse to explore the anatomy of society—and its breakdown. The book explores what might happen socially, morally, and physically (in terms of the human body itself) in the event of societal collapse. Junji Ito uses horror-centric metaphors to explore real life horrors that could destroy humankind. Genre tropes such as body horror and monsters (zombies, vampires, and snails) are used to track Kurouzu-cho’s social, moral, and physical decay as well as those of the real world.

In the world of Uzumaki, the physical form reflects the emotional-moral self: As the residents of Kurouzu-cho grow increasingly immoral and obsessive, their bodies contort, transform, and decay. This idea is introduced through Mr. Saito; being the first to become obsessed with the spiral, his body is the first to undergo horrific change. Mr. Saito explicitly states the link between bodily form and inner obsession in Chapter 1: When Kirie Goshima goes to the Saitos’ house for dinner, it is revealed that Mrs. Saito threw out Mr. Saito’s spiral collection, and he shouts, “I don’t need to collect spirals anymore! I finally realized that you can make spirals yourself! You’ll see! You can express the spiral through your own body!” (29). This is precisely how Mr. Saito meets his end—with his body and mind, his physical form and inner madness—becoming one in death. This is what makes Ito’s body horror—that of a madness so consuming that one is lost to it—so frightening.

As the spiral curse reaches others in Kurouzu-cho, Mr. Saito’s individual case of madness evolves into mass hysteria—and different manifestations of body horror. With mass hysteria comes monsters: Multiple people transform into snails, a cult of vampiric mothers awakens in Kurouzu-cho’s hospital, and row house residents turn into horned beasts. These monsters are physical representations of Kurouzu-cho’s eroding morality. As the story progresses, there is an increasing disregard for fellow humans through narcissism. Kurouzu-cho’s society breaks down to the point where social relations become those of “hunter” and “hunted.” The monsters of Uzumaki are not only horrific in their physicality, but their violation of basic human relationships. This violation comes up in Chapter 17, when a group of survivors discuss what it was like to eat one of their friends after he turned into a snail person: “Remember what Okamoto tasted like? That sensation of being inside his shell, chewing on the soft parts of his face […] that magical space…made me feel like my body was becoming a spiral!” (553). Shortly after, the speaker becomes so overcome with joy at the memory of eating his friend that his body elongates and curls into itself like a coiled spring. The highly immoral act of killing and consuming another (let alone a friend)—and celebrating it—causes the body to reflect said evil, again linking the body to morality. Overall, Uzumaki cautions against evils such as selfishness and cruelty, as they have the potential to destroy the very fibers of society.