Kanashibari!

"I remember with perfect clarity that first night I lost the ability to sleep. I was having a repulsive dream
- a dark, slimy dream. I do not remember what it was about, but I do remember how it felt: ominous and
terrifying. I woke up at the climactic moment - came fully awake from the start, as if something had dragged
me back at the last moment from a fatal turning point. Had I remained immersed in the dream for another
second, I would have been lost forever. After I awoke, my breath came in painful grasps for a time. My arms
and legs felt paralysed. I lay there immobilized, listening to my own laboured breathing, as if I were stretched
out full-length on the floor of a huge cavern."

~ Murakami Haruki, Sleep


Last night I experienced an episode of what in Japan is known as Kanashibari. It literally means being bound and restrained by metal. it is one of the most frightening and terrible sleep experiences ever.

It all started with a dream with some weird dude in a striped shirt coming into the room and laying his knee on my chest. I was trying to bend his fingers back and at that point I woke up. Unfortunately I woke up to Kanashibari where I had no idea where I was, the room was cold, and I could not move at all. It was terrifying. I was trying to scream but all that came out was this weak squealing noise.

I think Meg woke up and noticed that something was terribly wrong so she tried to wake me up. I could hear her trying to wake me up, but I could not move or say anything. Eventually I realized that it was a case of Kanahibari and I tried to free myself from it by convincing myself that it will pass. Eventually it did pass and I was able to move around but what a horrific experience.

I experience this from time to time, and it is a pretty common experience in Japan, but in the western world, almost nobody has heard of it.