Shikanokonokonokokoshitantan — -09.mp4

At 2:14, the audio abruptly shifts to a slowed-down, pitch-shifted version of the original meme song. The tempo is so low that the cheerful vocals become a mournful drone. The lyrics, originally nonsense, now seem to form phrases in classical Japanese: “Shika no ko wa / nokonoko to / koshitantan…” “The fawn, carefree, crosses the threshold…” The video then reveals a live-action sequence: a person in a full deer costume (not the cute anime version, but a taxidermy-like suit with glass eyes) walking backward through a forest at night. The camera never shows their feet. Twigs snap in reverse. Fireflies move horizontally.

At 3:02, a single frame of text flashes: — a reference to the nine gates of the Buddhist hell realm in some esoteric traditions.

The video opens with a slowly decaying VHS overlay. No music. Just the sound of wind through tall grass. A single, hand-drawn deer skull — antlers wrapped in red string — fades in over a photograph of an abandoned torii gate in Nara Prefecture. Then, text appears in a jagged, uneven font: “The ninth deer does not bow. It waits.” For the next two minutes, the video cuts between static-filled shots: a Shinto priest washing his hands in reverse, a deer standing perfectly still at a crosswalk at 3 AM, a child’s drawing of a deer with nine tails, and a close-up of a wooden plaque reading “Koshitantan” — but with the last two characters scraped off, leaving only “Koshi” (meaning “ancient” or “to cross over”). ShikanokoNokonokoKoshitantan -09.mp4

The final 45 seconds are a static shot of a shrine’s offertory box. A deer’s shadow passes left to right. The shadow pauses, tilts its head, and then the video cuts to black. No credits. No end card.

In underground Japanese net art circles, -09.mp4 has been called “the most uncomfortable 3 minutes and 47 seconds of digital folk horror since Local 58 .” It was briefly hosted on a now-deleted Niconico Douga mirror under the tag “#shika_horror.” Viewer comments from the original upload (archived via Wayback Machine) include: “I laughed at first. Then I couldn’t sleep. The ninth deer is inside my router.” “Play this at half speed. The antlers are Morse code for ‘HELP’.” “My cat stared at the screen the entire time. My cat never watches anything.” At 2:14, the audio abruptly shifts to a

Here’s a long, detailed write-up for — treating it as either a lost media artifact, a surreal anime episode, or a conceptual art piece. Title: ShikanokoNokonokoKoshitantan -09.mp4 Format: Digital video file, 1080p, H.264, 3:47 runtime Origin: Unverified / Deep web / Fan upload / “Sika Deer Shrine” ARG

ShikanokoNokonokoKoshitantan -09.mp4 is the ninth and most cryptic entry in an unsanctioned, anonymously produced video series that recontextualizes the popular “Shikanoko Nokonoko Koshitantan” meme (the deer-themed earworm song from the anime My Deer Friend Nokotan ). Unlike the previous eight files, which were playful remixes or subtitled dance loops, Episode 09 abandons all pretense of humor. The camera never shows their feet

Despite its ambiguity (or because of it), ShikanokoNokonokoKoshitantan -09.mp4 has inspired dozens of fan edits, creepypasta narrations, and even a small indie game titled The Ninth Deer Does Not Bow . The original file’s hash (SHA-256: 9e4f2c1a7b8d3e0f6a5b4c3d2e1f0a9b8c7d6e5f4a3b2c1d0e9f8a7b6c5d4e3f ) is occasionally circulated in obscure Discord servers as a dare.