Uzumaki: Spiral into Horror

Uzumaki’s titular spiral is more than a curse: It is a symbol that represents the ways in which one and reality can become “twisted” when social and moral codes are abandoned. Throughout the book, the residents of Kurouzu-cho abandon the concept of community in favor of chasing their own desires. As they prioritize themselves over their community and loved ones, respect and empathy contort into selfishness and cruelty.

Junji Ito illustrates the residents’ internal drama through his spiral. Spirals are found on the bodies of residents, such as when Mr. Saito kills himself by forcing his body into a twisted shape (Chapter 1), or Kazunori and Yoriko’s twisted transformation into a single organism (Chapter 5). Spirals are also found in the residents’ arguments and obsessions (such as the black lighthouse in Chapter 9). The bodies, minds, and morals of Kurouzu-cho become so twisted that the town’s social order eventually collapses into anarchy.

Spirals can even be found in Kurouzu-cho’s wildlife. Mosquitoes buzz around in circles in Chapter 10; Shuichi Saito observes looped grass and trees in Chapter 17 and says, “The spiral’s here…at the level of growing cells” (531). Time bends and mutates as well, challenging the natural laws that typically rule earthly existence. However, it is important to note that the spiral curse began in nature. In Chapter 1, Mr. Saito’s spiral obsession begins with a snail shell; in the final chapter, the curse is traced to a rocky spiral palace. In Uzumaki, nature impacts society, and society impacts nature. This exchange mirrors the cyclical nature of the spiral itself: As Kirie Goshima explains in the book’s final pages, “The curse was over the same moment it began” (610).