Why are we drawn to fear? Horror legend Junji Ito explores the age-old question and more in Uncanny: The Origins of Fear. Discover what lurks in the mind of famed mangaka, learn about his influences, idea-generation techniques, and more in Junji Ito’s first-ever professional memoir since his debut 35 years ago. Delve deeper into the Ito-verse and discover exactly how Junji Ito creates his horrifyingly grotesque worlds.

Enjoy this excerpt from Chapter 1: Who cares what other people think? of Uncanny: The Origins of Fear:

My encounter with darkness

I came into this world on a summer day in 1963. My hometown of Nakatsugawa in Gifu prefecture was then—and still is—a lush, green place. The area where I was born was actually a town called Sakashita in the Ena district, which later got incorporated into the city of Nakatsugawa in 2005.

Sakashita is at the bottom of a basin, surrounded by mountains on all sides, a little southwest of Nagiso, which thrived as a post station on the Nakasendo highway during the Edo period. At the time I was born, the silkworm industry was booming, and Sakashita was a lively little place. The Kiso-gawa River wasn’t too far from where I lived, so we would go swimming there in the summer. The roads, pools, shrines, and tunnels where my friends and I played in this town all make appearances in my manga.

Surrounded by all this natural beauty, I grew up healthily, the way children do.

How did I end up drawing frightening stories, bodies riddled with holes, people twisting down drains? There isn’t really a simple explanation. But by describing the world I grew up in I might be able to tell you how I became so fascinated with the bizarre and gained an interest in this thing called terror. This might seem to be the long way around, but the things we absorb from the world around us influence and affect our present selves, so I hope you won’t mind joining me as I look back on my life thus far.

I was three or four years old when I first became aware of the feeling of fear. Going back in time through my memories, I hit upon the long, dark path leading to the bathroom in my childhood home.

Learn more about Uncanny: The Origins of Fear here.