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| Author | Koji Suzuki |
|---|---|
| Original title | Ring (リング,Ringu) |
| Translator | Robert B. Rohmer Glynne Walley |
| Cover artist | Chip Kidd |
| Language | Japanese |
| Series | Ring |
| Genre | Horror |
| Publisher | Kadokawa Shoten,Vertical, Inc. |
Publication date | 1991 |
| Publication place | Japan |
Published in English | 2003 |
| Media type | Print (hardback &paperback) |
| Followed by | Spiral |
Ring (リング,Ringu) is aJapanese mystery horror novel byKoji Suzuki first published in 1991, and set in modern-day Japan. The novel was the first in theRing novel series, and the first of a trilogy, along with two sequels:Spiral (1995) andLoop (1998). The originalRing novel sold 500,000 copies by January 1998, and 1.5 million copies by July 2000.[1]Ring was the basis for theRing franchise, including a 1995 television film (Ring: Kanzenban), a 1998 theatrical film of the same name (Ring), a television series (Ring: The Final Chapter), and two international film remakes of the 1998 film: a South Korean version (The Ring Virus) and an English-language version (The Ring).
After finding out three teenagers died at the same time and in the same bizarre manner as his niece, reporter Kazuyuki Asakawa ofDaily News starts a personal investigation. His search leads him to South Hakone Pacific Land Lodge, a resort where the youths were together one week before their deaths. There, he finds a mysterious unmarkedvideotape which shows a 20-minute sequence of abstract and real scenes and ends with a text warning that the viewer has one week to live. The next part, which supposedly explains the "charm" - a means of avoiding death - is overwritten by an advertisement.
The tape terrifies Asakawa. Desperate to avert his fate, he takes the tape and enlists the help of his old high-school friend Ryūji Takayama, now a university Philosophy Professor. Intrigued, Ryūji watches the tape and asks for a copy to study at home, to which Asakawa obliges.
While Ryūji dissects the footage to determine where it was shot and broadcast, Asakawa chases other leads. He goes home only to learn that his wife watched the tape, with their infant daughter on her lap, out of curiosity.
The next day, Ryūji figures that the moments of near blackness appearing during real scenes are likely caused by the recording deviceblinking. The two travel toKamakura and access a personal archive of paranormal cases found in Japan. Searching for individuals withpsychic photography ability, they discover the record ofSadako Yamamura, a young woman who was born on Izu Oshima Island.
Ryūji theorizes that Sadako is already dead, and the last part of the tape contains what she wanted viewers to accomplish. To figure it out, they travel to Izu Oshima to learn about her past. Stuck on the island because of a heavy storm, the pair cannot unearth anything that helps solve the mystery. Even with the help of Oshima and Yoshino, colleagues of Asakawa, they only managed to piece together Sadako's timeline up to 30 years ago.
With their deadline approaching, Ryūji has the idea to retrace the existence of the resort lodge. Yoshino finds out that the resort used to be atuberculosissanatorium, where Sadako's father lived in his last days. The only surviving staff member working there in the period near Sadako's disappearance is GP Nagao Jotaro.
When the storm clears, the two travel to Dr. Jotaro's office, recognizing him as the aggressive man on the tape. Ryūji presses Dr. Jotaro for answers. The doctor admits that he became infatuated with Sadako and raped her in an abandoned cabin deep in the woods, in the process infecting her withsmallpox and learning she wasintersex. Driven by anger and an unexplainable compulsion, he choked her; the duo later speculate that Sadako may have used her mind control to impel Jotaro to choke her, essentially committing suicide. Jotaro then threw her into a nearby well beneath the lodge at South Hakone Pacific Land. Believing Sadako's rage and psychic powers projected images onto the tape, the two race back to the lodge. Guessing that her will is to be freed, they locate the well beneath the cabin, and Asakawa finds her remains. Asakawa's 7-day deadline passes with him alive, convincing them that the curse is broken.
The next day, they part ways, and Asakawa returns Sadako's remains to her extended family. That night, Ryūji senses his death is approaching. In his final moments, he deduces the actual charm. He calls his assistant and confidante, Mai Takano, but only manages to scream before dying. Asakawa learns from Mai that Ryūji is dead.
Panicked as his wife and child's deadline approaches, Asakawa tries to figure out why he was spared. Ryūji appears in a vision and guides him to the answer. Sadako's psychic powers combined with the smallpox virus created a paranormal virus, and it wanted to propagate through tape copies. The charm is to copy the tape and show it to someone else. With five hours left, Asakawa races to his wife's parents' home with the tape and the VCR, choosing to unleash "an apocalyptic evil" for the sake of his small family.
After the publication of the book several adaptations were made,[2] including a manga adaptation of the novel which was released in 1996 by Kouhirou Nagai.[3] In 1999, a second manga was made by Misao Inagaki which took elements from the novel, film and television versions of theRing.[3]
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