The “cursed” statue of the KFC’s Colonel has been ritualistically destroyed in a “doll-burning” ceremony at the Sumiyosha Grand Shrine in Osaka.
The so-called “Curse of the Colonel” refers to the 1985 dumping of the aforementioned statue in the Dotonbori river. The story goes that the fans of the Hanshin Tigers were celebrating an unusual win for the team, and as part of the celebration fans representing each member of the team leaped into the Dotonbori river.
However, at the time American baseball player Randy Bass was on the team, and the predominantly Japanese fan gathering chose to toss a plastic statue of Colonel Sanders into the river instead, as they lacked a white guy with a beard among them.
Following this event, the Hanshin Tigers experienced an 18 year losing streak. Fans began attributing the constant losses of the Tigers to the “Curse of the Colonel”, but despite multiple attempts, the statue couldn’t be found and returned.
The statue was eventually recovered in 2009 and has since been kept by KFC Japan. The curse was officially broken last year in 2023 when the Tigers won their first Japan series championship since 1985. However instead of repeating past mistakes, they dunked a cosplayer dressed as Colonel Sanders into the river instead.
Over the years, the curse has been referenced in multiple anime and games ranging from Sonic Adventure, Kill la Kill, and more recently the 2015 game Yakuza 0 (Like a Dragon 0: The Place of Oath).
You can check out some of the footage from the Colonel’s memorial service from NHK below.
【カーネル人形 供養される】
1985年に阪神タイガースのファンによって大阪 道頓堀川に投げ込まれ24年後に発見された「カーネル・サンダース人形」保管していた会社は老朽化のため保存が難しくなったとして神社で人形供養を行ったことを発表しましたhttps://t.co/9LDqGh6WGk#nhk_video pic.twitter.com/hj7xBdTz4j
— NHKニュース (@nhk_news) March 19, 2024
With the curse seemingly broken, it seems now is as good a time as any for the statue to finally be laid to rest, especially since over the past 15 years the statue has reportedly become difficult to preserve. According to Gearoid Reidy of Bloomberg, the statue has been destroyed in a ceremonial “doll-burning” ritual.
