Kesagake was a Japanese Ussuri brown bear responsible for the worst bear attack in Japanese history killing seven settlers at the small settlements of Rokusensawa, Sankebetsu, and Tomamae between December 9 and 14, 1915.
After awaking from its hibernation too early, Kesagake was unable to find a food source and became desperate. The first humans to encounter it was the Ikeda family, though it only took some harvested corn from them before fleeing. Later it reappeared, prompting the second youngest son of the Ikeda and two members of the Matagi family to hunt for it. They managed to wound Kesagake but failed to kill it.
Kesagake would turn up at other villages, killing and attacking their inhabitants and stealing their food stockpiles before disappearing back into the forest. This soon got the attention of the Japanese government and soon expert bear hunter Yamamoto Heikichi was sent to hunt Kesagake down. He succeeded in tracking the bear down and shot it twice, once in the heart and once in the head, killing it. Though Kesagake's pelt and skull were kept, both became lost.
