![SekienIkiryo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/SekienIkiryo.jpg)
, also known as , , or ,
is a disembodied spirit or
ghost in Japanese popular belief and fiction that leaves the body of a living person and subsequently haunts other people or places, sometimes across great distances.
[ ][ ] The term(s) are used in contrast to , which refers to the spirit of those who are already deceased.
Summary
The popular belief that the human spirit (or soul) can escape from the body has been around since early times, with eyewitness accounts and experiences (hauntings, possessions,
out-of-body experience
An out-of-body experience (OBE or sometimes OOBE) is a phenomenon in which a person perceives the world from a location outside their physical body. An OBE is a form of autoscopy (literally "seeing self"), although this term is more commonly us ...
) reported in anecdotal and fictional writings. of the living are said to inflict upon the subject or subjects of their vengeance by means of transforming into their form. It is believed that if a sufficient grudge is held, all or part of the perpetrator's soul leaves the body, appearing in front of the victim to harm or curse them, a concept not so dissimilar from the
evil eye
The Evil Eye ( grc, ὀφθαλμὸς βάσκανος; grc-koi, ὀφθαλμὸς πονηρός; el, (κακό) μάτι; he, עַיִן הָרָע, ; Romanian: ''Deochi''; it, malocchio; es, mal de ojo; pt, mau-olhado, olho gordo; ar ...
. The has even made its way into Buddhist scriptures, where they are described as "living spirits" who, if angered, might bring about curses, even just before their death. Possession is another means by which the Ikiryō are commonly believed to be capable of inflicting harm, the possessed person thought to be unaware of this process. However, according to mythology, the does not necessarily act out of spite or vengefulness, and stories are told of the who bears no grudge, or poses no real threat. In recorded examples, the spirit sometimes takes
possession of another person's body for motives other than vengeance, such as love and infatuation (for example the Matsutōya ghost below). A person's may also leave the body (often very shortly before death) to manifest its presence around loved ones, friends and/or acquaintances.
Classical literature
In classical literature, ''
The Tale of Genji'' (ca. 1000) describes the "well known" episode of the (the more archaic term for ) that emerged from
Genji's lover
Lady Rokujo
The word ''lady'' is a term for a girl or woman, with various connotations. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the equivalent of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men. Infor ...
, and tormented Genji's pregnant wife
Aoi no Ue
is a fictional character in '' The Tale of Genji'' (''Genji Monogatari''). Daughter of the Minister of the Left (Tō no Chūjō's sister) and Genji's first principal wife, she marries Genji when she is sixteen and he is only twelve. Proud and dist ...
, resulting in her death after childbirth.
This spirit is also portrayed in
, the
Noh
is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Although the terms Noh and ' ...
play adaptation of the same story. After her death, Lady Rokujo became an and went on to torment those who would later become Genji's consorts,
Murasaki
''Murasaki'' refers to the heroine of '' The Tale of Genji'' (), after whom the book's author, Murasaki Shikibu, was named by her contemporaries. She was a lady in waiting at the Imperial Court of Japan, around the year 1000. Murasaki Shikibu's ...
and .
In the
Heian period
The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese ...
, a human soul leaving a body and drifting away is described by the old verb meaning "departure". In ''The Tale of Genji'', the mentally troubled Kashiwagi fears that his soul may be found wandering (), and requests that last rites are performed on his body to stop his soul from escaping if this should happen.
[Another example of this term occurs in the verse by the poet ]Izumi Shikibu
was a mid-Heian period Japanese poet. She is a member of the . She was the contemporary of Murasaki Shikibu, and Akazome Emon at the court of empress Joto Mon'in.
She "is considered by many to have been the greatest woman poet of the Heian p ...
which depicts the author's soul as a wandering firefly: "While I am rapt in thought, / The fireflies of the marsh would seem to be / My soul, caught up and wandering / Forth out of me." (, Tale 20).
contains the tale "How the Spirit of Omi Province Came and Killed a Man of the Capital". In the tale, a commoner encounters a noblewoman and guides her to the house of a certain in the capital. Little did the guide know that he was guiding the of a woman to her neglecting husband. Upon reaching the house the lady vanishes, though the gates remain shut. Wailing noises are heard inside the house. The following morning, the guide learns that the master of the house had complained the of his former wife was present and causing him illness, shortly after which he died. The guide later seeks out the lady's house in
Ōmi Province
was a province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō circuit. Its nickname is . Under the '' Engishiki'' classification system, Ōmi was ranked as one of the 13 "great countr ...
. There a woman speaks to him through
blinds
A window blind is a type of window covering. There are many different kinds of window blinds which use a variety of control systems. A typical window blind is made up of several long horizontal or vertical slats of various types of hard mater ...
, acknowledging the man's services that day, and showers him with gifts of silk cloth.
![Sorori wandering soul](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Sorori_wandering_soul.jpg)
The can also possess the object of its infatuation, who is neither rival nor enemy. The ,
[The tale is recorded in the essay collection, .] a tale allegedly based on events that occurred during
Kyōhō 14 or 15 (1729–1730), a Kyoto merchant named had a teenaged son named Matsunosuke
possessed by the spirit of two women who loved him, and who tormented the boy's conscience. On occasion, he would be suspended in mid-air, engaging in conversation as if the girls were present before his eyes, the 's words being spoken through the boy's lips. Finally the family sought help from a renowned priest named Zōkai.
[, 1682–1733] The priest successfully exorcised the boy and cured his condition, but rumors had already spread regarding the incident.
The horror story (
) collection , published
Kanbun
A is a form of Classical Chinese used in Japan from the Nara period to the mid-20th century. Much of Japanese literature was written in this style and it was the general writing style for official and intellectual works throughout the period. ...
3, or 1663, includes a tale of a woman whose assumed the shape of her severed head.
[cf. the monster known as .] One night, a man traveling towards
Kyoto
Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...
arrives at place called Sawaya in Kita-no-shō,
Echizen Province
was a province of Japan in the area that is today the northern portion of Fukui Prefecture in the Hokuriku region of Japan. Echizen bordered on Kaga, Wakasa, Hida, and Ōmi Provinces. It was part of Hokurikudō Circuit. Its abbreviated for ...
(now
Fukui City
is the capital city of Fukui Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 264,217, and a population density of 69.2 persons per km2, in 102,935 households. Its total area is . Most of the population lives in a small central area; ...
), where he mistakedly thinks he saw a chicken fly from the base of a nearby stone tower on to the road. The imagined chicken turns out to be (or has transformed into) a lively severed head of a woman. When the face grins at him, he attacks with a sword, and chases it to a home in the capital of the province. Inside the house, the housewife awakes from a nightmare being chased by a man brandishing a blade. The wandering head was, according to the title, the woman's , or her wayward thoughts and obsessions. The woman later turns Buddhist nun to repent for her sins.
[Original source story title is ]
Folk legends
Regional near-death spirits
Sightings of belonging to those whose deaths are imminent have been recorded from all over Japan. Stories abound of spirits that materialize (or otherwise manifest their presence) to someone dear to them,
such as immediate family. The recipient of the visit experiencing a metaphysical foreshadowing of this person's death, before any tangible news of bereavement arrives.
Many of the local terms for the were collected by
Kunio Yanagita
Kunio Yanagita (柳田 國男, Yanagita Kunio, July 31, 1875 – August 8, 1962) was a Japanese author, scholar, and folklorist. He began his career as a bureaucrat, but developed an interest in rural Japan and its folk traditions. This led to a ...
and his school of folklorists.
[While terms such as , , , or are used in the Ishikawa Prefecture in isolated cases, these terms are not frequently used elsewhere.]
In the tradition of the
Nishitsugaru District,
Aomori Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the eas ...
, the souls of the person/s on the brink of death are called , and believed to depart from the body and walk around, sometimes making noises like that of the door sliding open.
According to
Yanagita, is the equivalent term to the
Senboku District, Akita
is a rural district located in Akita, Japan.
At present time (as of June 2013), the district consists of only the town of Misato with an estimated population of 20,771 and an area of 168.36 km2. All of the city of Senboku, most of the ci ...
region. Yanagita defines this as the ability of certain persons to traverse the world in their form. Such individuals are purported to have voluntary control of this ability, in contrast to those who are only temporarily capable of tapping into such a state as a precursor to their death.
In the
Kazuno District in
Akita Prefecture, a soul that pays visit to acquaintances is called an , and assumes the form of a living human, that is to say, it has feet and make pitter-patter noises, unlike the stereotypical Japanese ghost that have no legs or feet.
Yanagita in reported that in the
Tōno Region,
Iwate Prefecture, "the thoughts of the dead or the living coalesce into a walking shape, and appear to the human eye as an illusion is termed an in this region." An example being a beautiful girl aged 16 or 17, critically ill with a case of , i.e.,
typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...
or a similar disease. She was seen wandering around the construction site of the Kōganji temple rebuild project in , the days before her death.
In
Kashima District, Ishikawa
is a district located in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan.
As of April 1, 2005 population data, the district has an estimated population of 18,952 and a density
Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit ...
on the
Noto Peninsula
The Noto Peninsula (能登半島, ''Noto-hantō'') is a peninsula that projects north into the Sea of Japan from the coast of Ishikawa Prefecture in central Honshū, the main island of Japan. The main industries of the peninsula are agricultur ...
, a folklorist recorded belief in the , said to appear two or three days before someone's death, which was seen passing through on its visits to (the family temple, also called ). The temple was believed to be the soul's final resting grounds, where one finds a place amongst their ancestors.
Soul flames
There are cases where the wandering appear as a floating "soul flame", known in Japan as the or
.
[A , the Japanese equivalent to the _(or_generically_"atmospheric_ghost_lights">will-o'-the-wisp_(or_generically_"atmospheric_ghost_lights")]_However,_a_"soul_flame"_from_a_person_who_is_near_death_is_not_considered_unusual,_with_the_traditional_conception_among_Japanese_being_that_the_soul_escapes_the_body_within_a_short_phase_(several_days)_either_before_or_after_death._Therefore,_pre-death_soul_flames_may_not_be_treated_as_cases_of__in_works_on_the_subject_of_ghosts,_but_filed_under_chapters_on_the__phenomenon.
_describes_cases_of_floating_balloon-like_objects_of_yellow_color_(iridescence.html" ;"title="atmospheric_ghost_lights.html" ;"title="will-o'-the-wisp (or generically "atmospheric ghost lights">will-o'-the-wisp (or generically "atmospheric ghost lights") However, a "soul flame" from a person who is near death is not considered unusual, with the traditional conception among Japanese being that the soul escapes the body within a short phase (several days) either before or after death. Therefore, pre-death soul flames may not be treated as cases of in works on the subject of ghosts, but filed under chapters on the phenomenon.[ describes cases of floating balloon-like objects of yellow color (iridescence">iridescent colored, according to Konno) an omen of death. The locals in the Shimokita District, Aomori refer to the object as , the same term in common usage by locals in Komena hamlet, in the town of Ōhata, Aomori, Ōhata. On the day after a sighting of one heading towards the mountains (Mount Osore) on April 2, 1963, a boy died in the hospital from injuries he sustained falling off a bridge while double-riding a bicycle.]
One case of a near-death deemed "suitable for discussion" under the topic of by a folklorist closely resembled the aforementioned tale of the woman's head in the , namely, that the subject who witnessed the soul's apparition pursued it ruthlessly, until he discovered the owner of the soul, who claimed to have seen the entire experience of being chased during a dream. The subject worked at the town office of Tōno, Iwate
is a city in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 26,378, and a population density of 31.6 persons per km2 in 10,759 households. The total area of the city is . Tōno is known as "The City of Folklore" for its ru ...
, and one night, he reported seeing an emerge from a stable and into the house's entrance where it was "flying around". He claimed to have chased it with a broom, and trapped it beneath a washbasin. A while after, he was rushed out to see his sick uncle on the brink of death, but he made sure to release the fireball from its trapping. He soon learned that his uncle had only just died, but his uncle came back to life again, enough so to accuse the nephew of chasing him with a broom and capturing him. Similarly, the folklore archives of Umedoi, Mie Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefectur ...
(now part of Inabe
260px, Mount Ryu and Mount Fujiwara with Sunflower field
is a city located in Mie Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 43,114 in 17314 households and a population density of 200 persons per km². The total area of the cit ...
) tells a tale about a band of men who, late in the night, spotted and chased a fireball into a sake
Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indee ...
warehouse, waking a maid who was asleep inside. The maid later professed to being "pursued by many men and fleeing" to take refuge in the warehouse.
''Ikiryō'' as an illness
During the Edo period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...
, there was a belief that there was a condition called , whereby the soul would not just separate from the body, but assume the shape and appearance of the sufferer. The condition was also known interchangeably as , alternately written as .[)]
This affliction is treated as an instance of by folklorist Ensuke Konno in his chapter on the topic. The case study example is that of Yūji Kita, doomed by the for three generations in succession, recorded in the by Tadano Makuzu
, daughter of an Edo physician, wrote commentaries on Japan's social and political problems.
Early life
Tadano Makuzu was born in 1763 as Kudō Ayako, the oldest daughter of Kudō Heisuke. Kudō Heisuke was a late-eighteenth century physician ...
.
The identical double might be seen by the sufferer or be witnessed by others, and can be classed as a doppelgänger phenomenon. Others have reported a sort of out-of-body experience
An out-of-body experience (OBE or sometimes OOBE) is a phenomenon in which a person perceives the world from a location outside their physical body. An OBE is a form of autoscopy (literally "seeing self"), although this term is more commonly us ...
, whereby their consciousness inhabits the to see their own lifeless body.[ ]
Similar activity or phenomena
The is, when one, in the hour of the ox (1 am to 3 am), strikes a nail in a sacred tree, and thus becomes an while alive, and using these powers, would inflict curses and calamity upon a rival. Although many generally are spirits of humans that leave the body unconsciously and move about, deeds akin to performing magic rituals and intentionally tormenting a target can also be interpreted as . In the same way, in the Okinawa Prefecture, performing of a magic ritual with the intention of becoming an is termed .
See also
* Astral projection
* Out of body experience
* Doppelgänger
* Eidolon
In ancient Greek literature, an eidolon (; grc, εἴδωλον 'image, idol, double, apparition, phantom, ghost'; plural: eidola or eidolons) is a spirit-image of a living or dead person; a shade or phantom look-alike of the human form.
Liter ...
* Fetch (folklore)
A fetch, based in Irish folklore, is a supernatural double or an apparition of a living person. The sighting of a fetch is regarded as an omen, usually for impending death.
Description
The fetch is described as an exact, spectral double of a l ...
* Soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...
*
*
Explanatory notes
Citations
References
*
*
*
**Chapter 1 , pp. 11–36
**Chapter 2 , pp. 37–62
**Chapter 3 , pp. 63–98
**Chapter 4 , pp. 100–125
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ikiryo
Buddhist folklore
Japanese ghosts
Japanese folklore