are the

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 attes ...

s of the dead in

Japanese folklore Japanese folklore encompasses the informally learned folk traditions of Japan and the Japanese people as expressed in its oral traditions, customs, and material culture. In Japanese, the term is used to describe folklore. The academic study ...

. This contrasts with , which are souls of the living.

Summary

Classical literature and folklore material has left many mentions of , and they have various behaviors. According to the , they were considered ('vengeful spirits') that possess humans and perform a (a type of curse), but other than possessing humans and making them suffer like do, there are also stories where they chase around those who killed themselves, loiter around the place they died, appear to people they are close to and greet them, and try to kill those who they are close to in order to bring them to the other world. In the , there was a story in which a man died, and afterward, his appeared before his daughter and tried to take her away. The daughter became afraid, and she was able to get relatives and friends to come, but even then the father's appeared to try to take her away. After one month, he finally stopped appearing.

Summary

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