{"id":5115,"date":"2026-04-21T13:17:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T13:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/yurei\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T14:31:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T14:31:34","slug":"yurei","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/yurei\/","title":{"rendered":"Y\u016brei"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"5115\" class=\"elementor elementor-5115 elementor-1328\" data-elementor-post-type=\"page\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-10fdade e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"10fdade\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-herohlft0 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"herohlft0\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c3ceb64 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"c3ceb64\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-96ae5e1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"96ae5e1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Y\u016brei, ghost of Japanese tradition<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e45238a elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"e45238a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Y\u016brei is a <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A bodiless being to which an effect in the world is attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">spirit<\/span> of Japanese <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The passing on of knowledge and narratives across generations.\" tabindex=\"0\">tradition<\/span>.<\/p><p>Restless ghosts of the dead in Japanese tradition, returned over unfinished business.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-klsbdg01 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"klsbdg01\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-klshtm01 elementor-widget elementor-widget-html\" data-id=\"klshtm01\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"html.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"iwg-pill-row\"><span class=\"iwg-klasse-badge\" tabindex=\"0\" data-tooltip=\"Spirit: a bodiless or semi-bodiless entity, the deceased, nature beings, household spirits or threshold guardians. Acts in everyday life, often bound to places or families.\">Spirit<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/japan\/\" class=\"iwg-kultur-badge\" tabindex=\"0\" data-tooltip=\"Japanese Shinto kami and Buddhist yokai worlds.\">Japan<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/spirits-of-the-dead\/\" class=\"iwg-tradition-badge\" tabindex=\"0\" data-tooltip=\"The deceased whose spirits continue to act in the world of the living, household spirits, ancestors, restless dead.\">Ghost of the dead<\/a><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3f74855 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"3f74855\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1c30362 elementor-toc--minimized-on-tablet elementor-widget elementor-widget-table-of-contents\" data-id=\"1c30362\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;exclude_headings_by_selector&quot;:[],&quot;no_headings_message&quot;:&quot;Es wurden keine \\u00dcberschriften auf dieser Seite gefunden.&quot;,&quot;headings_by_tags&quot;:[&quot;h2&quot;,&quot;h3&quot;],&quot;marker_view&quot;:&quot;bullets&quot;,&quot;icon&quot;:{&quot;value&quot;:&quot;fas fa-circle&quot;,&quot;library&quot;:&quot;fa-solid&quot;,&quot;rendered_tag&quot;:&quot;&lt;svg class=\\&quot;e-font-icon-svg e-fas-circle\\&quot; viewBox=\\&quot;0 0 512 512\\&quot; xmlns=\\&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.w3.org\\\/2000\\\/svg\\&quot;&gt;&lt;path d=\\&quot;M256 8C119 8 8 119 8 256s111 248 248 248 248-111 248-248S393 8 256 8z\\&quot;&gt;&lt;\\\/path&gt;&lt;\\\/svg&gt;&quot;},&quot;minimize_box&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;,&quot;minimized_on&quot;:&quot;tablet&quot;,&quot;hierarchical_view&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;,&quot;min_height&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;min_height_tablet&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;min_height_mobile&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]}}\" data-widget_type=\"table-of-contents.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-toc__header\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-toc__header-title\">\n\t\t\t\tTable of contents\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-toc__toggle-button elementor-toc__toggle-button--expand\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-controls=\"elementor-toc__1c30362\" aria-expanded=\"true\" aria-label=\"Open table of contents\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-fas-chevron-down\" viewBox=\"0 0 448 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M207.029 381.476L12.686 187.132c-9.373-9.373-9.373-24.569 0-33.941l22.667-22.667c9.357-9.357 24.522-9.375 33.901-.04L224 284.505l154.745-154.021c9.379-9.335 24.544-9.317 33.901.04l22.667 22.667c9.373 9.373 9.373 24.569 0 33.941L240.971 381.476c-9.373 9.372-24.569 9.372-33.942 0z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-toc__toggle-button elementor-toc__toggle-button--collapse\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-controls=\"elementor-toc__1c30362\" aria-expanded=\"true\" aria-label=\"Close table of contents\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-fas-chevron-up\" viewBox=\"0 0 448 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M240.971 130.524l194.343 194.343c9.373 9.373 9.373 24.569 0 33.941l-22.667 22.667c-9.357 9.357-24.522 9.375-33.901.04L224 227.495 69.255 381.516c-9.379 9.335-24.544 9.317-33.901-.04l-22.667-22.667c-9.373-9.373-9.373-24.569 0-33.941L207.03 130.525c9.372-9.373 24.568-9.373 33.941-.001z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div id=\"elementor-toc__1c30362\" class=\"elementor-toc__body\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-toc__spinner-container\">\n\t\t\t\t<svg class=\"elementor-toc__spinner eicon-animation-spin e-font-icon-svg e-eicon-loading\" aria-hidden=\"true\" viewBox=\"0 0 1000 1000\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M500 975V858C696 858 858 696 858 500S696 142 500 142 142 304 142 500H25C25 237 238 25 500 25S975 237 975 500 763 975 500 975Z\"><\/path><\/svg>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-herorght0 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"herorght0\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-heroimg00 iwg-hero-image elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"heroimg00\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/geister_japan_yuurei-1-683x1024.webp\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-5116\" alt=\"Y\u016brei, spirits from the Japanese tradition, historical-illustrative\" srcset=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/geister_japan_yuurei-1-683x1024.webp 683w, https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/geister_japan_yuurei-1-200x300.webp 200w, https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/geister_japan_yuurei-1-768x1152.webp 768w, https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/geister_japan_yuurei-1.webp 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-32917199 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"32917199\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-26e916cb e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"26e916cb\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-253a40d4 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"253a40d4\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1200c304 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"1200c304\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Y\u016brei<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-11758e7f elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"11758e7f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Y\u016brei (\u5e7d\u970a, &#8220;dim soul&#8221;) are the classic ghosts of the dead in Japanese tradition. They differ from the y\u014dkai in that they come from the realm of the dead and return to the human world, usually because of some unfinished business: an unavenged murder, an abandoned child, an unrequited love, an embezzled estate.<\/p><p>The iconographically fixed figure goes back to the Edo period: a white funerary kimono, long black hair falling across the face, missing feet, limply hanging hands. The image derives substantially from the work of the painter Maruyama \u014ckyo (1733, 1795).<\/p><div><h3>The onry\u014d subclass and the vengeful-spirit archetype<\/h3><p>The <em>Y\u016brei<\/em> divide into several subclasses, of which the <em>onry\u014d<\/em> (vengeful <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A bodiless being to which agency in the world is attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">spirits<\/span>) represent the dramatically most prominent type.<\/p><p>Onry\u014d are y\u016brei with explosive affects, whose lack of release springs not from a vague wistfulness but from injustice suffered. The <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"Belonging to the authoritatively recognized body of scriptures of a religion.\" tabindex=\"0\">canonical<\/span> onry\u014d literature documents cases of murder, marital betrayal, or political persecution as catalysts for supernatural haunting.<\/p><p>The difference from the simple y\u016brei lies in the intensity of the phenomenal manifestations: onry\u014d produce natural disasters, outbreaks of fire, or familial breakdown across several generations.<\/p><p>Classification systems in Buddhist texts distinguish between <em>shiry\u014d<\/em> (ghosts of the dead) and <em>akury\u014d<\/em> (evil spirits), with onry\u014d standing closer to the latter category. In modern classifications the onry\u014d is defined as a y\u016brei with manifestational potential.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-159dcf9a e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"159dcf9a\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-48cee66f elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"48cee66f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">At a glance: Y\u016brei<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3f50d82c elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"3f50d82c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span data-nosnippet><strong>Type:<\/strong> <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"An incorporeal being to which effects in the world are attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">ghost<\/span> of the dead, vengeful spirit (onry\u014d)<br>Origin: Shint\u014d ideas of death, Buddhist <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The conception of the structure and order of the world within a culture.\" tabindex=\"0\">cosmology<\/span> of rebirth<br>Texts: Konjaku Monogatarish\u016b, Ugetsu Monogatari (1776), Yotsuya Kaidan (1825)<br>Period: popular from the Middle Ages onward; <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The era of Greek and Roman culture, roughly 800 BCE to 600 CE.\" tabindex=\"0\">classical<\/span> <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The study of pictorial content and its meaning.\" tabindex=\"0\">iconography<\/span> in the Edo period<br>Trigger: an unresolved bond, an unavenged injustice, incomplete funerary rites<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-18613602 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"18613602\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-262b8a9f elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"262b8a9f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Classification<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-46dcb7d e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"46dcb7d\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-61d3ab3 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"61d3ab3\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-117c166 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"117c166\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Period of the texts<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-73997a0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"73997a0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Y\u016brei traditions are widespread throughout Japan. Settings in literature and theater are often concrete places: Yotsuya (T\u014dky\u014d) with Oiwa\u2019s story, Banch\u014d for the plate-counting Okiku, the Tenmang\u016b <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A small sacred place of safekeeping or devotion.\" tabindex=\"0\">shrine<\/span> for Sugawara no Michizane.<\/p><p>Especially in August during the Obon season, the festival at which the souls of the deceased return, y\u016brei are omnipresent in theater and in popular ghost stories.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d47b156 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"d47b156\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ff38c2b elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"ff38c2b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Area of distribution<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4e49fcc elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4e49fcc\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Y\u016brei traditions are widespread throughout Japan. Settings in literature and theater are often concrete places: Yotsuya (T\u014dky\u014d) with Oiwa\u2019s story, Banch\u014d for the plate-counting Okiku, the Tenmang\u016b monastery for Sugawara no Michizane.<\/p><p>During the Obon season in August, when the souls of the dead are believed to return, y\u016brei dominate the stage and popular ghost stories alike.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-db03c39 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"db03c39\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-229a87b e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"229a87b\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1f471fc elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"1f471fc\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Source situation<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-36b1201 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"36b1201\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span data-nosnippet>Core sources: Ueda Akinari, Ugetsu Monogatari (1776); Tsuruya Nanboku IV, T\u014dkaid\u014d Yotsuya Kaidan (1825); <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" tabindex=\"0\" data-tooltip=\"Irish-American writer (1850, 1904); collector of Japanese ghost stories in Kwaidan (1904).\">Lafcadio Hearn<\/span>, In Ghostly Japan and <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" tabindex=\"0\" data-tooltip=\"Lafcadio Hearn\u2019s 1904 collection of Japanese ghost stories; it shaped the Western perception of Yuki-Onna and Y\u016brei.\">Kwaidan<\/span> (1899\/1904).<\/span><\/p><p><span data-nosnippet>Modern scholarship: Michael Dylan Foster (2015); Iwasaka, Michiko &#038; Toelken, Barre (1994) Ghosts and the Japanese; Komatsu Kazuhiko (2017). The material continues to have an effect into the present, visible in films such as &#8220;Ringu&#8221; (1998) and &#8220;Ju-On&#8221; (2002).<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3ae0637c e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"3ae0637c\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-31d07739 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"31d07739\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Name and variants<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b7642947 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"b7642947\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a086266 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"a086266\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Literally &#8220;dark\/dim soul&#8221; from \u5e7d (dim, dark) and \u970a (soul, <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A bodiless being to which an effect in the world is attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">spirit<\/span>).<\/p><ul><li><strong>Onry\u014d<\/strong> (\u6028\u970a), vengeful spirit; a subgroup of the y\u016brei with an aggressive profile.<\/li><li>Ubume (\u7523\u5973), the <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A bodiless being to which an effect in the world is attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">spirit<\/span> of a woman who died in childbirth.<\/li><li>Funay\u016brei (\u8239\u5e7d\u970a), spirits of the drowned that attack ships.<\/li><li>Zashiki-warashi, child household spirits, between y\u014dkai and y\u016brei; tending to bring good fortune.<\/li><li>Gory\u014d (\u5fa1\u970a), especially powerful vengeful spirits of high-ranking persons; with their own <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The totality of religious acts of veneration directed at a deity or sacred figure.\" tabindex=\"0\">cult<\/span>.<\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-709a44a8 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"709a44a8\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2f585873 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"2f585873\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Description<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-70621c12 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"70621c12\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4296eb49 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4296eb49\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>Appearance.<\/strong> A white funerary kimono (shinish\u014dzoku, with the lapels wrapped over the body the reverse way), long, disheveled black hair, a pale, usually young face, limply hanging hands, missing or blurred feet. Often accompanied by two flickering hitodama flames.<\/p><p>Behavior. Y\u016brei usually appear where they died or where the injustice was committed. They rarely speak; they lament, point, and frighten. Onry\u014d attack actively, cause accidents, and drive the guilty into madness or death.<\/p><p>Time. Visible at dusk, at night, and especially around two o\u2019clock in the morning (ushimitsu-doki, &#8220;the ox third hour&#8221;).<\/p><div><h3>Kabuki canonization and the botan-lantern <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A recurring element of content in art or narrative.\" tabindex=\"0\">motif<\/span><\/h3><p>The kabuki stage transformed y\u016brei narratives into an iconic theatrical form.<\/p><p>Plays such as <em>Kaidan Botan Doro<\/em> (the peony-and-lantern ghost story, based on a sangoku tale from the seventeenth century) for the first time systematically staged the y\u016brei as a dramatic protagonist whose pursuit of evil was rendered psychologically intelligible and at the same time aesthetically sublime.<\/p><p>This <em>kaidan-mono<\/em> genre established an archetype in late-Edo and early-Meiji kabuki: the suffering woman whose <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A bodiless being to which an effect in the world is attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">spirit<\/span> appears in silk and blue light to bring the truth to light.<\/p><p>The choreography of the y\u016brei\u2019s entrance used retrograde step sequences and slowed movements in order to encode the supernatural through the body. These kabuki innovations influenced later authors and established the y\u016brei as a central figure of Japanese horror aesthetics.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-44e71476 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"44e71476\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3c1fc3f0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"3c1fc3f0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Profile: Y\u016brei<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-84f33b8e e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"84f33b8e\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-hqkdc67p elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"hqkdc67p\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The most important aspects of Y\u016brei at a glance.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-pemmx7c5 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"pemmx7c5\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-pemmx7c1 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"pemmx7c1\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-qh9oavvu iwg-steckbrief-card e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"qh9oavvu\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-awzx8k2k elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"awzx8k2k\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Cultural context<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-x6rowhv0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"x6rowhv0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Human dead with unfinished business, to whom proper release is denied.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-8e3o4kxs iwg-steckbrief-card e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"8e3o4kxs\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-08rkdgov elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"08rkdgov\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Y\u016brei\u2019s target group<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-uwjelx8s elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"uwjelx8s\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The perpetrators of the injustice, their families and heirs; chance witnesses at the site; physicians, undertakers, pregnant women in unstable phases.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-jm2n74ec iwg-steckbrief-card e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"jm2n74ec\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-8vufse4c elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"8vufse4c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Form<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-mwb9u015 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"mwb9u015\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Dressed in white, long-haired, pale, without feet; accompanied by hitodama flames.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-pemmx7c2 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"pemmx7c2\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-37ss2yr6 iwg-steckbrief-card e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"37ss2yr6\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3v0wp3wx elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"3v0wp3wx\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Function<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-w3247g2m elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"w3247g2m\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Terror, illness, madness, accidents, and with the onry\u014d the death of the pursued; with the Ubume, the nightly crying of an infant.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0qpjal9w iwg-steckbrief-card e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"0qpjal9w\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6ndoih0o elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"6ndoih0o\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Means of protection<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6684tyh9 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"6684tyh9\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Complete Buddhist funerary rites, recitation of sutras (Heart <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"In Hinduism and Buddhism, a teaching text in concise form.\" tabindex=\"0\">Sutra<\/span>, Nenbutsu), seeking out a priest, the erection of a small shrine (gory\u014d <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The totality of religious acts of veneration directed at a deity or sacred figure.\" tabindex=\"0\">cult<\/span>), and the resolution of the unresolved matter.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3lfi7x32 iwg-steckbrief-card e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"3lfi7x32\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0kg99ga1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"0kg99ga1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Related beings<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-n0fum6kp elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"n0fum6kp\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The Korean <strong>Gwishin<\/strong>, the Chinese <em>gu\u01d0<\/em>; European undead and the classical <em>lemures<\/em>; <em>vow-breaking specters<\/em> worldwide.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7533bc7a e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"7533bc7a\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2447d18d elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"2447d18d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Protective practice<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d5d0260c e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"d5d0260c\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-341be2ac elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"341be2ac\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>Complete funerary rites.<\/strong> Buddhist burial ceremonies with sutra recitation, posthumous names (kaimy\u014d), and annual memorial rites are meant to prevent a deceased person from becoming a y\u016brei.<\/p><p>Obon. In summer (usually mid-August) the souls of the deceased are welcomed with lanterns, graves are cleaned, the Bon-Odori dance is traditionally performed, and at the end the souls are sent off again into the beyond on floating lanterns set out on rivers.<\/p><p>Gory\u014d <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The totality of religious acts of veneration directed at a deity or sacred figure.\" tabindex=\"0\">cult<\/span>. Especially powerful vengeful spirits of historical persons (Sugawara no Michizane, Taira no Masakado) are venerated as deities of their own shrines, in order to appease them and to turn them into protective powers.<\/p><p>Resolution of the matter. In many stories the y\u016brei vanishes as soon as the unresolved problem is dealt with, a lost possession returned, a child cared for, a murderer brought to justice.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5a584676 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"5a584676\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6d0757bf elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"6d0757bf\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Y\u016brei, parallels in other cultures<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-60563f68 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"60563f68\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5a93fdd6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"5a93fdd6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>Korea.<\/strong> Gwishin and especially the maiden ghost of the dead Cheonyeo-gwishin show a strong structural resemblance: white mourning dress, long black hair, return because of injustice.<\/p><p>China. The Chinese <em>gu\u01d0<\/em> (see Gui) forms the historical lexical model and shares the <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A recurring element of content in art or narrative.\" tabindex=\"0\">motif<\/span> of the return of the unreconciled dead.<\/p><p>Europe. The White Lady and the returning murder <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"Gift to a deity to express gratitude, petition, or veneration.\" tabindex=\"0\">victims<\/span> of the European <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"An edifying narrative, usually about the lives of saints.\" tabindex=\"0\">legend<\/span> cycles are typologically related; no historical line of descent exists.<\/p><p>Buddhism in general. In the Preta <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The conception of the structure and order of the world within a culture.\" tabindex=\"0\">cosmology<\/span>, the hungry ghosts form a closely related category of restless deceased (see Preta).<\/p><div><h3>Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai and <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The indigenous religion of Japan, marked by the veneration of the kami.\" tabindex=\"0\">Shinto<\/span>-Buddhist <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The fusion of conceptions or deities from different religious traditions.\" tabindex=\"0\">syncretism<\/span><\/h3><p>The <em>Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai<\/em> (gathering of a hundred supernatural tales), a popular parlor <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A regulated sequence of symbolic acts with religious or cultural meaning.\" tabindex=\"0\">ritual<\/span> of the Edo period, channeled y\u016brei narratives into a structured social format.<\/p><p>Participants lit a hundred candles and took turns telling supernatural anecdotes; with each story a candle was extinguished and, according to <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"Religious ideas and customs that are widespread in everyday life.\" tabindex=\"0\">popular belief<\/span>, the supernatural potential grew stronger. The y\u016brei took a central position in this space of recitation, not as abstract concepts but as local, individually named deceased.<\/p><p>This attests to the everyday religious practice behind the literary archetype. The <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" tabindex=\"0\" data-tooltip=\"The fusion of elements of different religions or cults into new mixed forms, for example in Haitian Vodou (Lwa and Catholic saints).\">syncretism<\/span> between Shinto <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"Veneration of a family's deceased members as enduringly active protective powers.\" tabindex=\"0\">ancestor veneration<\/span> and Buddhist concepts of karmic bondage structured the <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The academic study of God and the doctrines of a religion.\" tabindex=\"0\">theological<\/span> understanding of the y\u016brei: they were neither purely Shinto <em><span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"In Japanese Shinto, the venerated spirit beings and divine powers.\" tabindex=\"0\">kami<\/span><\/em> nor purely Buddhist <em>preta<\/em>, but hybrid formations at the interfaces.<\/p><p>Local <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The indigenous religion of Japan, marked by the veneration of the kami.\" tabindex=\"0\">Shinto<\/span> priests (miko) and Buddhist monks carried out rites of release that integrated both traditions.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp28c7ad6 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"cp28c7ad6\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cpafd90af elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"cpafd90af\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Y\u016brei in Kabuki and N\u014d<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp04f8b3b e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"cp04f8b3b\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp66d892f elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"cp66d892f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Japanese theater shaped the image of the <em>Y\u016brei<\/em> over centuries.<\/p><p>In <em>N\u014d<\/em> theater, the group of ghost plays, the <em>mugen-n\u014d<\/em>, forms its own structural type: a traveling monk encounters a person who at first appears unremarkable but who, over the course of the play, reveals himself or herself to be the <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A bodiless being to which an effect in the world is attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">spirit<\/span> of a deceased person.<\/p><p>The <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A bodiless being to which an effect in the world is attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">spirit<\/span> tells of its unresolved suffering, often an unrequited love, a violent death, or a guilt, and finally finds rest through the monk\u2019s <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The human being\u2019s linguistic turning toward a deity.\" tabindex=\"0\">prayer<\/span>.<\/p><p>This dramaturgy brings the basic religious conception onto the stage: the <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A bodiless being to which an effect in the world is attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">spirit<\/span> remains bound to the world as long as an attachment holds it fast, and can be released only through ritual mediation.<\/p><p>The <em>Kabuki<\/em> theater of the Edo period developed from this a more popular, more drastic genre, the <em>kaidan<\/em> play.<\/p><p><span data-nosnippet>Tsuruya Nanboku IV became famous with <em>T\u014dkaid\u014d Yotsuya Kaidan<\/em> of 1825, the story of Oiwa, who is poisoned by her husband and returns as a disfigured vengeful spirit. Such plays used elaborate stage machinery for sudden appearances and transformations.<\/span><\/p><p>The iconographic conventions that today mark every y\u016brei go back substantially to the theater and the contemporaneous pictorial art: the white funerary garment, the long, disheveled black hair, the missing or hanging legs, the hands dangling powerlessly in front of the body.<\/p><p>The painter Maruyama \u014ckyo is associated in art-historical <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The transmission of knowledge and narratives across generations.\" tabindex=\"0\">tradition<\/span> with the spread of the legless ghost image in the late eighteenth century. Scholarship emphasizes that this ghost image, regarded today as typically Japanese, is no age-old constant but a relatively recent pictorial formula standardized through theater and print graphics.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp22ceda3 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"cp22ceda3\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp3d01a42 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"cp3d01a42\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Onry\u014d: the vengeful spirit and its religious background<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp8e79821 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"cp8e79821\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp0bd063e elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"cp0bd063e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Among the various manifestations of the y\u016brei, the <em>onry\u014d<\/em>, the wrathful vengeful spirit, occupies a special position. It arises from a person who died under great injustice, with unfulfilled resentment, or violently.<\/p><p>The remaining resentment, in Japanese <em>urami<\/em>, binds the soul and drives it to revenge upon those responsible or, in the most feared cases, to indiscriminate destruction.<\/p><p>Belief in such spirits is well attested historically and had real political consequences. The best-known case is that of the scholar and statesman Sugawara no Michizane, who died in exile in 903. After his death, a series of misfortunes, deaths at court, and lightning strikes were interpreted as the work of his enraged spirit.<\/p><p>The court tried to appease him by rehabilitating him, honoring him with ranks, and finally venerating him as the <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A being venerated as divine within a religion.\" tabindex=\"0\">deity<\/span> <em>Tenjin<\/em> in a <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A small sacred place of safekeeping or place of devotion.\" tabindex=\"0\">shrine<\/span>. This process, the transformation of a dangerous spirit into a protective <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A being venerated as divine within a religion.\" tabindex=\"0\">deity<\/span> through veneration, is a core mechanism of the Japanese <em>gory\u014d<\/em> belief.<\/p><p>From the standpoint of <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The discipline that studies religions comparatively and without confessional commitment.\" tabindex=\"0\">religious studies<\/span>, a logic appears here that underlies the y\u016brei conception as a whole: the <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A bodiless being to which an effect in the world is attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">spirit<\/span> is not by nature evil, but the expression of an unresolved condition.<\/p><p>The appropriate response is not combat but appeasement, whether through Buddhist funerary rites, through shrine veneration, or through the subsequent rectification of the injustice. This conception links the y\u016brei closely with the Buddhist teaching on attachment and with the native understanding of ritual purity and defilement.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp8a115ba e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"cp8a115ba\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cpa2dad95 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"cpa2dad95\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Y\u016brei in modern horror<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp046010a e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"cp046010a\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp722d670 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"cp722d670\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The y\u016brei conception is one of the few traditional ghost figures that not only survived in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries but found worldwide distribution. The starting point was the Japanese film industry.<\/p><p><span data-nosnippet>The postwar films already took up classic <em>kaidan<\/em> material, and in 1964 Kobayashi Masaki filmed <em>Kwaidan<\/em>, a collection of such ghost stories based on the records of Lafcadio Hearn.<\/span><\/p><p>The decisive international breakthrough came with the horror cinema of the late 1990s. Films such as Nakata Hideo\u2019s <em>Ringu<\/em> of 1998 and Shimizu Takashi\u2019s <em>Ju-on<\/em> series established a ghost type that took up the classic y\u016brei <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The study of pictorial content and its meaning.\" tabindex=\"0\">iconography<\/span> and placed it in a modern everyday context.<\/p><p>The pale female vengeful spirit with long black hair, moving in jerky and unnatural ways, became a globally recognizable image. The American remakes of the early 2000s spread this visual language further.<\/p><p>From the standpoint of religious studies it is remarkable how much of the traditional logic was preserved in these modern adaptations.<\/p><p>The film ghost too usually arises from a violent death and unresolved injustice, it too is bound to a place, an object, or a medium, and its working too follows the pattern of a spreading <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A verbal formula intended to inflict misfortune on a person or thing.\" tabindex=\"0\">curse<\/span>.<\/p><p>What changed is the context: in place of the Buddhist monk who releases the <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A bodiless being to which an effect in the world is attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">spirit<\/span>, there often appears a <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A bodiless being to which an effect in the world is attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">spirit<\/span> that cannot be released at all.<\/p><p>Modern horror has in many cases erased the consoling side of the tradition, the ritual solvability of the conflict, and left only the threat behind. It is precisely this comparison that makes visible what the traditional conception actually accomplished.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-36dd7469 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"36dd7469\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-13760ab4 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"13760ab4\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Further links<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-28c87796 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"28c87796\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5d6538df elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"5d6538df\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Recommended internal links:<\/p><ul><li>Culture page <strong>Japan<\/strong>.<\/li><li>Further individual profiles from Japan: <a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/oni\/\">Oni<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/tengu\/\">Tengu<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/kappa\/\">Kappa<\/a>, <a href=\"\/en\/yuki-onna\/\">Yuki-onna<\/a>.<\/li><li>Parallels: <a href=\"\/en\/gwishin\/\">Gwishin<\/a> (Korea), <a href=\"\/en\/cheonyeo-gwishin\/\">Cheonyeo-gwishin<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/gui\/\">Gui<\/a> (China), <a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/preta\/\">Preta<\/a> (Buddhism).<\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-grl4kl40 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"grl4kl40\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-bzsbfrmh elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"bzsbfrmh\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Literature (selection)<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2c13224a e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"2c13224a\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0eymh9ub elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"0eymh9ub\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<footer class=\"iwg-literatur\" data-nosnippet=\"true\"><p>A compact selection of central works on Y\u016brei:<\/p><ul><li><span data-nosnippet>Iwasaka, Michiko \/ Toelken, Barre: <em>Ghosts and the Japanese: Cultural Experience in Japanese Death Legends.<\/em> Utah State University Press, Logan 1994.<\/span><\/li><li><span data-nosnippet>Hearn, Lafcadio: <em>Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things.<\/em> Houghton Mifflin, Boston 1904.<\/span><\/li><li><span data-nosnippet>Addiss, Stephen (ed.): <em>Japanese Ghosts and <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A spiritual being to which harmful or ambivalent effect is attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">Demons<\/span>: Art of the Supernatural.<\/em> George Braziller, New York 1985.<\/span><\/li><li><span data-nosnippet>Foster, Michael Dylan: <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucpress.edu\/books\/the-book-of-yokai-expanded-second-edition\/paper\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Book of Y\u014dkai.<\/a><\/em> University of California Press, Berkeley 2015.<\/span><\/li><li><span data-nosnippet>Ueda Akinari: <em>Tales of Moonlight and Rain (Ugetsu Monogatari).<\/em> Trans. Anthony H. Chambers. Columbia University Press, New York 2007.<\/span><\/li><\/ul><\/footer>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgca-yuurei-sec e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"iwgca-yuurei-sec\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" id=\"iwg-ca-yuurei\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgca-yuurei-te iwg-ca-textwrap elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"iwgca-yuurei-te\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div data-nosnippet=\"true\"><p class=\"iwg-ca-bridge\">The protective practice described here is a religious-studies classification of historical traditions. iWell Guard ties into this cultural-historical line of portable protective objects and represents a contemporary form of it. <a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/about-iwell-guard-the-protective-pendant-in-detail\/?utm_source=iwell-guard.com&#038;utm_medium=text-link&#038;utm_campaign=schadwesen-tradition\">More about the iWell Guard \u2192<\/a><\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Y\u016brei, ghost of Japanese tradition Y\u016brei is a spirit of Japanese tradition. Restless ghosts of the dead in Japanese tradition, returned over unfinished business. SpiritJapanGhost of the dead Table of contents Y\u016brei Y\u016brei (\u5e7d\u970a, &#8220;dim soul&#8221;) are the classic ghosts of the dead in Japanese tradition. They differ from the y\u014dkai in that they come [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5116,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"Y\u016brei","_yoast_wpseo_title":"Y\u016brei: Ghost of Japanese Tradition | iWell Guard","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Y\u016brei, the restless ghosts of the dead in Japanese tradition: returned over unfinished business, in white robes with hanging hair.","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_angie_page":false,"gefaehrdungsstufe":"","wesen_kultur":"","wesen_klasse":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[79,92,82,93],"class_list":["post-5115","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cultures","category-japan","category-night-beings","category-spirits"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v28.3) - 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