• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Japanese Ghost Beliefs & Legends

I always wondered about Japanese ghosts and haunts. I also read the Top Tokyo haunts: five scary spots" link below this story as well. I visited the Sunshine 60 building one of the spots mentioned. The 786 ft tall building has a great view,but didn't see anything paranormal.

Well,unlike haunted spots here,at least it is not in some forsaken part of town. Great shopping,great food. :)

Gene
 
There are two different segments to "haunted" in Japan - one is kids looking for a thrill and chill with inevitably made up stories. And famous spot, old building, abandoned property, etc is game - think school ghosts, famous statue that follows you with its eyes, etc etc...
And then the more "real", which you will almost never see as attractions and which tends to be more serious spanning back quite some time.

My husband's family carries the rumor of being partially descended from a shape-shifted fox (top of the line skill in mythology), so their town traditionally had them swim a burning boat out into the water to make an offering to the dead. Why? Because as they aren't fully human, they're closer to the spirit world... And if they died at the task, apparently they would shift back into fox form so the death of a human villager would be on no one's head.
I swam out with my husband the last time they did the ritual before the government stepped in because it was too dangerous... About a km out in the open sea, pushing a burning reed boat, wearing a gauze kimono. All very ritualistic...

But this isn't considered "supernatural" - it is all very much treated as a mix of superstition and just how things are. The types of things your see as attractions are generally fairly recent and designed to appeal to teens.

People who go to the spots that are supposedly most haunted or supernatural tend to do so with respect and reverence because that sort of thing is religious. A field with supernatural happenings or that was the site of horrific murders has a better chance of turning into a shrine (enshrining the supernatural rather than trying to erase it) than being a spot to go to be spooked.

Halloween in Japan is really not linked to the supernatural or anything like that at all. It is pretty much completely a day to dress up for the small percentage of people who celebrate it. It is nowhere near widely enough spread for there to be anything other than specific events in set locations. The appeal is more to English learners (or parents who want their children to learn English) so the events are almost always sponsored by English schools as a "do something that is a uniquely English speaking holiday event!"

For general handling of the supernatural in Japan, I think something that makes it easier to understand is the knowledge that religion in Japan is founded almost entirely on the supernatural. Instead of worshipping any specific large scale god, Japan enshrines and worships supernatural phenomena. "Something" unknown, something that feels out of the ordinary... That is the foundation for religion, and it colors perception.
 
Japan is such an interesting country. The culture fascinates me and it's also fascinating how they deal with ghosts and other supernatural happenings! spirits and ghosts seem to be more normal than in the west and have their fix part in the society.
Halloween might be just a trend there, but they celebrate it with a lot of style *haha* I love Halloween decoration.
 
The Shirime.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I will begin.

"In this tale, a samurai warrior is walking around Kyoto late one night when he is accosted by some naked pervert, seemingly the dumbest rapist in all of Japan.

"Before the samurai can draw steel and carve this guy up, however, the perv bends over and . . . reveals he has a huge eyeball peering out of his ass."

Graphic illustrations and much more at Cracked.com's 7 Most Ridiculous Ghost Stories

Malaysia has lady-ghosts called Hanu Tetek whose afterlife task is to smother young men with their breasts. The illustration of this one is a little misleading, as they turn out to be hags not babes. It tends to go with the being dead bit.

The others are:
Raw Head & Bloody Bones from the Ozarks.
The Toyol - a Malaysian Kleptomaniac Foetus-Ghost.
The Headless Celibacy-Enforcing Mule of Brazil. Well I wouldn't.
(It's the fire spurting from the neck that puts me off. That and it having no head. And being a mule, of course.)
The Hairy Toe. You find one; you want to stew it. It resists. Depression Era tale.
The Spectre of the First Frozen Chicken. Stuffed with snow by Francis Bacon and still trotting around in 1970. Ah, the Bohemian thrills of our great painters!

Maybe it's a bit unfair to file all this under Japanese Ghosts. But if anyone is stuck for ideas on Halloween, I hope they go as a Shirime and send us the photos.
:)
 
Excellent find!

I've been watching a series of Japanese Ghost Stories called Yamishibai and some of those... well all are damn creepy but quite a few make no sense whatsoever to someone unfamililar with the culture.

You can find the odd episode on youtube.
 
Japanese Taxi Drivers Reveal Ghostly Tales
January 20, 2016

As part of her graduation thesis, a Japanese sociology student documented taxi drivers' strange tales of 'ghost passengers' following the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Yuka Kudo queried over a hundred cab drivers about any odd experiences they may have had following the dual disaster which struck Japan.
Although most of the drivers were reticent to share their stories, seven brave individuals opened up to Kudo and related some amazing experiences.
One driver recalled picking up a young woman who requested to be taken to an area than had been abandoned following the disasters.

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/article/japanese-taxi-drivers-reveal-ghostly-tales/
 
The Terror of Yurei

Japanese haunted house attractions construct an intimate, immersive experience that will actually thrill you.
By Margee Kerr

Excerpted from Scream: Chilling Adventures in the Science of Fear by Margee Kerr. Out now from PublicAffairs.

The Decks at Tokyo Beach is part of a massive beach entertainment complex. I wandered around the multilevel entertainment complex and shopping mall in a total daze. As a stranger in a strange land, I hadn’t had an extended conversation with anyone (except myself) in a week and had averaged about four hours of sleep a night. I honestly thought I was hallucinating when, in my wanderings past stores like Happy Smile Playland and LOL Picture Shop, I came across a dangling crucified corpse, wearing long black hair and a surgical mask and surrounded by red lights, cobwebs, caution tape, vines, and random severed body parts.

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/...pan_are_more_immersive_and_intimate_than.html
 
"In this tale, a samurai warrior is walking around Kyoto late one night when he is accosted by some naked pervert, seemingly the dumbest rapist in all of Japan.

"Before the samurai can draw steel and carve this guy up, however, the perv bends over and . . . reveals he has a huge eyeball peering out of his ass."
:)

I just figured out how the perv managed to be faster than the samurai.

He'd been practicing his Eye-EEEEE!do
 
IF you live in Sydney, Australia or will be visiting soon, here's something that may take your fancy.

Until March 8, The Art Gallery of New South Wales is featuring the following exhibition:

japansupernatural.jpg


Japan supernatural

Discover a fascinating world in an exhibition like no other, featuring over 180 wildly imaginative works by Japanese artists past and present.

Step into the shadows and come face-to-face with an astonishing array of phenomenal beings in Japan supernatural, where ghosts, goblins and mischievous shapeshifters inhabit a spirit realm. See Japan’s folklore brought to life in magnificent paintings, large-scale installations, miniature carvings and humorous illustrations, and explore the vibrant ukiyo-e woodblock prints that define the tradition of the supernatural in Japanese art.
Centred on a monumental installation of painting and sculpture by Takashi Murakami, the exhibition features some of the greatest Japanese artists of the past, including Katsushika Hokusai, Utagawa Kuniyoshi and Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, alongside contemporary artists such as Chiho Aoshima, Fuyuko Matsui and Miwa Yanagi, who continue the compelling creative lineage of visualising the unseen.
Don’t miss this unique Art Gallery of New South Wales curated exhibition: an experience unlike anything in this world.
Presented in collaboration with the Sydney International Art Series.

https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/supernatural/
 
This Guardian article about a recent Japanese invention, the fan-jakketo, mentions a more traditional way to keep cool in summer: fear. :omg:

The fan jacket: the Japanese innovation keeping workers cool in extreme heat

And if all the hi-tech solutions fail to provide relief from the oppressive heat, there’s always the Japanese tradition of telling ghost stories in summer to give you the chills.

“When you feel fear, one reaction is for your body to pump blood to your internal organs and constrict flow to the blood vessels closer to your skin, making you feel cold all over,” said Yasuko Miura, a researcher, lecturer and author on Japanese culture who specialises in seasonal traditions.

The Buddhist festival of Obon is prime time for blood-chilling stories. Celebrated either in mid-July or mid-August (depending on the region), it honours ancestors, whose spirits are said to make a brief return to the land of the living.

Many Japanese ghost tales revolve around restless spirits, “who bear a grudge or have no family to welcome them back at Obon, and during the Edo period [1603-1867], plays featuring stories of such spirits became a summer tradition,” said Miura.

“Many young people still buy into the tradition, and some will test their courage by going to scary places such as graveyards on hot summer nights.”
 
Back
Top