Ikiryō 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 shiryō, which refers to the spirit of those who are already deceased. 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) reported in anecdotal and fictional writings. Vengeful spirits (怨霊, onryō) of the living are said to inflict curses (祟り, tatari) upon the subject or subjects of their vengeance by means of transforming into their ikiryō 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 ikiryō 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 ikiryō does not necessarily act out of spite or vengefulness, and stories are told of the ikiryō 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 ikiryō may also leave the body (often very shortly before death) to manifest its presence around loved ones, friends and/or acquaintances. In the Kazuno District in Akita Prefecture, a soul that pays visit to acquaintances is called an omokage (面影〔オモカゲ〕, “reminiscence, lingering shadow”), 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 Tōno Monogatari Shūi 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 omaku in this region.” An example being a beautiful girl aged 16 or 17, critically ill with a case of “cold damage” (傷寒, shōkan), i.e., typhoid fever or a similar disease. She was seen wandering around the construction site of the Kōganji temple rebuild project in Tsujibuchi, Iwate [ja], the days before her death…
Appearance List The Tale of Genji (ca. 1000), “How the Ikiryo Spirit of Omi Province Came and Killed a Man of the Capital” in Konjaku Monogatarishū, “Onna no Mōnen Mayoiaruku Koto” (女の妄念迷ひ歩く事) from the 1573 work Sorori Monogatari (曾呂利物語), Matsutōya Yūrei (1729–1730), Sorori Monogatari (曾呂利物語, 1663), Aoi no Ue (Noh play), Gazu Hyakki Yagyō (画図百鬼夜行, “The Illustrated Night Parade of a Hundred Demons” or The Illustrated Demon Horde’s Night Parade, 1776) Vol. 2 “Yang”
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Description Ikiryō 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 shiryō, which refers to the spirit of those who are already deceased. 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) reported in anecdotal and fictional writings. Vengeful spirits (怨霊, onryō) of the living are said to inflict curses (祟り, tatari) upon the subject or subjects of their vengeance by means of transforming into their ikiryō 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 ikiryō 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 ikiryō does not necessarily act out of spite or vengefulness, and stories are told of the ikiryō 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 ikiryō may also leave the body (often very shortly before death) to manifest its presence around loved ones, friends and/or acquaintances. In the Kazuno District in Akita Prefecture, a soul that pays visit to acquaintances is called an omokage (面影〔オモカゲ〕, “reminiscence, lingering shadow”), 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 Tōno Monogatari Shūi 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 omaku in this region.” An example being a beautiful girl aged 16 or 17, critically ill with a case of “cold damage” (傷寒, shōkan), i.e., typhoid fever or a similar disease. She was seen wandering around the construction site of the Kōganji temple rebuild project in Tsujibuchi, Iwate [ja], the days before her death…
