Transcript Yūrei (幽霊, ゆうれい)

YŪREI (幽霊, ゆうれい)
Definition
Usually translated as ghosts, but the category is
much broader in the Japanese mind frame.
Spirits may be a better approximation of the
word.
Different Types
 Tailing boy 後追い小僧 (Ato-oi-kozou)
 Ghost Fire 人魂 (Hito-dama)
 Doppleganger 生霊 (Ikiryou)
 Specter 死霊 (Shiryou)
 Laboring Maiden 産女 (Ubu-me)
 Snow Woman 雪女 (Yuki-Onna)
 General Ghost 幽霊 (Yuurei)
Tailing boy 後追い小僧 (Ato-oikozou)
 Mountain spirits of deceased children originally
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from anywhere, not just mt.
Young children (4-10)
Dressed in rags and furs
No footprints
Harmless
Get rid of by leaving some food on a rock or
stump
Ghost Fire 人魂 (Hito-dama)
 Floating ball of fire
 Occurs when organic matter decomposes,
giving off phosphorous gases
 Roaming spirit of dead person
Doppleganger 生霊 (Ikiryou)
 Spirits of living people
 Looks just like person they originated from
 Visible or invisible
 Intense negative emotions (envy, jealousy,
hate, anger, etc.)
 Living person rarely aware
 Haunt house of target
Specter 死霊 (Shiryou)
 Grotesque
 Show signs of death
 Extremely violent deaths
 Not social or interested in talking
 Haunt area, not person
Laboring Maiden 産女 (Ubu-me)
 Woman holding baby in arms wearing red
skirt, dyed red from recently giving birth
 When woman dies during childbirth
 Appears near rivers and bridges on rainy
nights
 Ask stranger to hold baby; if strong enough
to hold baby for awhile, freed from ghost
condition
Snow Woman 雪女 (Yuki-Onna)
 Beautiful young lady
 Pale skin
 White kimono
 Travel around snowy countryside
 Freezes people during cold winter nights
General Ghost 幽霊 (Yuurei)
 Wandering ghost
 Female Is the norm
 Beautiful young woman w/ long flowing hair
 No legs & lame hands
 White kimono
 Hitakakushi (triangular piece of paper)
 Put on forehead to allow reikon to reunite w/
ancestors
Edo Period
Yūrei Ghost Paintings
Maruyama Okyo (1733-1795), The
Ghost of Oyuki, Eighteenth
Century
 Tribute to one of deceased lovers
 Scroll painting
 Based on dream after woman’s
death
 Reflection of love and adoration
 Beauty of woman in memory and
haunting spirit in death
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Long straight hair
Erect body
Beckoning hands
Pale clothing
Fragile figure
Fading form
Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861),
The Nightly Weeping Rock
• Local folktale
• Stone marked
along Tokaido
roadway
• Ghost of mother
(murdered on road)
returns her saved
child to husband
 Husband
 face marked by
compassion for
murdered wife &
the gift of returning
their child
 Leans away from
the ghost due to
fear and loathing of
the specter
 Ghost:
 Sadness for her
murder, happiness
for the rescue of
child
 Emotional
expressions &
attitudes are
manifestations of
their suffering
 Contrasting colors
 Blue sash of father
 Orange robe of
baby
 Contrasting light
 Moon & flame of
ghost
 Darkness of night
 Tension &
movement
 Duality
Utagawa Kuniyoshi, The Ghost of
Oiwa
• The Ghost Story of
Yotsuya
• Avenge death
• Fire = anger and
desire for revenge
• Balding head,
disfigured face as
result of poison
 Continuity
 Long black hair
 Floating body
 Change
 More gruesome
and vengeful
 Hunched position
 Explanations
 Violence, social
upheaval
 Empowerment of
women
Meiji Period
Paintings & Scrolls
Kawanabe Kyosai (1830 - 1889)
 Known for paintings of ghosts, demons, and
supernatural
 Different versions of the Night Procession of the
Hundred Deomns
 Aspects of Buddhist hell
 Ghost scrolls, influential in kabuki costume
Buddhist Scrolls
 12th-14th century scrolls painted by Buddhist
monks
 Depictions of gruesome scenes of Hell
 Show Buddhist followers what would happen to
them if they committed sins in their earthly
lives.
Kaidan/Kwaidan
TODAY
MOVIES
Dark Water (2002)
 Koji Suzuki’s short story “Floating Water”
 Mitsuko, child ghost,
 Appearance
 Corpse
 Same clothes she died in
 Grotesque and disfigured face
 No grudge
Ju-On (2003)
 Curse of murdered housewife
 Appearance
 White skin
 Big black eyes
 Black hair
 Solid figures
Kairo (2001)
 Appearance:
 Solid
 Blurred features
 Dark
Ringu (1998)
 Sadako Yamamura
 Appearance:
 Long black hair
 White dress
 Visible limbs
 Solid
ANIME/MANGA
Continuity & Change
 Continuity
 Transparent, pale, white
 Vengeful
 Change
 Movement away from excessively horrific and
gruesome images
 Kawaii culture
 Change in Audience
 Not all bent on revenge
Gakko no Kaidan (Ghost
Stories)
Ghost Hound
Ghost Only
I Can’t Sleep Alone
Shinrei Tantei Yakumo (Oda
Suzuka)
Kaidan Restaurant
The Soul Taker