Transcript Yūrei (幽霊, ゆうれい) - supernaturalinjapan

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-oi-kozou)
 Mountain spirits of deceased children
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originally 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.
YŪREI IN MODERN MEDIA
 What we have seen up until now is mostly
yūrei associated more with Japanese
folktales, which in Japanese as 民話 (Minwa),
abbreviated form of 民間説話 (Minkan
Setsuwa). 民話 (Minwa) can be divided into
subcategories: 昔話(Mukashibanashi), 伝説
(Densetsu).
Subcategories of民話 (Minwa)
 昔話(Mukashibanashi)
 tales passed down orally
 time and place of the story is ambiguous
 伝説 (Densetsu): Legend
 passed down with belief
 time and place of the story is concrete
TODAY
 Use these two phrases interchangeably.
 Folktales are continually passed down to later
generations
 Emergence of fiction and 都市伝説（Toshi
Densetsu）changed the depiction of “yūrei”.
都市伝説（Toshi Densetsu）
 urban legend, urban tales, urban narratives,
modern and contemporary legend.
 recent stories that takes place within a
society or groups of people that are believed
to be true.
 Murder story on news
 Personal accounts of supernatural encounters
 Younger generation
Developments in these new forms
of ghost stories have more of less
changed the appearance of Yūrei.
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
Gakko no Kaidan - Hanako
Gakko no Kaidan – Datto
Gakko no Kaidan - Akane
Ghost Hound
Ghost Hound
Ghost Only
I Can’t Sleep Alone
Shinrei Tantei Yakumo (Oda Suzuka)
Kaidan Restaurant
The Soul Taker
In conclusion