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Utagawa Kuniyoshi's portrait of Oiwa.. Yotsuya Kaidan (四谷怪談), the story of Oiwa and Tamiya Iemon, [a] is a tale of betrayal, murder and ghostly revenge.Arguably the most famous Japanese ghost story of all time, it has been adapted for film over 30 times and continues to be an influence on Japanese horror today.
Kaidan entered the vernacular during the Edo period, when a parlour game called Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai became popular. This game led to a demand for ghost stories and folktales to be gathered from all parts of Japan and China.The popularity of the game, as well as the acquisition of a printing press, led to the creation of a literary genre called kaidanshu.
For many people, the word “ghost” conjures up one of two images: A menacing apparition that terrorizes unsuspecting homeowners, or a cute trick-or-treater covered in a white bed sheet.
Ugetsu Monogatari is one of the best-known and most highly regarded kaidan-shu, collections of supernatural or ghost stories that became popular in Japan during the Edo period. [5] It utilizes elements from all three primary types of kaidan : adaptations of Chinese stories, Buddhist ghost stories, and Japanese folk-tales.
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi's portrait of Okiku. An ukiyo-e print by Hokusai depicting Okiku, from his series One Hundred Ghost Stories. Banchō Sarayashiki (番町皿屋敷, The Dish Mansion at Banchō) is a Japanese ghost story (kaidan) of broken trust and broken promises, leading to a dismal fate.
All Japanese ghosts are called yūrei, and there are several types within this classification. However, a given ghost may be described by more than one of the following terms, as the following terms are used differently depending on which elements of a ghost's characteristics are focused on:
In Izu region in Shizuoka Prefecture, on the 15th day of the first month, there is the custom of burning a statue of a dōsojin in a fire in the dōsojin festival. [11] With this, the hitotsume-kozō who was supposed to retrieve the notebook from the dōsojin on the eighth day of the second month would no longer be there, thus evading misfortune.
Funayūrei (船幽霊 or 舟幽霊, literally "boat spirit") are spirits that have become vengeful ghosts at sea. They have been passed down in the folklore of various areas of Japan. They frequently appear in ghost stories and miscellaneous writings from the Edo Period as well as in modern folk customs. [1]