𝓙𝓪𝓹𝓪𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓮 𝓰𝓱𝓸𝓼𝓽 𝓼𝓽𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓼

序章 °prologue°

Japan is one of the most haunted places on Earth. In Japanese folk belief, Japan as an island is infused with supernatural powers-The very soil of the land is charged with potential, magical energy. Human beings share in this energy. Inside each human being is a reikon, a being of profound power that is unleashed on death. The Japanese fear ghosts-called yurei in Japanese-but they also honor them. And for as far back as the written word goes in Japan, they tell stories about them.

The Golden Age of yurei was the Edo period (1603-1868), an unprecedented time of peace and prosperity. People swapped ghost stories in a story-telling game called Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai that was the passion of the nation. Players sat in a circle and told stories in succession as one hundred candles were extinguished one by one. The light slowly dimmed to the rhythm of the game. In search of more stories, the Japanese people peered into every dark corner, dug up every suspicious stone half-buried in an abandoned temple, and pestered every grandparent for some snatch of an old tale half-remembered.

And the stories are good. Dead lovers returned from the grave. Parades of dead souls on the trail to hell. Ghostly hands with no purpose at all. Below are my favorite Japanese ghost stories.I decide to write Japanese ghost stories for many reasons: first because I like the country and the culture of Japan, second reason is a the fact that Japan is famous for the supernatural phenomena and roots ghost stories have from many years ago until toda.

Japanese folklore has a rich and terrifying tradition of ghost stories.

Japanese ghosts (yurei) are spirits that have been prevented from a peaceful resting place by dramatic events during their life. Often they are murder or suicide victims . In other cases, an injustice has sparked intense desires of love,revenge, sorrow or hatred - these desires are so strong that the ghost is able to transcend death to dwell on the earth.Japanese ghosts fall into broad categories based on how they were scorned and how they seek revenge or redemption.

There are also the Yokai.Yokai are a wide category of monsters, ghosts and other supernatural beings of Japanese myth. They are as diverse as Japan's historical imagination and could be fearsome or tame, powerful or weak, villainous or good.

Most well known yokai are stock characters who show up in countless old myths. In many cases, they are described in contradictory terms from one myth to another without much consistency. Some yokai are based on very old stories that have been recounted in every village in a slightly different way for hundreds of years. Others were invented in the by artists and writers of , or .