Tradition / Region: Japan
Alternate Names: Spirits of Trees and Stones
Category: Nature spirits / primordial yōkai
The Myth
In ancient belief, it was said that all things possessed a soul. Trees were thought to have spirits, stones were thought to have spirits, and even the most silent and unmoving objects were believed to be alive in ways unseen by humans.
These souls were known as Ki-tamashii (the spirit of trees) and Ishi-tamashii (the spirit of stones). When night fell and the world grew quiet, these spirits were believed to awaken. Trees and stones, which appeared still and lifeless by day, might stir after dark, their spirits rising and moving freely.
It was imagined that these spirits could dance together in the darkness, unseen by ordinary eyes. Some appeared ghostlike, others furred or strange in form, but all belonged to the unseen life of the world itself. Their existence reflected the belief that nature was never truly inert, only sleeping.
These spirits were understood to be ancient beings—older than named monsters or later yōkai—arising from the earliest ways people understood the world, when the boundary between living beings and objects had not yet been firmly drawn.
Interpretive Lenses
Religious Readings
Philosophical Readings
Psychological Readings
Esoteric Deep Dive
- Hermetic Deep Dive