Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: Iwatou, 岩藤
Category: Ghost

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The Myth

Iwafuji is a notorious female villain in Japanese jōruri and Kabuki theatre, best known for her role in Kagami-yama Kokyō no Nishikie. She serves as a lady-in-waiting to Ohime, the daughter of Minamoto no Yoritomo, and conspires with her brother, Kenzawa Danjō, to seize power within the household. Driven by jealousy toward Onoe, a senior retainer who enjoys the princess’s trust, Iwafuji uses cruel schemes to humiliate her rival and ultimately drive her to suicide. Iwafuji’s triumph is short-lived, however, as Onoe’s maid, Ohatsu, avenges her mistress by killing the villainous lady-in-waiting. Iwafuji became a celebrated theatrical villain, and her character was reportedly inspired by real ladies-in-waiting in the households of powerful feudal lords. When the actor Onoe Matsusuke I played Iwafuji in 1805, rumors spread that the performance portrayed a senior woman of the women’s quarters at Edo Castle, prompting an investigation by the town magistrate’s office.

In later plays that continue Iwafuji’s story, she returns from the dead as a vengeful ghost. One prominent version appears in Kagami-yama Gonichi no Iwafuji, also known as Kotsuyose no Iwafuji, written by Kawatake Mokuami and first performed in 1860. In this story, Iwafuji’s remains are left in a horse burial ground after her death at Ohatsu’s hands. Her spirit lingers there until Ohatsu, who has earned praise for her loyalty and become the second Onoe, visits to pray for the repose of her predecessor’s soul. A dark flame suddenly rises, and scattered bones gather together before flesh begins to return to the corpse. Iwafuji reappears with disheveled hair and decaying skin, greeting Ohatsu with a curse and promising to haunt the Taga family, torment Hanazono-hime, and assist Mochizuki Danjō in his plot to seize power. Although a protective sword briefly drives her away, she returns in a beautiful, almost supernatural form, carrying a parasol and playing with butterflies as she floats through the air above the cherry blossoms.

Iwafuji continues her revenge by helping the conspirators undermine the Taga household. When Hanazono-hime falls ill under the influence of a malevolent spirit, the villains falsely accuse the second Onoe of cursing her. Iwafuji disguises herself as Danjō and uses forged documents and accusations to corner Onoe, even repeating the humiliation inflicted upon the first Onoe by beating her with a sandal. The ghost’s deception is eventually exposed when Sekiya uses a shrine of Kishimojin to make her vanish and restore the palace to its proper state. Iwafuji later confronts Onoe again, wielding a snake-eye umbrella and renewing her curses, but Inukiyo drives her away by presenting the sacred image of Kishimojin. This time, her spirit finally disappears, and her body returns to a skeleton before shattering into pieces. The play’s spectacular scene in which the resurrected Iwafuji floats through the air is known as Fuwa Fuwa and remains one of the story’s theatrical highlights. Through her resurrection and repeated attempts at revenge, Iwafuji becomes a figure of relentless malice whose grudges persist beyond death.

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Sources

“Iwafuji.” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1077741612.html

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Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: Karaginu, 唐衣
Category: Ghost

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The Myth

During the reign of Emperor Toba, Ishikawa Juro Yoshitoshi and his wife Ukihashi, who lived in Hino Village south of Kyoto, prayed to Kannon Bodhisattva for a child. Ukihashi eventually gave birth to triplets, born during the hours of the tiger, snake, and monkey. Ashamed of having three children at once, she concealed the birth from her husband and entrusted two of the girls to a wet nurse, keeping the third to raise herself. Years later, three beautiful women named Han’i, Tamaki, and Kono Kimi were brought to serve Emperor Toba by two of his consorts, Taikenmon’in and Kōyōin. Han’i gained the emperor’s particular affection and became pregnant, provoking the jealousy of Bifukumon’in, the emperor’s favorite. Bifukumon’in plotted against her rival, using false accusations to have Han’i arrested. Her companions, Kono Kimi and Tamaki, were arrested alongside her. All three women were stripped, tortured, and killed by officials acting under Bifukumon’in’s influence. Han’i’s death was falsely presented as suicide, and their bodies were buried at Shimizu Hill, at a place known as Kemonozuka, or Beast Mound.

The murdered women returned as vengeful spirits, tormenting their enemies and members of the imperial family. Their curse first brought about the deaths of a mountain ascetic’s wife and the ascetic himself. In 1153, their combined spirits took the form of a monstrous creature that appeared above the Imperial Palace, terrifying the young Emperor Konoe with its cries. The monster possessed the head of a monkey, the limbs of a tiger, and the tail of a snake, while its shriek resembled the cry of the nue. Minamoto no Yorimasa and Ino Hayata eventually shot the creature down, but its death did not end the women’s vengeance. Dark flames burst from its wounds and vanished into the clouds. The sisters’ spirits later appeared to Ishikawa Yoshikane, a nephew of Yoshitoshi, revealing their true origins and explaining that they had been falsely accused. Han’i was identified as Yoshitoshi’s daughter, born during the hour of the snake and given the childhood name Asaji. The spirits continued their pursuit of revenge, taking the forms of animals associated with the hours of their births. The slaying of the nue was therefore only one episode in their prolonged supernatural campaign against those who had wronged them.

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Sources

“Karaginu.” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1084390107.html

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Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: Sayogoromo Osayo, 小夜衣おさよ
Category: Ghost

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The Myth

Osayo is a tragic woman who becomes a vengeful ghost in Konomaboshi Hakone no Shikabue, a Kabuki play written by Kawatake Mokuami and first performed in 1880. Born into the Iozaki family in Shizuoka, she is a beautiful and dutiful woman married to Iwabuchi Kurobei, a former samurai. After the Meiji Restoration, Kurobei’s business ventures fail and his debts mount, forcing Osayo to sell herself to a brothel called Ebiya in Odawara to support him. Working under the name Sayogoromo Osayo, she quickly becomes one of the most popular courtesans in the region. Despite attracting the attention of Gantetsu, a monk and regular customer who knows her history, Osayo remains devoted to her husband and refuses to abandon him. Her loyalty persists even as she entrusts her young daughter, Omitsu, to the care of an old acquaintance, the sword sharpener Ryosuke, while continuing to work to support Kurobei.

One day, Kurobei visits Osayo and claims that his debts have become so overwhelming that he intends to take his own life. When debt collectors arrive demanding more than one hundred yen, Osayo is desperate to help him. The innkeeper Jubei and his wife Osen take pity on the couple, lending the money needed to settle the supposed debt. Osayo later discovers that the entire scene was a deception: the collectors were Kurobei’s accomplices, and he had squandered the money she earned on his mistress, Yamaneko Okitsu, and his own indulgences. Devastated by his betrayal, Osayo is taken by Jubei to Hakone to recover. There, at the Fukuzumi Inn, she encounters both her former fiancé, Atsuhara Isonosuke, and Kurobei with Okitsu, who mock her suffering. Overcome by rage, Osayo confronts the pair with her mother’s keepsake, a Muramasa dagger. Kurobei wounds her while resisting, then attempts to kill her at Okitsu’s urging. As she dies in the mountains of Hakone, Osayo declares that her resentment will not disappear simply because people in the modern age deny the existence of ghosts. Her death marks the beginning of her transformation into an onryō, a spirit consumed by vengeance.

After returning to Tokyo, Kurobei claims that Osayo was murdered by bandits and takes Okitsu as his second wife. He soon falls gravely ill, however, and is tormented by visions of Osayo appearing in the shadows and accusing him of her murder. When the dagger he sold comes into the possession of Isonosuke, and Kurobei’s younger brother Yoshichi begins questioning him, Kurobei finally confesses his crime. He resolves to commit seppuku, hoping to preserve his family’s honor and atone for his actions, but Osayo’s ghost continues to appear before him. She acknowledges that his remorse is justified but refuses to let him escape through suicide, declaring that her hatred will not be satisfied until she has killed him herself. His delirium intensifies, and an attempted exorcism led by Gantetsu descends into violence. Clutching the dagger, Kurobei attacks Gantetsu, while Yoshichi wounds Kurobei during the struggle. Driven into complete madness, Kurobei flees and attacks the former accomplices who helped deceive Osayo, as well as Okitsu. Okitsu, who has discovered that she is Ryosuke’s long-lost daughter and regrets her past actions, accepts her fate and dies by Kurobei’s blade. Yoshichi takes responsibility for Kurobei’s crimes before the authorities, leaving Kurobei ruined and alone. The play reflects the anxieties of the Meiji period, when supernatural apparitions were increasingly explained as symptoms of nervous disorders, yet ghost stories continued to portray vengeful spirits with terrifying immediacy.

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Sources

“Osayo.” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1077741630.html

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Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: Akana Sōemon, 赤穴宗右衛門
Category: Ghost

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The Myth

Akana Soemon is a samurai and military scholar who appears in “The Chrysanthemum Vow,” the second story in Ueda Akinari’s collection of supernatural tales, Ugetsu Monogatari. Soemon serves En’ya Kamonnosuke, the lord of Tomita Castle in Izumo Province, and is sent as a secret messenger to Sasaki Ujitsuna in Ōmi. During his absence, Amago Tsunehisa launches an attack, kills Kamonnosuke, and seizes the castle. When Soemon urges Ujitsuna to oppose the Amago clan, Ujitsuna refuses and confines him to prevent his departure. Soemon eventually escapes, but falls gravely ill while travelling home. He finds shelter in Harima Province, where he meets Hasebe Samon, a devoted scholar who nurses him with medicine and food despite the danger of contagion. Deeply moved by Samon’s kindness, Soemon promises to repay him and the two men become close friends, eventually swearing an oath of brotherhood. Since Soemon is five years older, he asks to be treated as Samon’s elder brother, and Samon’s mother welcomes him affectionately.

When Soemon prepares to return to Izumo, he promises to visit Samon again on the ninth day of the ninth month, the Double Ninth Festival. Samon trusts his friend’s word and eagerly awaits his return, preparing food, drink, and chrysanthemums for the occasion. As evening falls, Soemon finally appears, but he remains strangely silent and refuses to eat or drink. At last, he reveals the truth: he is no longer among the living and has returned only as a spirit to fulfill his promise. After reaching Izumo, Soemon discovered that the people of the province had largely submitted to the Amago clan and that his former lord’s loyalty had been forgotten. His cousin Akana Tanji introduced him to Tsunehisa, but Soemon found little reason to remain in the service of a suspicious ruler. When he announced his intention to leave and honor his oath to Samon, Tsunehisa ordered him confined within Tomita Castle. Trapped until the appointed day, Soemon feared that failing to return would betray his friend’s trust. Remembering the saying that the soul can travel a thousand miles in a single day, he took his own life with his sword and sent his spirit across the distance, borne by a shadowy wind, to keep his promise. After explaining what happened, he urges Samon to care for his mother before vanishing.

Overcome with grief, Samon entrusts his mother to the care of the Sayo family and travels to Izumo to avenge Soemon’s death and defend his friend’s honor. He confronts Akana Tanji, condemning the family’s disregard for the kindness once shown to them by Soemon’s lord and praising Soemon for preserving his oath even at the cost of his life. Samon then draws his sword and kills Tanji before departing. When Amago Tsunehisa learns what has happened, he is so moved by the brothers’ extraordinary loyalty that he orders no pursuit. The tale celebrates the sacred force of friendship and the determination to keep one’s word, even beyond death. Its story is adapted from the Chinese tale “Fan Juqing’s Relationship with Chicken and Millet,” from the collection Stories to Caution the World, compiled by Feng Menglong, with the setting transferred to Japan’s Sengoku period.

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Sources

“Akana Soemon.” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1067235174.html

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Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: 一本松女, The One-Pine Woman
Category: Ghost

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The Myth

Ipponmatsu-onna, meaning “One-Pine Woman,” is a female supernatural figure associated with a solitary pine tree. Her descriptions vary between accounts, and it is uncertain whether she originates from an established local legend or was popularized through modern reference books about Japanese yōkai. In Japanese Yokai Encyclopedia by Ariyuki Sato, she is presented as a creature associated with Chiba Prefecture. She is depicted as a naked woman with only one leg, covering her chest with both hands. She stands beside a pine tree, beckoning to passersby before dragging herself along and biting off a single pine branch.

A different description appears in The Complete Encyclopedia of World Yokai, where the Ipponmatsu-onna is portrayed as a gigantic, ghostlike woman who rises beside a solitary pine tree. According to this account, she is formed from the ominous energy of the tree and stands alone at its base at dusk. Rather than attacking people, she appears as a lonely and unsettling presence. Another interpretation identifies her as the spirit of a woman who hanged herself from the pine tree, linking her apparition to the place of her death.

The origins of these descriptions remain uncertain. It is not clear whether either version derives from an older oral tradition or historical written source, and the details may have been created or embellished in children’s books and modern yōkai publications. Consequently, the Ipponmatsu-onna is best understood as a figure whose modern depictions combine the imagery of a solitary pine tree, a strange female apparition, and the atmosphere of a haunting at dusk.

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Sources

“Ipponmatsu-onna.” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1065324512.html

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Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: Okita, おきた
Category: Ghost

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The Myth

Okita is a tragic woman whose story appears in Tsuruya Nanboku’s illustrated supernatural novel Kaidan Iwakura Mannojō. She is the daughter of Chōshichi, who runs an establishment in Osaka associated with performers who specialize in female impersonation in Kabuki theatre. Okita falls deeply in love with Iwakura Mannojō, a female impersonator who becomes her husband. Despite her devotion, Mannojō is a reckless man who wastes money on drinking and gambling, repeatedly demands money from her, and eventually abandons her while travelling to perform in the provinces. Okita remains faithful and works hard to support herself, but her husband’s debts leave her homeless and destitute. Her only comfort comes from Matasuke, a former servant who helps her financially, and her beloved cat, which mysteriously brings her small silver coins.

Mannojō eventually travels to Echigo, where he begins an affair with Otaka, the daughter of a retainer named Yanagawa Geki. Geki learns Mannojō’s identity and schemes to elevate his own position by falsely presenting him as the missing second son of the Asai family. To clear the way for Mannojō’s new marriage, he sends Okita a letter claiming that her husband has died. Devastated by the news, Okita becomes ill, loses sight in one eye, and spends her days praying. When she finally learns the truth, her grief turns into overwhelming hatred. As she combs her hair, great clumps fall out before her, and she becomes consumed by a desire for revenge. She wanders about in a deranged state, asking for the way to Echigo, before disappearing. On the forty-ninth day after her disappearance, Matasuke discovers a woman’s skull in the Yodo River, with a large, one-eyed eel occupying its eye socket. The eel speaks in Okita’s voice, revealing that she drowned and remains trapped between life and death. She begs Matasuke to have her remains buried and Buddhist prayers performed, but declares that she cannot rest until her vengeance against Mannojō is complete.

Okita’s curse soon reaches Mannojō and Otaka. Her cat appears at their drinking party carrying a false Buddhist memorial tablet and scratches Mannojō’s face. When the tablet is placed against Otaka’s face, it sticks fast, and both suffer grotesque swelling and a mysterious illness. They become increasingly isolated as their servants flee, while Mannojō suffers visions of Okita and attacks those around him in fits of madness. Otaka eventually gives birth to a monstrous, one-eyed eel, which Geki secretly throws into a stream. The family’s misfortunes culminate in violence and betrayal, and Geki kills Mannojō and Otaka while attempting to conceal his own wrongdoing. At Mannojō’s funeral, a terrifying creature known as a Kasha descends amid a storm and seizes the corpse. Although the story does not explicitly identify the creature as Okita’s cat, the narrative suggests that her beloved animal may have transformed into the corpse-stealing monster. Geki is eventually captured after Matasuke exposes the truth, and the corrupt schemes surrounding Mannojō’s false identity are brought to an end. With the return of the Asai family’s stolen heirloom dagger, Okita’s brutal revenge finally concludes.

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Sources

“Okita.” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1060178316.html

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Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: Oosawa, おおさわ
Category: Ghost

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The Myth

Osawa is a tragic woman whose vengeful spirit appears in the Japanese supernatural novel Kinsei Kaidan Shimoyo Hoshi, written by Ryūtei Tanehiko and illustrated by Katsushika Hokusai in 1808. The story takes place during Japan’s Bunmei era (1469–1487) and features a character based on Oiwa, the famous vengeful spirit of Japanese ghost lore. Osawa is the daughter and heiress of the Murota family. Although she possesses a pure heart, she is considered exceptionally ugly, with short, curly hair, rough skin, a crooked nose, prominent cheekbones, mottled teeth, and a voice compared to a wolf howling at the moon. She marries Takanishi Ihei, a rōnin from Bōshū, but he resents the marriage and eventually becomes devoted to Hanako, a beautiful woman with whom he had once shared a close relationship.

Ihei conspires with an accomplice to rid himself of Osawa. He pretends to be impoverished, sells her possessions, neglects their home, and falsely accuses her of infidelity before casting her out. Despairing at her treatment, Osawa throws herself into a stream. Ihei subsequently marries Hanako, but on their wedding night strange events begin to occur. Insects repeatedly extinguish their lamp, and a small snake falls from the ceiling. Ihei suspects that Osawa’s vengeful spirit has taken the form of the snake. It repeatedly returns, eventually carrying Hanako’s hairpin in its mouth, before vanishing into a shadowy flame. The couple later have children, but Osawa’s spirit continues to haunt those connected with her suffering, possessing people, causing madness, and bringing death and misfortune upon the families involved.

Osawa’s revenge grows increasingly terrifying. She appears as a pale woman with disheveled hair, manifests as ghostly fire, and confronts Ihei with a cold hand that seizes his collar. Her spirit can vanish and reappear elsewhere, while attempts to attack her prove futile, as though striking through mist. Snakes, hairpins, rats, and other uncanny manifestations become instruments of her curse. Ihei eventually develops a festering wound and confesses that his mistreatment of Osawa has brought these calamities upon him. His daughter Omura is also tormented by the spirit, and Ihei ultimately dies when a sash transforms into a snake and strangles him. Osawa’s haunting continues in the surrounding region, where ghostly fires and the sounds of an unseen carriage inspire fear. The apparitions finally cease after the Buddhist abbot Shōkai builds a mound for Osawa and chants sutras. In the story’s conclusion, Osawa’s accumulated grudges are finally released, and her spirit begins to find a path toward salvation through Buddhist prayer and mourning.

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Sources

“Osawa” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1038485591.html

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Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: 後神, うしろがみ, Behind Spirit
Category: Ghost

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The Myth

Ushirogami, whose name translates as “Behind Spirit,” is a Japanese supernatural being associated with cowardice and fear. It resembles a ghost with long black hair and a single large eyeball on the top of its head. Rather than having feet, it possesses a long, twisting body that allows it to leap high into the air. Ushirogami is considered a kind of okubyōgami, a spirit that causes cowardice or specifically preys upon those who are already timid.

The Ushirogami’s favorite trick is to sneak up behind unsuspecting people and frighten them. It tugs at the hair on the backs of their necks, then vanishes as soon as they turn around to discover who touched them. Sometimes it presses icy hands against their necks or breathes hot air onto them. The spirit particularly enjoys targeting cowardly young women walking alone at night. It may suddenly untie their hair, let it fall loose, or run its hands through it until it becomes tangled. It can also summon powerful gusts of wind to blow umbrellas away, leaving its victims startled and unsettled.

The Ushirogami’s name contains a wordplay that connects its supernatural behavior with human reluctance. The Japanese word ushiro means “behind,” while kami means “spirit” in this context. However, ushirogami also refers to the hair at the back of the neck. The expression ushirogami wo hikikaeru, meaning to have the hair at the back of the neck pulled, describes the painful reluctance of someone who must do something they desperately wish to avoid. As they search for an excuse to escape, they may look back as though something were pulling them away. By tugging at this hair, the Ushirogami gives physical form to the feeling of cowardice and hesitation. It can therefore be understood both as an external spirit that instills fear and as a personification of a person’s own reluctance to face something they dread.

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Sources

“Ushirogami.” Yokai.com. https://yokai.com/ushirogami/

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