Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: Goldfish Ghost
Category: Yōkai, Ghost, Fish, Goldfish
The Myth
In an age when grudges were believed to stain the world itself, there lived a woman named Monohana whose life ended in cruelty and betrayal. Bound with rope and murdered unjustly, her resentment did not fade with death. Instead, it clung to what lay closest to her final suffering.
In the water where goldfish swam, her hatred took hold.
The fish, once harmless and beautiful, became vessels for her spirit. Their eyes gleamed with an unnatural light, and their movements grew violent and erratic. From within their small bodies, Monohana’s fury watched and waited.
When the man who had wronged her and the woman who shared his crime drew near, the goldfish surged from their container, water spilling as if driven by invisible hands. The possessed fish attacked without mercy, striking at the guilty as though guided by human will. In their thrashing bodies lived the scream Monohana was denied in death.
Thus the goldfish ghost was born—a yōkai formed not from flesh, but from resentment itself. It is said that wherever goldfish are kept, the memory of betrayed women lingers in the water, and that even the most delicate creatures may carry the weight of unresolved hatred.
Gallery
Sources
TYZ-Yokai Blog contributors. (n.d.). 金魚幽霊 (Kingyo-Yūrei). In TYZ-Yokai Blog, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1037178954.html
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