Japanese Ghost Stories

I have always loved ghost stories. The mysterious. The unexplained. The macabre. I have always been drawn to it.

I went through a slasher phase in high school, but I never found the same haunting fascination with gore. To be honest, I find slasher movies dull. They rely on gimmicks, not real fear.

A classic like Psycho, though… It gets under your skin. It doesn’t rely on buckets of fake blood or cutting edge CGI. No, it terrifies you through suggestion. That creepy feeling that makes the skin on the back of your neck stand up and you shiver involuntarily. Even years later, sitting in my sunny living room, it gets me.

My whole life I have been chasing ghosts. Not literally. Though I do believe they exist and I never pass up an opportunity for a Ghost Tour. But ghosts, hauntings, monsters, the supernatural and macabre – I hunt down all the stories. Because I think the things that frighten us are also a mirror into our cultural psyche. We tell children scary stories to keep them safe. But these stories also reveal our values, fears, and deepest desires.

Which is why I found Japanese ghost stories so very interesting. I do not claim to be an expert on yokai, the Japanese term that encompasses ghosts, bogey men, and most things that go bump in the night. There are just some observations I made as I wandered through Japanese folklore and scary stories.

Every culture has its ghouls and goblins. Japan is no different. Their literature, art, and culture are filled with all kinds of supernatural beings. Maybe more than most, honestly. The blending of Shinto (a nature based religion) and Buddhism (a religion with a crowded pantheon) gave rise to a lot of baddies. Quite a few on the harmless/helpful spectrum, too. All of these are classified as yokai. There is no way I could list all the gods, demons, devils, spirits, or other beings that populate the fertile Japanese imagination. There are plenty of books if you are interested, though.

Image from Night Parade of a Hundred Demon

Like the West, Japan has a long, rich history of frightening tales. They even had their own version of one of my favorite 90’s shows, Are You Afraid of the Dark. During the Edo period, Japanese people would participate in a game called 百物語怪談会 (Hyakumonogatari Kaidan-kai). Basically, everyone would gather in a room with a hundred lit candles. They would then take turns telling scary stories and putting out the candles one by one. In the end, they were left frightened in the dark. But many yokai, like the Tengu, Kappa, Funa-yurei, and Tanuki, have resumes that go back even further than the Edo period. They have been tempting, taunting, and haunting Japanese people since the mythological birth of the nation.

A Tengu

So what, you say. Western culture also has a long cast of scary characters. I know. I grew up with stories of boggarts, kelpies, and will o’ the wisps from my Scottish granny. Living in the American South West, I was also surrounded by Mexican and Native American specters like La Llorona and the Wendigo.

However, the part that struck me was the fact that our cast of characters hasn’t really changed in hundreds of years. Vampires, werewolves, and ghosts are still our go to bad guys. Not so in Japan. I found it intriguing that while the fairy stories of my childhood were quite old, Japanese culture continues to create new monsters.

The story of Kuchisake Onna, or Slit Mouth Woman, arose with the recent popularity of surgical masks. Then there is Toire no Hanako, who is kind of like the Japanese version of Moaning Myrtle that haunts elementary school bathrooms. These yokai, and many others, have only recently been added to the Japanese bogeyman role.

While western culture seems content to recycle our ghosts and monsters, Japan is still creating new ones to explain the unexplainable in an ever changing world.

But the inclusion of these new yokai in the Japanese psyche also brings up another interesting aspect of Japanese ghost stories. For the most part, it seems that Japanese yokai are pretty harmless. Except for the later stories like Kuchisake Onna, most monsters or ghosts just cause mild discomfort or inconvenience before moving on. Monsters are easily defeated with simple logic, a magic talisman, or simply walking away. Unlike American hauntings, most Japanese ghosts can be dispatched with a simple prayer. They only want to be remembered, honored, or recognized. There is no mystery to solve. No secrets to dig up. Just burn some incense, pray, and poof.

And honestly, the majority of stories I read or heard ended just like that. Poof. No reason. No questions. Dark things would happen, then stop happening, and the Japanese character just went with it.

As a Western reader, it was really frustrating! But these differences were also reflective of Japanese culture.

With such a long history, you would expect them to have a whole host of things that go bump in the night. But the fact that they are still creating yokai to help educate their children about the dangers of the modern world speaks to their practicality. At the same time, it also shows how, as a culture, they are still very in touch with the mystical and spiritual roots of their country. I have talked before about the magical, eerie quality of Japan. The continuation of these stories tells me that Japanese people feel the same way.

What other culture could come up with an umbrella monster?

Granted, the newer yokai are a bit more violent than their senpai, but I would say the world of today is a little more violent and scary than the world of the Edo era (in some ways). And for the most part, even today’s yokai aren’t necessarily out to harm. They are just looking for recognition and respect. Both values at the heart of Japanese culture.

Despite my frustrations with Japanese story telling techniques, I found the world of Japanese ghost stories to be a fascinating glimpse into the Japanese psyche. It even inspired me to try writing my own百物語怪談会 (some of which you can find here on my blog).