Shiryō
死霊
しりょう
Translation: dead ghost
Alternate names: shirei
Habitat: inhabited areas
Diet: none; thrives solely on its emotions
Appearance:
Shiryō are the ghosts of the dead, and are contrasted with ikiryō, the ghosts of the living. The word is generally synonymous with yūrei ("faint spirit"), as they both refer to the classic Japanese ghost. However while yūrei can be creepy sometimes and beautifully mysterious at other times, shiryō is almost exclusively used to refer to unpleasant, malevolent spirits. The inclusion of the kanji for "death" in the name is the clue that this ghost is not to be romanticised.
Interactions:
Shiryō act in similar ways to ikiryō, appearing to relatives or close friends of the deceased. While ikiryō usually appear in the moments just before death, a shiryō appears in the moments just after death. When one appears, it is most often to give one last goodbye to its loved ones before departing... however, shiryō do not always appear in order to say goodbye; sometimes they come to take their loved ones away with them into the world of the dead.
Legends:
Belief in shiryō goes back to before recorded history, and has long been a staple of Japanese folk superstition. One famous account is recorded in the Tōno Monogatari, a 1910 collection of folk beliefs which gave birth to the field of academic folklore research in Japan. In this story, there was a young girl who lived together with her father. After her father died, his shiryō appeared before the young girl and tried to take her with him into the world of the dead. The girl narrowly escaped and fled from the house to ask for help. Every night, various friends and distant family members agreed to stay overnight in the house with her and watch over her, and every night without fail, her father's shiryō came looking for her, to try to take her away. Only after a whole month of sleepless, terrifying nights did the ghost stop appearing, and finally the girl was left in peace.
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~Urban legends of Japan~
TerrorJapan is not popular only for anime, drama or beauty but also for its urban legends. They are very popular so, I thought I must write about urban legends of Japan. I'll try to write about as many urban legends as I can. All the credit of images goe...
