Ghost

Ghost
Name
Japanese	幽霊 (ゆうれい)
Rōmaji	Yūrei
Meaning	Ghost
Additional Information
Primary Abilities	Intangibility Freezing Airs Anti-yōkai Immunity
Located in	Various

Ghosts (幽霊 (ゆうれい) Yūrei) are spirits of the dead, such as humans and animals.

Description

Ghosts are the spirits of beings that persist after their death. Many are unable to move on to the afterlife due to a multitude of different reasons, but the most common is having unfinished business, such as wanting vengeance for their deaths or wanting to protect a place or people of importance to them.

Even after moving on, some are able to return to the human world. This is usually temporary, such as accompanying the recently deceased to the afterlife or are forced back by magical means.

Their appearance varies depending on a multitude of factors at the time of their deaths, such as the clothes they were wearing and their age. How and where they died can also affect this, in some instances becoming specific types, such as the Funa-Yurei or the Mōrei-Yassan who died by the sea.

Much like Yōkai, humans are normally unable to see or interact with them, unless they make themselves known. Those with higher sensitivity to the supernatural are able to see them as they do with Yōkai.

Ghosts typically haunt the places where they die. Though some are not bound by this and are capable of going wherever they want.

Kitarō confronting a group of ghosts in the 1971 anime

In Japan, yūrei refers to spirits who either do not or can not ascend to the other worlds after their death. Oftentimes, ghosts are accompanied by a few Hitodama. There are a variety of subtypes, ranging from dead spirits (死霊 (しりょう) Shiryō), ruined or departed spirits (亡霊 (ぼうれい) Bōrei), vengeful spirits (怨霊 (おんりょう) Onryō), and evil spirits (悪霊 (あくりょう) Akuryō). Deceased humans are often referred to as Shinin or Shibito (死人).

Types

By Location

People who died in wells (or anything similar) become this type. Some Kyōkotsu are even able to turn others into one of them.

Funa-Yūrei and Mōrei-Yassan are ghosts of humans who died at sea.

Powers and Abilities

Freezing Air Breaths

Anti-Yōkai Immunity: In the manga, they overwhelmed yōkai due to their natures, but became helpless and dragged back to the other world when the sealing statue was put back thanks to Gyūki.

Intangibility: A common trait among ghosts is their ability to pass through walls and the ground. In the manga, this also renders physical attacks useless and allows it to instantly reform, even when hit by elemental attacks.

Possession: Some ghosts are capable of possession, to be able to inhabit bodies that are not their own. They are capable of taking over both living bodies and corpses of the dead.

Freezing Airs/Breaths

List of Ghosts

Humans

The list excludes those who turned into yōkai with inhuman appearances, and residents of the dead worlds like Mizuki in Hakaba Kitarō, Satoko and Hōko's Grandmother in the 1996 anime.

• Fireworks Ghosts
• Funa-Yūrei
• Greenland Evil Spirit
• Hanako-san
• Hata-Onryō
• Hoihoi-Bi
• Hone-Onna (1996)
• Kubire-Oni
• Kyōkotsu
• Mai-Kubi
• Mame-Yūrei
• Mayumi's Father
• Mōrei-Yassan
• Okiku
• Sara-Kazoe
• Shichinin Misaki
• Shizuko's Father
• Yassan no Nushi
• Yōsuke-kun

Former

Ghosts who have gone to the Jigoku or other dead worlds, or they returned to life with their souls were temporarily separated from their bodies. This list excludes those who went to the other world as mortals such as Hōko and her siblings in the 1996 anime.

• Chihaya
• Gaki
• Hanako
• Kanjin (eventually headed to heaven)
• Kubire-Oni
• Kyōko
• Sayo Ryūga
• Sayuri Koike
• Tokiya Osada
• Yūko

Animals

• Bake-Neko
• Suppon-no-Yūrei
• Tonbotsuitachi
• Whale Spirits
  • Bake-Kujira
• Wolf Ghost

Legend

Shiryō Illustration

Ghosts are the souls or spirits of deceased beings that appear universally throughout all cultures on Earth with different names. They can appear to the living in either a visible form or other kinds of manifestation, such as causing physical disturbances as a poltergeist. They are also said to be manifestations of the emotions of those who perished, where the last emotions they felt take shape and form.

Yūrei is the common term in Japanese Mythology, with many subclassifications such as the Onryō or Bōrei. Shiryō is a term referring to souls of the deceased; in contrast, Ikiryō refers to souls of the living.