Japan is a land that doesn’t suffer from a shortage of ghost stories; one of the most famous ghost stories comes from the Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari) written in the early 11th century. One section of the tale involves the protagonist Genji and his wife Aoi being tormented by the spirit of his mistress Rokujo. This specific episode would later be the basis of a notable Noh play called Lady Aoi (Aoi no Ue) written in the 14th century. The play provides a happier ending to the entire affair (spoiler alert) compared to the original which had the Lady Aoi die. In the play, a Buddhist priest exorcises Lady Aoi and redeems the spirit of Rokujo. The other notable ghost story that comes to mind is that of the spirits that haunt Dan-no-ura. Dan-no-ura was the site of a decisive naval battle fought in 1185 between the warring Minamoto and Taira clans which ended with the mass suicide of Taira child emperor, family and his retainers. The ghosts of the dead Taira still haunt the region and the faces of the deceased can be found on the shells of the Heike crabs that inhabit the region. There are, of course, other tales.

Discussion of the supernatural in Japan cannot be conducted without discussing the contribution of one Toriyama Sekien (1712 – 1788). Between 1776 and 1784 Sekien produced four sets of fully illustrated encyclopedias of monsters (youkai); these encyclopedias had colorful titles such as The Hundred Demons’ Night Parade and The Illustrated Bag of One Hundred Random Ghosts. The contents of these encyclopedias were drawn from an eclectic series of sources. The majority of the two hundred youkai categorized by Sekien were drawn from Japanese mythology, literature and art. Fourteen monsters were imported from China and eighty five were straight fabrications of the author. Some of the monsters described by Sekien had a long historical pedigree such as the kappa. The kappa is an anthropomorphic turtle like demon with a saucer like head filled with water and the existence of kappa- like creatures in Japanese literature extends back to the 8th century. The kappa has superhuman strength which it can use to pull in victims into bodies of water and drown them. If the water in the kappa’s head spills out, it loses its power and can be subdued. The kappa isn’t exclusively malevolent; certain depictions of the creature made it a mischievous inhabitant of outhouses. Other creatures drawn from Japanese mythology include the ubume, a female ghost carrying a baby; the ubume is a manifestation of a woman's attachment to a baby lost in childbirth. The ubume asks an unfortunate passerby to hold its baby for a moment; once the traveler has taken hold of the baby, the ubume disappears and the baby becomes increasingly heavier. Eventually the baby is revealed to be a boulder or heavy stone and the traveler is crushed under the load. One of Sekien’s inventions is the Tenjouname. This creature is a bony, long tongued monster which inhabits the ceiling of a building. When the humans occupying the building are away, the Tenjouname comes out and licks the ceiling thereby leaving stains. A child in 1797 would most likely be exposed to the monsters from Toriyama Sekien’s works as well as hear the old ghost stories. This is what you would most likely fear.

Sources:

On Toriyama Sekien’s Monsters:

Mittman, A., & Dendle, P. (2012). The Ashgate research companion to monsters and the monstrous. Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate.

Stone, J. (2008). Death and the afterlife in Japanese Buddhism (pp. 191-192). Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press.

On the ghost stories in the Tale of Genji:

Drazen, P. (2011). A gathering of spirits: Japan's ghost story tradition : From folklore and kabuki to anime and manga. Bloomington, IN: Iuniverse.

On Lady Aoi:

Gassner, J. (1969). The reader's encyclopedia of world drama. New York: Crowell.