Yurei Attack!: The Japanese Ghost Survival Guide

by Hiroko Yoda

  Sogoro, head of the village, wasn’t the sort of man to take this sort of treatment lying down. He organized his fellow farmers together and prepared a petition to take to the Shogun himself — a daring move in an era when going over the heads of those above you could mean losing your own. With the help of the villagers, he hid under a bridge where he knew the Shogun’s retinue would soon pass

  Tying the document to the end of a bamboo pole, he thrust it into the window of the palanquin as it was carried past, begging for the Shogun to grace it with his attention.

  As luck would have it, the effort intrigued the Shogun, who ordered Hotta to consider the villagers’ request. Word of the petition and Hotta’s avarice spread through the chain of command like wildfire. Hotta had been humiliated in front of his superiors by a bunch of peasants.

  Of course, Hotta felt no responsibility or remorse for the taxes he was forcing on his subjects — just a simmering rage at having been publically embarrassed. He had Sogoro’s entire family rounded up, informing them that he was happy to accept the petition on the Shogun’s behalf and would hence-forth reduce the burden upon the village. But according to law, Sogoro still must pay for having gone over Hotta’s head.

  The peasant leader had steeled himself for this very possibility, but none could have predicted the brutality of the sentence. Hotta crucified Sogoro and his wife and forced them to watch as their four young sons, just eleven, nine, six, and three, were decapitated; then he left Sogoro and his wife hanging in tortured anguish for another three days before killing them. As the executioners prepared their spears for the death-strikes, Sogoro cursed Hotta and swore he would return for revenge. Wickedly sharp blades were thrust into his bowels again and again. Yet as he died, his head lolled to the side, its now sightless eyes fixed firmly on the castle in which the hatamoto of Kozu made his home.

  Woodblock print master Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s rendition of “Asakura Togo,” as Sakura Sogoro was re-named to avoid inflaming the authorities when his story was dramatized as a kabuki play in 1851

  The Attack

  The haunting began almost from the moment of Sogoro’s death. In the castle, strange lights illuminated the bedchamber of Hotta’s pregnant wife as eerie, disembodied cackles rang throughout its corridors. Before long the phantoms had coalesced into actual form; apparitions of Sogoro and his wife, still bound to their crosses, appeared in her ladyship’s room, vigorously shaking the poor woman and swearing to make her last days a hell on earth. Night after night Hotta burst into his wife’s chambers, swinging his sword wildly in a futile attempt to drive the ghosts away. As the wife sickened and died, depriving Hotta of his child to be, the ghosts moved to the chambers of Hotta’s only son.

  The incessant attacks led to sleepless nights and increasingly erratic behavior. One night Hotta mistook his maidservant for a phantom, killing her with a crazed swing of his sword. But the final straw came on a visit to the Shogun’s castle in Edo. Thoroughly out of his mind by this point, Hotta mistook a fellow nobleman for Sogoro, cutting him down in cold blood. This sort of thing was a social faux pas of the highest order, and the furious Shogun ordered Hotta stripped of his title and holdings.

  A Kuniyoshi tryptich portraying Sakura Sogoro’s torment of the hatamoto. Note how his presence warps perceptions so that Hotta believes his own retainers are demons rather than humans. This ability to bend minds is key to Sakura Sogoro’s haunting.

  Surviving an Encounter

  This is yet another one of those situations where “you made your bed, now lie in it!” Vengeful spirits such as that of Sakura Sogoro aren’t interested in haunting for haunting’s sake — they’re interested in making the individuals responsible for their deaths pay. If you aren’t involved, you’re safe; if you are, heaven help you, because we sure can’t.

  There are many variations as to how the tale ends. In one, Lord Hotta, belatedly realizing that his own depravity was to blame for his troubles, swore to see Sogoro venerated as a god if his spirit would relent its campaign of terror. The hauntings began to taper off, and the Shogun took pity and restored Hotta’s holdings. The chastened Hotta, true to his word, spent a vast sum dedicating a shrine to Sogoro that was “as beautiful as a gem.” So it came to pass that Sogoro became a patron saint of the peasantry, while the hatamoto himself is all but forgotten today.

  Trivia

  As you might expect, stories such as Sogoro’s made great fodder for thinly veiled criticism of the status quo. In 1808, the Edo government actually passed legislation forbidding the public telling of tales involving vengeful ghosts. (That the law was ineffectual is putting it mildly, as the sheer number of woodblock prints, books, and kabuki plays featuring ghosts over the following decades will attest.)

  Furious Phantoms: 12

  MORINAGA SHINOH

  Furious Phantoms: 12

  MORINAGA SHINOH

  Name in Japanese: 護良

  Gender: Male

  a.k.a. Moriyoshi Shinoh (alternate reading of name); Prince Morinaga / Moriyoshi; Da ito-no-miya; Ooto-no-miya

  Date of Death: August 12, 1335

  Age at death: 27

  Cause of death: Execution

  Type of ghost: Onryo

  Distinctive features: Known to manifest in the form of a Tengu (see below)

  Venerated at: Kamakura-gu Shrine

  Location of Haunting: Kamakura

  Form of Attack: Curses Strategic rebirths?

  Existence: Historical

  Threat Level: High (Historically), Low (Currently)

  Claim to Fame

  Morinaga Shinoh is the angriest spirit in the city of Kamakura, a historic city (and former capital) located just over an hour from Tokyo.

  He is a typical onryo akin to Sugawara no Michizane or Emperor Sutoku, who you read about earlier. Like them, Morinaga’s unjust death at the hands of political rivals fueled his transformation into an angry ghost hellbent on bringing down the Imperial family.

  Although not as well known today as the onryo of Sugawara or Sutoku, Morinaga’s ghost remained enough of a threat that the Meiji Emperor felt compelled to build a shrine to his memory in 1869, more than five hundred years after Morinaga’s death.

  The Story

  ... Begins in the 14th century. A clan of warlords known as the Hojo ruled Japan from the city of Kamakura in a military dictatorship known as a Shogunate, relegating the Emperor Go-Daigo to a figurehead sequestered in the city of Kyoto.

  The ambitious Go-Daigo wasn’t content to be a puppet. During his reign, he launched several plots — it’s hard to call them coup d’états when it’s the emperor behind them — against the Hojo clan. (Incidentally, the first failed attempt gave rise to one of Japan’s most famous ninja tales. Go-Daigo’s loyal right-hand man Hino Suketomo took the fall for the plot, accepting a death-sentence so that his master could remain in the clear. After Hino’s death, his son Kumawaka-Maru took revenge against the executioner in a cunning ambush chronicled in chapter 1 of Ninja Attack!)

  Go-Daigo’s second plot kicked off a civil war called the Genko-no-ran, in which Morinaga Shinno played a key part. Go-Daigo’s forces attacked Kamakura, but were finally vanquished a year later. The Hojo exiled Go-Daigo to a distant island.

  Enter Go-Daigo’s son, Prince Morinaga Shinoh. He may have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but he was no pushover. Trained in the martial arts since childhood, he was a talented and fearless warrior. Taking up the battle cry in his father’s name, Morinaga joined forces with other Hojo rivals to successfully topple the Shogunate. Once the smoke cleared and the Emperor Go-Daigo was restored to his rightful place in Kyoto, he rewarded Morinaga with the title of Shogun himself.

  Happy ending, right? Wrong. Unfortunately for Morinaga, the story doesn’t end here.

  One of the key generals in the fight against the Hojo, a man named Ashikaga Takauji, demanded the Emperor bestow the title of Shogun upon him instead of Morinaga. Rebuffed, Takauji launched his own coup. Making a long story short, Taka
uji’s forces quickly overwhelmed Morinaga’s, delivering both the city of Kamakura and the new Shogun into Takauji’s hands.

  As the undisputed victor, Takauji could re-write history. He defended his actions by falsely charging Morinaga with plotting against Emperor Go-Daigo. Takauji imprisoned the Prince/Shogun in a dank cave in the hills of Kamakura.

  The successful coup rendered Go-Daigo powerless yet again, forcing him both to recognize Ashikaga Takauji as Shogun — and to leave his loyal son to rot in a hole.

  The victory was short-lived. When remnants of the Hojo clan regrouped and launched another coup against the new Ashikaga Shogunate, a rebel like Morinaga became a potentially dangerous political symbol. So Takauji’s brother quietly ordered a henchman to get rid of the former Shogun once and for all.

  The Attack

  The task fell to a samurai by the name of Fuchinobe Yoshihiro, a seasoned veteran of the prior decades of political violence.

  Fuchinobe bound and dragged Morinaga out of his cell. He forced the man to kneel, and raised his long tachi blade. But Morinaga did not cower before the killing stroke. In fact he moved to intercept it with his mouth, biting down with such ferocity that he not only stopped the blade between his teeth, but broke it clean from its pommel. Fuchinobe was forced to switch to his tanto short-sword to complete the task.

  Even in death, Morinaga’s decapitated head refused to give up the blade. In fact the expression of rage on its face was so unrelenting, so palpable, that it gave even an unflappable battle-veteran like Fuchinobe the willies. Breaking into a terrified sprint, he dropped the head he was supposed to bring back to his master.

  Morinaga had done everything right. He had trained. He had stood by his father. He had taken back the throne for him. Yet he ended his life in a filthy cave, released only for the purposes of an unceremonious execution. He was the perfect material for an onryo.

  The ancient chronicle of Japan Taiheiki ascribes a variety of misfortunes that befell the Imperial Family and Shogunate due to Morinaga’s angry ghost, and claims he reappeared on at least one occasion as a ferocious Tengu (a creature chronicled in chapter 1 of Yokai Attack!)

  Morinaga receives a conjugal visit in this woodblock print by Yoshitoshi. Legend has it that she spirited away Morinaga's severed head after Fuchinobe dropped it. Believe it or not, the head is still around. Now mummified, it is displayed every January 15 at Ishifune Shrine (town of Asahibaba, Yamanashi Prefecture).

  It also records an intriguing episode — by what means this information was gathered we’ll never know — where a group of fellow angry ghosts convened to discuss how best Morinaga could avenge himself. In a devious twist they decided that the best way to throw a monkey-wrench into the works was for Morinaga to be reborn as the son of the man who had ordered his death — Takauji’s brother! Talk about “sins of the father.”

  Surviving an Encounter

  Fortunately for you, this particular spirit seems to have been successfully appeased. But it can’t hurt to pay your respects.

  In 1869, the Emperor Meiji sponsored the construction of an elaborate shrine on the site of Morinaga’s cell and execution. Kamakura-gu stands to this very day; you can see both the cave and the place where Fuchinobe dropped Morinaga’s head there. It’s a thirty-minute walk from the east exit of JR Kamakura station.

  The shrine is considered to be a “Yurei Spot,” and some visitors claim to experience strange sensations and phenomena such as camera malfunctions. But even if you aren’t a believer, it’s more than a little chilling to know you’re standing precisely where Morinaga lost his life.

  Morinaga's cell at Kamakura-gug Shrine.

  Furious Phantoms: 13

  HIIMI-SAMA

  Furious Phantoms: 13

  HIIMI-SAMA

  Name in Japanese: 日忌様

  Gender: Male

  a.k.a. Kainan Hoshi; Kannan Boshi (local Izu dialect)

  Born: Various

  Date of Death: 1628

  Age at death: Various

  Cause of death: Drowning

  Type of ghost: Onryo

  Distinctive features: None who’ve seen them have lived to tell the tale.

  Place of internment: Sea in vicinity of Izu islands

  Location of haunting: Izu Oshima and other Izu islands

  Form of Attack: Various (see below)

  Existence: Historical

  Threat Level: High

  Claim to Fame

  Yurei that haunt the islands of Izu. They are the souls of twenty-five local men who took it upon them-selves to free the islands from an oppressor, yet were turned away by their fellow islanders when they sought refuge. Known collectively as “Hiimi-sama” (honored souls to be mourned) and “Kainan Hoshi” (holy men lost at sea), their spirits collectively haunt the islands to this very day. When they return — which they do once a year, without fail — no islander in their right mind even thinks about setting foot out of their homes.

  The Story

  The setting is Izu Oshima, the largest of a chain of volcanic islands that extend into the Pacific south of the Izu peninsula. Although today the islands are treated as part of Tokyo for administrative purposes, travelling to them still demands calm seas. So one can imagine how difficult it must have been to reach them on wooden boats in times of old.

  The time is the mid-17th Century. The governor has arrived to collect his yearly taxes — which on the islands are paid in salt rather than rice, as on the mainland. But it has been a difficult year. Forest fires have devastated local industry; food of any kind is scarce, let alone refined salt. Yet the governor will not take no for an answer. The tax must be paid. He forces the islanders to for-age through their own larders for potatoes, their only source of food until the next spring. This was bad enough, but when he began demanding the services of the village’s young women, a group of twenty-five young men made the fateful decision to confront him.

  Undoubtedly realizing that things wouldn’t end well, the group split up to warn their neighbors. “Don’t leave your homes. Don’t look outside or make any noise. And whatever you do, don’t look at the sea.”

  That night, the men gathered once again. Tracking down the governor (an easy task, given how loudly he was carrying on with yet another local girl), they dragged him outside, punching, kicking, and beating the life out of his body.

  Now that the deed was done, they knew they had to escape. Staying would bring the wrath of the Shogun down upon the entire island. Not wanting to involve any of their neighbors as accomplices, they chose to hastily build a boat rather than commandeering one. Retreating to Hachikama shrine, they felled one of its holy cedars and quickly fashioned it into a large dugout canoe. With twenty-five men, a job that would normally take days was finished in mere hours, and the group set out before the morning light, seeking refuge on one of the neighboring islands.

  They made landfall as dawn broke, marching into the nearest village to beg for shelter, even if only for a night. But upon hearing what the men had done, the locals quickly turned them away. Again and again, the men were sent back to the ocean by timid villagers too fearful of the consequences to give them sanctuary. And so they made one final voyage into the sea — one from which they would never return. The day was January 24th.

  The Attack

  Every year on January 24th, the angry souls of the dead men return to haunt the ports and beaches of the Izu islands and Izu Oshima in particular. Generations of locals making penance for their ancestor’s failure to offer the Hiimi-sama shelter lock their doors, close their shutters, avoid looking at the sea, and don’t leave for any reason. (And we mean ANY reason. In times of old before indoor plumbing was invented, this even meant relieving oneself in a bucket inside rather than heading out to use the privy.)

  Those foolish enough to venture outside over the years are reported to have returned doused in blood, blinded, or driven insane by the sight of the Hiimi-sama. And that’s a best-case scenario. Others have wound up dead… or never ret
urned at all.

  How to Survive

  Haven’t you been reading? Check the calendar. Is it January 24th? Do you happen to be on Izu Oshima? Stay inside! And quit making such a racket!

  Yokai Connection

  The Hiimi-sama superficially resembles a similar yokai called, somewhat confusingly, “Funa Yurei,” (“Ghost Mariners” or “Sea Ghouls” — see Yokai Attack!). The key difference between the two is that the Hiimi-sama are the souls of a group of specific individuals lost in a certain incident, while the Funa Yurei aren’t connected to any person in particular; rather, they symbolize the general concept of dying at sea. Remember: yurei tend to be a “someone,” while yokai tend to be a “something.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Sad Spectres

  UKAI KANSAKU

  MIYAGI

  AME-KAI YUREI

  THE OKIKU DOLL

  FURISODE KAJI

  THE FUTON OF TOTTORI

  Not every yurei is fueled by anger or hatred. A sense of loss can be a powerful catalyst as well. These ghosts are driven by romance, family ties, and motherly love.

  Sad Spectres: 14

  UKAI KANSAKU

  Sad Spectres: 14

  UKAI KANSAKU

  Name in Japanese: 鵜飼勘作

  Gender: Male

  a.k.a. Taira Tokitada

  Born: 1130

  Date of Death: 1189

  Age at death: 58