View source for Ikiryō

{{Italic title|reason=[[:Category:Japanese words and phrases]]}}{{Short description|Spirit in Japanese folklore}}
[[File:SekienIkiryo.jpg|right|thumb|{{nihongo||生霊|Ikiryō}} from the 1776 book {{transl|ja|[[Gazu Hyakki Yagyō]]}} by [[Sekien Toriyama]]]]
'''{{nihongo||[[wiktionary:生霊|生霊]]|Ikiryō|{{lit.}} "[[Astral body|living ghost]]"}}''', also known as '''{{nihongo||しょうりょう|shōryō}}''', '''{{nihongo||せいれい|seirei}}''', or '''{{nihongo||いきすだま|ikisudama}}''',<ref name="Daijisen definition">{{cite web |script-title=ja:生霊 |url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%94%9F%E9%9C%8A-30176 |website=Kotobank |publisher=[[The Asahi Shimbun Company]] |access-date=7 March 2021 |language=ja}}</ref> is a disembodied spirit or [[ghost]] in Japanese popular belief and fiction that leaves the body of a living person and subsequently haunts other people or places, sometimes across great distances.<ref name="ikeda">{{Harvnb|Ikeda|1959|pp=186–190}} {{in lang|ja}}</ref><ref name="konno">{{Harvnb|Konno|1969|loc=Chapter 3 (''Ikiryō no yūri''), pp. 63–98}} {{in lang|ja}}</ref><ref name=Clarke2000 >{{citation|last=Clarke|first=Peter Bernard|year=2000|title=Japanese new religions: in global perspective, Volume 1999|edition=annotated|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-7007-1185-7|page=247}}</ref> The term(s) are used in contrast to {{transl|ja|[[shiryō]]}}, which refers to the spirit of those who are already deceased.
==Summary==
The popular belief that the human spirit (or soul) can escape from the body has been around since early times, with eyewitness accounts and experiences (hauntings, possessions, [[out-of-body experience]]) reported in anecdotal and fictional writings. {{nihongo|Vengeful spirits|怨霊|[[onryō]]}} of the living are said to inflict {{nihongo|curses|[[:ja:祟り|祟り]]|tatari}} upon the subject or subjects of their vengeance by means of transforming into their {{transl|ja|ikiryō}} form. It is believed that if a sufficient grudge is held, all or part of the perpetrator's soul leaves the body, appearing in front of the victim to harm or curse them, a concept not so dissimilar from the [[evil eye]]. The {{transl|ja|ikiryō}} has even made its way into Buddhist scriptures, where they are described as "living spirits" who, if angered, might bring about curses, even just before their death. Possession is another means by which the Ikiryō are commonly believed to be capable of inflicting harm, the possessed person thought to be unaware of this process.{{Refn|''Kojien'' dictionary<ref name="kojien"/> {{in lang|ja}}}} However, according to mythology, the {{transl|ja|ikiryō}} does not necessarily act out of spite or vengefulness, and stories are told of the {{transl|ja|ikiryō}} who bears no grudge, or poses no real threat. In recorded examples, the spirit sometimes takes [[Spiritual possession|possession]] of another person's body for motives other than vengeance, such as love and infatuation (for example the Matsutōya ghost below). A person's {{transl|ja|ikiryō}} may also leave the body (often very shortly before death) to manifest its presence around loved ones, friends and/or acquaintances.<ref name="konno" />
==Classical literature==
[[File:Uemura-Flame-1918.jpg|thumb|200px|''[[Nihonga]]'' ''[[:ja:焔 (絵画)|Honō]]'' (焔, Flame) by [[Uemura Shōen]], 1918. [[Tokyo National Museum]]. This work was inspired by [[Lady Rokujō]], the ''ikiryō'' from ''[[The Tale of Genji]]'' and the [[Noh]] play ''[[Aoi no Ue (play)|Aoi no Ue]]''.]]
In classical literature, ''[[The Tale of Genji]]'' (ca. 1000) describes the "well known" episode of the {{transl|ja|ikisudama}} (the more archaic term for {{transl|ja|ikiryō}}) that emerged from [[Hikaru Genji|Genji]]'s lover [[Lady Rokujo]], and tormented Genji's pregnant wife [[Aoi no Ue]], resulting in her death after childbirth.<ref name="konno069">{{Harvnb|Konno|1969|p=69}}</ref><ref name="Japan Times">{{cite web |last1=Alt |first1=Matt |title=This Halloween watch out for ''yūrei'' of all kinds |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2011/10/31/language/this-halloween-watch-out-for-yrei-of-all-kinds/ |website=[[The Japan Times]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926023930/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2011/10/31/language/this-halloween-watch-out-for-yrei-of-all-kinds/ |archive-date=26 September 2020 |date=31 October 2011 }}</ref> This spirit is also portrayed in [[Aoi no Ue (play)|{{transl|ja|Aoi no Ue}}]], the [[Noh]] play adaptation of the same story. After her death, Lady Rokujo became an {{transl|ja|[[onryō]]}} and went on to torment those who would later become Genji's consorts, [[Murasaki no Ue]] and {{Interlanguage link multi|Onna-sannomiya|2=ja|3=女三宮|preserve=1}}.<ref name="konno069"/>
In the [[Heian period]], a human soul leaving a body and drifting away is described by the old verb {{transl|ja|akugaru}} meaning "departure". In ''The Tale of Genji'', the mentally troubled Kashiwagi fears that his soul may be found wandering ({{transl|ja|akugaru}}), and requests that last rites are performed on his body to stop his soul from escaping if this should happen.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bargen |first=Doris G. |title=A Woman's Weapon: Spirit Possession in The Tale of Genji |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |year=1997  |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BVWuLQkPm00C&pg=PA166 |page=166 |isbn=978-0-8248-1858-6 }}</ref>{{Refn|''Kojien'' dictionary,<ref name="kojien"/> ''akugaru'', sense 2.}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Miyamori|first=Asatarō (ed. tr.)|title=Masterpieces of Japanese Poetry: Ancient and Modern|volume=1|publisher=Taiseido Shobo Company|year=1956|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AScHAQAAIAAJ}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Konno|1969|pp=66–67}}</ref><ref name="murakami">{{Citation|last=Murakami|first=Kenji (村上健司)|author-link=:ja:村上健司|title=Nihon yōkai daijiten |script-title=ja:日本妖怪大事典|year=2005|publisher=[[Kadokawa Shoten|Kadokawa]]|series=Kwai books|isbn=978-4-04-883926-6|pages=24–25|trans-title=The Great Yokai Encyclopedia of Japan|language=ja}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Konno|1969|pp=66&ndash;67}}</ref><!-- and by Murakami. / Where does this fragment fit? --><ref name="murakami"/><ref group="lower-alpha">Another example of this term occurs in the verse by the poet [[Izumi Shikibu]] which depicts the author's soul as a wandering firefly: "While I am rapt in thought, / The fireflies of the marsh would seem to be  / My soul, caught up and wandering / Forth out of me." ({{transl|ja|[[Goshūi Wakashū]]}}, Tale 20).</ref>
{{transl|ja|[[Konjaku Monogatarishū]]}} contains the tale "How the {{transl|ja|Ikiryo}} Spirit of Omi Province Came and Killed a Man of the Capital". In the tale, a commoner encounters a noblewoman and guides her to the house of a certain {{nihongo|[[Ministry of Popular Affairs#Hierarchy|Senior Assistant Minister of Popular Affairs]]|民部大夫|Minbu-no-tayū}} in the capital. Little did the guide know that he was guiding the {{transl|ja|ikiryō}} of a woman to her neglecting husband. Upon reaching the house the lady vanishes, though the gates remain shut. Wailing noises are heard inside the house. The following morning, the guide learns that the master of the house had complained the {{transl|ja|ikiryō}} of his former wife was present and causing him illness, shortly after which he died. The guide later seeks out the lady's house in [[Ōmi Province]]. There a woman speaks to him through [[Sudare|blinds]], acknowledging the man's services that day, and showers him with gifts of silk cloth.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Dykstra |editor-first=Yoshiko Kurata (tr.) |chapter=Book 27, Chapter 20: How the Ikiryo Spirit of Omi Province Came and Killed a Man of the Capital |title=The Konjaku Tales: From a Medieval Japanese Collection. Japanese section |volume=3 |publisher=Intercultural Research Institute, Kansai Gaidai University Publication|year=2003 |page=95– |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M3IqAQAAIAAJ |isbn=978-4-87335-026-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Haga|editor-first=Yaichi (芳賀矢一)|chapter=Book 27, chapter 20, Ōmi-no-kuni no ikiryō Kyō ni kitarite hito wo korosu, no katari 近江國生靈來京煞人語|title=Kōshō konjaku monogatari shū<!--攷証今昔物語集-->|volume=3 (下)|year=1921|pages=367–|chapter-url=http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/945416/201 |language=ja}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Konno|1969|pp=93–96}}: subchapter {{nihongo||夫を取り殺した青衣の女|Otto wo torikoroshita aoginu no onna|"A woman in blue garment who possessed and killed her husband"}} {{in lang|ja}}</ref>
[[File:Sorori wandering soul.jpg|right|thumb|240px|"{{lang|ja-Latn|Onna no Mōnen Mayoiaruku Koto|italic=no}}" ({{lang|ja|女の妄念迷ひ歩く事}}) from the 1573 work {{nihongo||曾呂利物語|Sorori Monogatari}}<ref name="sorori">{{Harvnb|Takada|1989|pp=13–15}} {{in lang|ja}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sorori |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UBQFzQEACAAJ |title=Sorori Banasi. Sorori Monogatari. Hanasi Hon. [Propos de Sorori] |date=1573 |language=ja}}</ref>]]The {{transl|ja|ikiryō}} can also possess the object of its infatuation, who is neither rival nor enemy. The {{transl|ja|Matsutōya Yūrei}},<ref group="lower-alpha">The tale is recorded in the essay collection, {{nihongo||翁草|Okinagusa}}.</ref> a tale allegedly based on events that occurred during [[Kyōhō]] 14 or 15 (1729–1730), a Kyoto merchant named {{nihongo||松任屋徳兵衛|Matsutōya Tokubei}} had a teenaged son named Matsunosuke [[Spirit possession|possessed by the spirit]] of two women who loved him, and who tormented the boy's conscience. On occasion, he would be suspended in mid-air, engaging in conversation as if the girls were present before his eyes, the {{transl|ja|ikiryō}}'s words being spoken through the boy's lips. Finally the family sought help from a renowned priest named Zōkai.<ref group="lower-alpha">{{nihongo||象海慧湛|Zōkai Etan}}, 1682–1733</ref> The priest successfully exorcised the boy and cured his condition, but rumors had already spread regarding the incident.<ref>{{Cite book|editor-last=Kanzawa |editor-first=Teikan/Tokō (神沢貞幹/神沢杜口) |others=池辺義象 (revised) |title=Okina gusa |script-title=zh:翁草 |volume=6 |publisher=Gosharō shoten<!--五車楼書店--> |year=1906 |pages=66–7 |chapter=Book 56 Matsutōya yūrei |chapter-url=http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/772573/40}}{{clarify|reason=is the value in "script-title=" really Chinese?|date=December 2023}}</ref><ref>{{citation|last=Iwaya |first=Sazanami <!--巌谷小波--> |chapter=悪霊 (evil spirits) |title=Dai goen |script-title=ja:大語園 |year=1935 |volume=8 |chapter-url=http://kindai.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1772897/65 |page=90|language=ja}}</ref>
The horror story ([[Kaidan (parapsychology)|{{transl|ja|kaidan}}]]) collection {{Nihongo||曾呂利物語|Sorori Monogatari}}, published [[Kanbun (era)|Kanbun]] 3, or 1663, includes a tale of a woman whose {{transl|ja|ikiryō}} assumed the shape of her severed head.<ref group="lower-alpha">cf. the {{transl|ja|[[yōkai]]}} monster known as [[Rokurokubi#Rokurokubi whose heads come off (nukekubi)|{{transl|ja|nukekubi}}]].</ref> One night, a man traveling towards [[Kamigata|Kyoto]] arrives at place called Sawaya in Kita-no-shō, [[Echizen Province]] (now [[Fukui, Fukui|Fukui City]]), where he mistakedly thinks he saw a chicken fly from the base of a nearby stone tower on to the road. The imagined chicken turns out to be (or has transformed into) a lively severed head of a woman. When the face grins at him, he attacks with a sword, and chases it to a home in the capital of the province. Inside the house, the housewife awakes from a nightmare being chased by a man brandishing a blade. The wandering head was, according to the title, the woman's {{nihongo||{{linktext|妄|念}}|mōnen}}, or her wayward thoughts and obsessions. The woman later turns Buddhist nun to repent for her sins.<ref name="ikeda" /><ref name="sorori" /><ref>{{cite journal|last=Yuasa |first=Yoshiko (湯浅佳子) |script-title=ja:『曾呂里物語』の類話|trans-title=A Study of a similar story of "SORORI-MONOGATARI"|journal=Bulletin of Tokyo Gakugei University, Humanities and Social SciencesI|volume=60 |year=2009 |pages=307–309 |issn=1880-4314|language=ja|hdl=2309/96207 }}</ref><ref group="lower-alpha">Original source story title is {{Nihongo||女のまうねんまよひありく事|Onna no maunen mayohi ariku koto}}</ref>
==Folk legends==
===Regional near-death spirits===
Sightings of {{transl|ja|ikiryō}} belonging to those whose deaths are imminent have been recorded from all over Japan. Stories abound of spirits that materialize (or otherwise manifest their presence) to someone dear to them,<ref name="kunikida-ancestors-171"/> such as immediate family. The recipient of the visit experiencing a metaphysical foreshadowing of this person's death, before any tangible news of bereavement arrives.
Many of the local terms for the {{transl|ja|ikiryō}} were collected by [[Kunio Yanagita]] and his school of folklorists.<ref group="lower-alpha">While terms such as {{transl|ja|tobi-damashi}}, {{transl|ja|omokage}}, {{transl|ja|akita}}, or {{transl|ja|shininbō}} are used in the Ishikawa Prefecture in isolated cases, these terms are not frequently used elsewhere.</ref>
In the tradition of the [[Nishitsugaru District, Aomori|Nishitsugaru District]], [[Aomori Prefecture]], the souls of the person/s on the brink of death are called {{transl|ja|amabito}}, and believed to depart from the body and walk around, sometimes making noises like that of the door sliding open.<ref name="kunikida-ancestors-171">{{citation|last=Yanagita|first=Kunio|others=Fanny Hagin Mayer (tr.)|title=About Our Ancestors: The Japanese Family System|publisher=Greenwood Press|year=1970|chapter=Chapter 77|page=171|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xarXAAAAMAAJ|quote= There are also many instances reported, especially when facing death, of men materialising in front of a chosen loved one or associate. In Senhoku-gun such people are called ''amabito'' and individuals who can 'fly anywhere in their dreams' are called ''tobi-damashi'' [flying soul], the same term used in Tsugaru, ...|isbn=978-0-313-26552-5}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Konno|1969|loc=pp. 67, 68}}</ref>
According to [[Kunio Yanagita|Yanagita]], {{nihongo||飛びだまし|tobi-damashi}} is the equivalent term to the [[Senboku District, Akita]] region. Yanagita defines this as the ability of certain persons to traverse the world in their {{transl|ja|ikirȳo}} form. Such individuals are purported to have voluntary control of this ability, in contrast to those who are only temporarily capable of tapping into such a state as a precursor to their death.<ref name="kunikida-ancestors-171"/>
In the [[Kazuno District, Akita|Kazuno District]] in [[Akita Prefecture]], a soul that pays visit to acquaintances is called an {{nihongo||面影〔オモカゲ〕|omokage|"reminiscence, lingering shadow"}}, and assumes the form of a living human, that is to say, it has feet and make pitter-patter noises, unlike the stereotypical Japanese ghost that have no legs or feet.<ref name="minzoku">{{Harvnb|Ōtō|1955|pp=46–293}}</ref><ref name="ikedap100">{{Harvnb|Konno|1969|loc=Chapter 4, pp.100–105}}</ref>
Yanagita in {{transl|ja|Tōno Monogatari Shūi}} reported that in the [[Tōno, Iwate|Tōno Region]], [[Iwate Prefecture]], "the thoughts of the dead or the living coalesce into a walking shape, and appear to the human eye as an illusion is termed an {{transl|ja|omaku}} in this region." An example being a beautiful girl aged 16 or 17, critically ill with a case of {{nihongo|"[[Shang Han Lun|cold damage]]"|傷寒|shōkan}}, i.e., [[typhoid fever]] or a similar disease. She was seen wandering around the construction site of the Kōganji temple rebuild project in {{Interlanguage link multi|Tsujibuchi, Iwate|2=ja|3=土淵村|preserve=1}}, the days before her death.<ref name="minzoku" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Yanagita |first=Kunio  |title=Tōno monogatari |orig-date=1948|year=2004|publisher=[[Kadokawa Shoten|Kadokawa]] |isbn=978-4-04-308320-6 |pages=146–151 |chapter=Tōno monogatari supplements 遠野物語拾遺, Tale 160|language=ja}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Konno|1969|pp=81, 82}}, citing Yanagita, {{transl|ja|[[Tōno Monogatari]]}}</ref>{{Refn|"lower-alpha"|The term ''omaku'' was unknown to [[Kizen Sasaki]], the local expert and chief source to Yanagita's ''Tōno Monogatari''. Sasaki didn't provide testimony to his witnessing of the girl's ''ikiryō'' who appeared at Kōganji temple, because he was just a boy at the time. Later, Sasaki remarked he did not know the term "''omaku''", though he was familiar with a similar phrase "''omoi omaku''", in response to Suzuki's inquiry ({{Interlanguage link multi|Tōzō Suzuki|2=ja|3=鈴木棠三|preserve=1}}).<ref>{{cite journal|last=Suzuki |first=Tōzō (鈴木棠三) |title=Kaii wo tazunete 怪異を訪ねて|journal=Daihōrin<!--大法輪--> |volume=26 |number=6 |year=1959}}, cited by {{Harvnb|Konno|1969|pp=101&ndash;102}}</ref>}}
In [[Kashima District, Ishikawa]] on the [[Noto Peninsula]], a folklorist recorded belief in the {{nihongo||死人坊|shininbō}}, said to appear two or three days before someone's death, which was seen passing through on its visits to {{transl|ja|danna-dera}} (the family temple, also called {{transl|ja|[[bodaiji]]}}). The temple was believed to be the soul's final resting grounds, where one finds a place amongst their ancestors.<ref name="ikedap100" /><ref>{{cite journal|last=Nakamura |first=Hiroshi (中村浩) |title=Noto tō saihōroku 能登島採訪録 |journal=Minzokugaku |volume=1 |number=2 |year=1929|pages=42&ndash;44|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iTIEAAAAMAAJ}}, cited by {{Harvnb|Konno|1969|loc=Chapter 4, pp.&nbsp;103–104}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nichibun.ac.jp/YoukaiCard/2260011.shtml|title=Shininbō シニンボウ|website=Kaii & yōkai denshō database |author= International Research Center for Japanese Studies|year=2002|language=ja}}</ref>
====Soul flames====
{{Details|hitodama|onibi#types of onibi}}
There are cases where the wandering {{transl|ja|ikiryō}} appear as a floating "soul flame", known in Japan as the {{transl|ja|[[hitodama]]}} or [[onibi#types of onibi|{{transl|ja|hidama}}]].<ref group="lower-alpha">A [[onibi#types of onibi|{{transl|ja|hidama]]}}, the Japanese equivalent to the [[will-o'-the-wisp]] (or generically "[[atmospheric ghost lights]]")</ref> However, a "soul flame" from a person who is near death is not considered unusual, with the traditional conception among Japanese being that the soul escapes the body within a short phase (several days) either before or after death.<ref>{{Harvnb|Konno|1969|loc=Chapter 2 ''Hitodama kō'', p.38}}</ref> Therefore, pre-death soul flames may not be treated as cases of {{transl|ja|ikiryō}} in works on the subject of ghosts, but filed under chapters on the {{transl|ja|hitodama}} phenomenon.<ref>{{Harvnb|Konno|1969|loc=Chapter 2 ''Hitodama kō'', pp.37–62}})</ref><ref group="lower-alpha">{{Harvnb|Konno|1969|pp=44–46}} describes cases of floating balloon-like objects of yellow color ([[iridescence|iridescent]] colored, according to Konno) an omen of death. The locals in the [[Shimokita District, Aomori]] refer to the object as {{nihongo||タマシ|tamashi|"souls"}}, the same term in common usage by locals in Komena hamlet, in the town of [[Ōhata, Aomori|Ōhata]]. On the day after a sighting of one heading towards the mountains ([[Mount Osore]]) on April 2, 1963, a boy died in the hospital from injuries he sustained falling off a bridge while double-riding a bicycle.</ref>
One case of a near-death {{transl|ja|hitodama}} deemed "suitable for discussion" under the topic of {{transl|ja|ikiryō}} by a folklorist closely resembled the aforementioned tale of the woman's head in the {{transl|ja|Sorori Monogatari}}, namely, that the subject who witnessed the soul's apparition pursued it ruthlessly, until he discovered the owner of the soul, who claimed to have seen the entire experience of being chased during a dream. The subject worked at the town office of [[Tōno, Iwate]], and one night, he reported seeing an {{transl|ja|hidama}} emerge from a stable and into the house's entrance where it was "flying around". He claimed to have chased it with a broom, and trapped it beneath a washbasin. A while after, he was rushed out to see his sick uncle on the brink of death, but he made sure to release the fireball from its trapping. He soon learned that his uncle had only just died, but  his uncle came back to life again, enough so to accuse the nephew of chasing him with a broom and capturing him.<ref>{{Harvnb|Konno |1969|p=75}}), citing {{transl|ja|Tōno Monogatari}}</ref> Similarly, the folklore archives of [[Umedoi, Mie|Umedoi]], [[Mie Prefecture]] (now part of [[Inabe, Mie|Inabe]]) tells a tale about a band of men who, late in the night, spotted and chased a [[Atmospheric ghost lights|fireball]] into a [[sake]] warehouse, waking a maid who was asleep inside. The maid later professed to being "pursued by many men and fleeing" to take refuge in the warehouse.<ref name="ikeda" />
===''Ikiryō'' as an illness===
[[File:Masasumi Rikonbyo.jpg|right|thumb|220px|{{nihongo||離魂病|Rikonbyō}} from the {{transl|ja|[[Kyōka Hyaku Monogatari]]}}, illustrated by [[Masasumi Ryūkansaijin]] in 1853. The woman on the left is afflicted by the "soul separation illness", and her {{transl|ja|ikiryō}} appears next to her.]]
During the [[Edo period]], there was a belief that there was a condition called {{nihongo||離魂病|rikonbyō|"soul separation illness"}}, whereby the soul would not just separate from the body, but assume the shape and appearance of the sufferer. The condition was also known interchangeably as {{nihongo||影の病|kage no yamai|"shadow sickness"}}, alternately written as {{nihongo||カゲノワズライ|kage-no-wazurai}}.<ref name="konno-rikonbyo">{{Harvnb|Konno|1969|pp=12, 64–66}})</ref><ref name="hearn-rikombyo">{{citation|last=Hearn|first=Lafcadio|title=The Romance of the Milky Way: And Other Studies & Stories|publisher=Houghton, Mifflin|year=1905|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oQFEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA65|pages=60&ndash;64}}</ref>
This affliction is treated as an instance of {{transl|ja|ikiryō}} by folklorist Ensuke Konno in his chapter on the topic.<ref name="konno-rikonbyo"/> The case study example is that of Yūji Kita, doomed by the {{transl|ja|kage no yamai}} for three generations in succession, recorded in the {{Nihongo||奥州波奈志|Ōshu Banashi|"Far North Tales"}} by [[Tadano Makuzu]].
The identical double might be seen by the sufferer or be witnessed by others, and can be classed as a [[doppelgänger]] phenomenon.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hearn|1905|page=61}}</ref> Others have reported a sort of [[out-of-body experience]], whereby their consciousness inhabits the {{transl|ja|ikiryō}} to see their own lifeless body.<ref name="tada">{{Harvnb|Tada|2008|p=283}} {{in lang|ja}}</ref>
==Similar activity or phenomena==
The {{nihongo||[[:ja:丑の刻参り|丑の刻参り]]|[[ushi no koku mairi]]}} is, when one, in the hour of the ox (1 am to 3 am), strikes a nail in a sacred tree, and thus becomes an {{transl|ja|[[oni]]}} while alive, and using these {{transl|ja|oni}} powers, would inflict curses and calamity upon a rival. Although many {{transl|ja|ikiryō}} generally are spirits of humans that leave the body unconsciously and move about, deeds akin to performing magic rituals and intentionally tormenting a target can also be interpreted as {{transl|ja|ikiryō}}.<ref name="tada" /> In the same way, in the [[Okinawa Prefecture]], performing of a magic ritual with the intention of becoming an {{transl|ja|ikiryō}} is termed {{Interlanguage link multi|ichijama{{!}}''ichijama''|2=ja|3=いちじゃま|preserve=1}}.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Uezu |first=Hitoshi (上江洲均)|editor=Ōtsuka minzoku gakkai<!--大塚民俗学会-->|title=Nihon minzoku jiten |script-title=ja:日本民俗事典 |edition=Pocket |orig-date=1972 |year=1994 |publisher=Kōbundō ([[:ja:弘文堂|ja]]) |isbn=978-4-335-57050-6 |page=41 |trans-title=Japanese folk encyclopedia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Shimabukuro|1929}} |last=Shimabukuro |first=Genshichi (島袋源七)|editor=Ikeda Yasusaburō |editor-link=:ja:池田彌三郎 |title=Nihon minzokushi taikei<!--日本民俗誌大系--> |orig-date=1929|year=1974|publisher=Kadokawa |volume=1|isbn=978-4-04-530301-2|page=373|chapter=Sangen no dozoku|script-chapter=ja:山原の土俗|display-editors=etal}}</ref>
==See also==
* [[Astral projection]]
* [[Doppelgänger]]
* [[Eidolon]]
* [[Fetch (folklore)]]
* {{transl|ja|[[Goryō]]}}
* [[Out of body experience]]
* {{transl|ja|[[Onryō]]}}
* [[Soul]]
==Explanatory notes==
{{Notelist}}
==Citations==
{{Reflist|30em|refs=
<ref name="kojien">
{{Cite book|editor-last=Shinmura |editor-first=Izuru (新村出) |editor-link=Shinmura Izuru|title=Kojien|edition=4th|year=1991|publisher=[[Iwanami Shoten, Publishers|Iwanami]]|isbn=978-4-00-080101-0|page=122|title-link=Kojien }}
</ref>
}}
==References==
{{Refbegin}}
*{{Cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Ikeda|1959}} |last=Ikeda |first=Yasusaburō (池田彌三郎)|author-link=:ja:池田彌三郎 |title=Nihon no yūrei |script-title=ja:日本の幽霊 |orig-date=1959 |year=1978 |publisher=[[Chuokoron-Shinsha|Chuokoron]] |isbn=978-4-12-200127-5 |trans-title=Ghosts of Japan}}
*{{Cite book|last=Ōtō |first=Tokihiko (大藤時彦) |author-link=:ja:大藤時彦 |editor=民俗学研究所 |editor2=[[Kunio Yanagita|柳田國男]] |title=Sōgō nihon minzoku goi |script-title=ja:綜合日本民俗語彙|year=1955 |publisher=Heibonsha |volume=1 |id=BN05729787 |trans-title=Sogo Japanese folk vocabulary}}
*{{Cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Konno|1969}} |last=Konno |first=Ensuke (今野円輔) |title=Nihon kaidanshū; yūrei hen <!--日本怪談集 幽霊篇-->|orig-date=1969 |year=2004 |publisher=[[Chuokoron-Shinsha]] |volume=1 |isbn=978-4-12-204464-7 |trans-title=Japanese kaidan collection: ghosts|format=snippet|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BG8nAQAAIAAJ}}
**Chapter 1 {{nihongo|Sugata naki maboroshi|姿なきマボロシ||"Phantasm without visible form"}}, pp.&nbsp;11–36
**Chapter 2 {{nihongo|Hitodama kō|人魂考||"Thoughts on the soul flame"}}, pp.&nbsp;37–62
**Chapter 3 {{nihongo|Ikiryō no yūri|生霊の遊離||"Peregrination of the living soul"}}, pp.&nbsp;63–98
**Chapter 4 {{nihongo|Tamashī no wakare|たましいの別れ||"Souls bidding farewell"}}, pp.&nbsp;100–125
* {{Cite book|last=Tada |first=Katsumi (多田克己) |author-link=:ja:多田克己 |editor=Natsuhiko Kyogoku |editor-link=Natsuhiko Kyogoku |title=Yōkai gahon: kyōka hayakumonogatari |script-title=ja:妖怪画本 狂歌百物語 |year=2008 |publisher=Kokusho kankōkai ([[:ja:国書刊行会|ja]]) |isbn=978-4-3360-5055-7 |chapter=Chapter: Yōkai soran 妖怪総覧 |trans-title=[[Yōkai]] picture book: satirical [[Waka (poetry)|waka]] version [[Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai|Hyakumonogatari]]}}
*{{Cite book|editor-last=Takada |editor-first=Mamoru (高田衛) |editor-link=:ja:高田衛 |title=Edo Kaidanshū |script-title=ja:江戸怪談集 |year=1989  |publisher=[[Iwanami Shoten|Iwanami]] |volume=2 |isbn=978-4-00-302572-7 |chapter=Sorori monogatari 曾呂利物語 |trans-title=Edo ghost story collection}}
*{{Cite book|last=Visser |first=Marinus Willem de |title=Ancient Buddhism in Japan |place=Leiden |publisher=E.J. Brill |volume=1 |year=1935 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zbkUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA112}}
{{Refend}}
{{Japanese folklore long}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ikiryo}}
[[Category:Buddhist folklore]]
[[Category:Japanese ghosts]]
[[Category:Japanese folklore]]