The image of the ikiryō holds two faces: a curse born of resentment, and gentler visitations tied to parting before death or to acts of gratitude. In Heian beliefs, overpowering thought left the body as a “shadow,” appearing at bedchambers, ox-drawn carriages, or gates. In the medieval and early modern eras, scenes witnessed in dreams, will-o’-the-wisps, and flying heads were taken as proof of the soul’s separation. In medical views it was classed as a disorder of the departing soul or of the shadow, with reports of people seeing their own double. The cursing rite of the Hour of the Ox is often linked as a willed sending of intent by the living, though not identical. Regional lore varies in name and form, with some places recording it as a footfall-making human shadow. Overall, it is understood as the coagulation of thought taking shape, a spiritual action of the living set against the dead.