Korōka (Ancient Lantern Fire)Sekien’s Koro-bi (Ancient Lantern-Fire)

A version reinterpreting Toriyama Sekien’s fusion of a stone lantern and will-o’-the-wisp, casting it as a fire spirit dwelling in the lantern. When old courtyard or temple lanterns go long unused, a thin flame is said to rise at night, flickering as if lingering over the places it once lit. Historically, Sekien’s illustration and note form the core record, with little tied to specific locales or figures. It influenced later ghostly retellings, but firsthand accounts are scarce, so it is treated as a symbolic yokai of “the memory of light.”