For more detailed information and diagnosis results about 古戦場火（伝統形）, please click here.
Battlefield Will-o'-Wisp
koh-SEN-joh-bee
Also Known As
Battlefield Fire
Category
Demons & Giants
Personality
Origin
Old battlefields across Japan (e.g., Wakae in Kawachi Province)
Battlefield Will-o'-Wisp
koh-SEN-joh-bee
Basic Description
Battlefield Will-o'-Wisp refers to ghost lights that gather over killing grounds where many fell. They drift softly, and in great numbers cast a pale glow across the fields. Said to be fires exuded by the grudges of fallen soldiers and horses, they are depicted in Toriyama Sekien’s Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki as flames rising from blood spilled on the earth. Reliable tales of harm are rare; witnesses are said to recite a Buddhist chant and quietly depart.
Folklore & Legends
The early Edo ghost-story collection Shūchin-sō records that after the Summer Siege of Osaka, a great strange fire appeared, vanished, and wandered over the paddies at Tanoue in Wakae, Kawachi (there called simply “fire”). Sekien later popularized Battlefield Will-o'-Wisp as a generic name for such lights at battle sites. They were often seen alongside headless warriors searching for their severed heads, though detailed accounts of injury or attack are scarce.
Detailed Analysis
Interested in this type of yokai?
Discover the yokai most similar to your personality with our yokai diagnosis