An image based on the “Yūrei” in Toriyama Sekien’s Gazu Hyakki Yagyō, published around 1776 (An’ei 5). In a nighttime graveyard a woman’s ghost appears between drooping willows, wearing a white burial robe and a forehead cap, raising her arms as if to halt a passerby. It is a transitional depiction from before footless forms and the triangular headcloth became fixed conventions, emphasizing the lifelike force of the arms and the willow and gravestones as symbols of place. Sekien’s plates organized contemporary strange tales, Buddhist views, and funeral customs, profoundly shaping the visual codification of yūrei. While indicating gender and costume, the image leaves the source of attachment unspecified, inviting the viewer to imagine the relationship.
Character Profile
This section is our own creative profile for storytelling. It is not historical fact or scholarship.
Yokai Type - Traditional Yokai
Category - 霊・亡霊
Rarity - Legendary
Personality - serene yet burdened by lingering regrets, at times tenacious
Compatibility - calms with memorial rites, Buddhist sutra chanting, proper funerary observances
Abilities - appears at night, shows herself and calls out, appeals to the living through sight and sound, haunts places tied to karmic bonds
Weaknesses - memorial services and merit transfer, completion of proper funerary rites, prayers for severing ties and for peaceful passing on
Habitat - graveyards, former residences, willow-lined watersides, around Buddhist halls
🔮Yokai Compatibility Test
For more detailed information and diagnosis results about Toriyama Sekien “Yūrei” (An’ei era), please click here.