A-Yokai-A-Day: Reiki | 妖怪シリーズ:霊鬼

This week I wanted to look at a few oni, the quintessential Japanese demons, which haven’t had much of a showcase on this blog yet, but are one of the largest group of monsters in Japanese folklore. Today’s entry is the ghost of a dead oni, in an excerpt from The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons.

Reiki

Reiki

Reiki 霊鬼

Translation: ogre spirit, demon ghost
Habitat: any; usually haunts the area near its body
Diet: none

Appearance: Though some oni can be killed by man-made weapons and others die of natural causes, they do not always peacefully pass on to the next life. Some still have unfinished business or karma left to burn off, while others die such violent or passionate deaths that the soul becomes disjointed at the moment of death and they remain in the human world as a demon ghost. Reiki, written by combining the characters for “spirit” and “demon,” are the ghosts of oni unable to pass on to the afterlife. Reiki appear as they did before death, though they are often accompanied by an aura or an eerie glow. They are semi-transparent like ghosts, and they often gain additional supernatural powers in addition to the magic they knew in life.

Behavior: Reiki have only one motivation: revenge. They seek to bring suffering to the person or people they feel are responsible for their death, or to those who stood against them in life. They can haunt for centuries, following a target, or else attaching themselves to a particular area – often their own grave site – and assaulting those who come near. These hauntings usually persist until exorcised by a powerful Buddhist priest.

Legends: There are fewer stories about reiki than about oni, but the stories that exist tell of powerful spirits even more fearsome than their living counterparts. One of the most well-known reiki legends takes place at Gangō-ji, a temple in Nara. A mysterious force was haunting the temple’s bell tower and murdering children every night. The force was so powerful that not even the most powerful priests could identify it, let alone exorcise it. In a story reminiscent of the adventures of Hercules, only the son of a god was strong enough to track down and defeat the demon ghost, saving the children of the temple.


Do you like Japanese ghosts and demons? Are you a fan of strange Japanese horror? Then get my book, The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons from Amazon.com today! | 今週はちょと鬼を見てみようと思います。ブログの方では鬼の紹介は少なかったですね。しかし鬼は日本の言い伝えの中でもとても大きな集団ですから是非いくつかご紹介したいと思います。今日の妖怪は私の本(The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons)から死んだ鬼のゴーストです。

Reiki

Reiki

Reiki 霊鬼

生息地: どこにでも; 大抵はその体の近くに出現する
食べ物: なし

外見: 鬼は人間の作った武器によって殺されたり自然に死んだりするが、彼らの魂は単純にそのままあの世へ行く事はない。ある鬼はやるべき事や因縁を残していたり、またある鬼は残酷な方法で殺されたために魂が鬼の霊となり現世に留まっているのである。

霊鬼は死ぬ前と同じように行動をするが、生前と違うのは彼らの周りにはオーラのような光が湧いている所である。彼らは幽霊のように半分透けており、生前には持っていた力に加えて不思議な妖力を使えるようになっているのだという。

習性: 霊鬼は復讐することに執着している。彼らは生前の敵や自らを死に追いやった人間の死を望み、何世紀にもわたって標的を追ったり特定の場所(多くは本体のある所)にて誰かが来るのを待つのである。彼らは強力な僧による除霊がない限り、その場所にとり憑くといわれている。

伝説: 霊鬼にまつわる話は鬼に比べるととても少ないが、生きている鬼よりも恐ろしいものである。霊鬼に関する有名な話の一つに元興寺の伝説がある。これは不思議な力による子供殺しが、毎夜奈良県にある寺で行われた話である。強力な僧侶にも見つけられなかったもだが神の子によって倒された有名な話しである。


他の妖怪にも興味をもっていただけたなら、是非アマゾンから「The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons(百鬼夜行)」をどうぞ!

3 thoughts on “A-Yokai-A-Day: Reiki | 妖怪シリーズ:霊鬼

  1. Oni eh? Does that mean you’ll be covering Shuten-dōji and Ibaraki-dōji? Can’t look at Oni ad not have thair leader, am I right? I just got the DVD of Takashi Miike’s “The Great Yōkai War” so I think I’ll watch that around Halloween.

  2. I’m doing Shuten-dōji next 😉 but I won’t be doing Ibaraki-dōji this time around.

    That is an excellent movie, but the way. I love it!

  3. Pingback: A-Yokai-A-Day: Ikiryō | MatthewMeyer.net

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