Tonight’s tale comes from volume ten of Mimibukuro. It deals with a shiryō, which is a word that could just as easily be translated as “ghost,” but I prefer to use the Japanese for yokai/ghosts when there’s no overly compelling reason to translate the word. Shiryō literally means “dead spirit,” and it is one of the many terms used to describe ghosts in Japanese. It is contrasted mainly with ikiryō, or “living spirit”—a ghost that manifests out of a person’s strong emotions while that person is still living.
A Strange Tale of a Shiryō
This is a story from Shitaya or Asakusa. I’d heard the name before, but I have forgotten it. It is said there was a family whose members had been dying young for generations and the line was passed down through adopted heirs—and only a single daughter of the family’s bloodline remained. Everybody cherished this daughter, but she unexpectedly fell ill. The doctors did everything in their power, and prayers and offerings were made, but these had no effect.
One night, well after dark, a young monk whom nobody had ever seen before came to the house and announced: “I served the master of this house three generations ago. I committed a minor offense and was shamefully killed for it. Even after that, I was unjustly denied a proper funeral. My grudge remains unresolved, and I have cursed this family ever since—so that now this girl is all that is left of the bloodline. Soon I shall take her life as well.”
The family members said they heard this as if it were a dream. They replied, “That may be the case, but so many months and years have already passed since then. Even if this girl should die now, we do not understand how that would resolve your deep grudge.”
“Then hold a memorial service for me. My grave is crude, but it is located at Gyokurinji in San’ya,” he said, and then vanished.
The next day, they sent someone to Gyokurinji to search for the place the young monk had described. It is said that when they performed a generous memorial service, miraculously, the daughter’s sickness was immediately cured.
Perhaps this was all a plan devised by the man they saw in the dream.
