Onryo 怨霊 (Vengeful Spirit)

Onryo 怨霊 (Vengeful Spirit)

The vengeful spirits of the Heike clan

Yokai is a generic Japanese term for spirits, ghosts and other entities that exist in Japanese Folklore. There are many spirits that can be categorised under the word Yokai, including Onryo which when translated means vengeful spirit. I chose to mention Onryo because I feel that it relates closely to my project on urban myths in recent US horror. In the American adaptation of The Ring, the spirit shown, I feel, matches the characteristics of the Japanese Onryo.

The full meaning of Onryo is debated but from the research I have done, I discovered that Onryo is a deceased individual who died as a result of a dramatic or unjust death. The spirit would then show wrath and anger by returning to the real-world in order to cause suffering in revenge of its original death. Many Japanese still believe in such spirits and can be fearful or honourable of them.

Onryo also appears in other stories most notably in Suppon on Onryo which is a story where hundreds of turtles crush a fisherman in revenge for their slaughtering. The onryo spirit is usually represented in stories by natural elements such as animals and natural disasters.