Undead & Vengeful Spirits

Drowned souls demanding a ladle from passing ships, then using it to sink them.

A colossal skeleton of war-dead grudges, stalking at night to bite off heads.

The wrathful spirit of a person who died unjustly — executed, exiled, or destroyed by political intrigue. Appeasement through enshrinement as a deity became the foundation of a major Heian religious tradition.

A glowing ball of blue-white fire believed to be the soul of a dying or deceased person, separating from the body and drifting through the night air. Seeing a hitodama is considered an omen of death.

A supernatural skeleton that assembles itself from scattered bones and moves with mechanical, puppet-like animation. Best known from Hokusai's famous woodblock print of a giant skeleton confronting terrified humans at the ruins of Soma Palace.

A female skeleton ghost whose obsessive love survives death. She returns nightly to the man she loved in life, appearing beautiful until her true form is revealed.

A tree that grew on an ancient battlefield, absorbed so much spilled blood that it became a yokai — now luring travelers close and draining them dry with its grasping branches.

A fire demon that steals corpses from funerals, appearing as a blazing wheel or a monstrous cat. Rooted in Buddhist hell imagery, it has haunted Japanese funeral rites since the Heian period.

A ghostly driverless ox-cart said to haunt the streets of the Heian capital, drifting through the night trailing a scent of decay.