Yurei: 7 Japanese Ghosts & Their Tales That Will Keep You Up At Night

Obon holidays are close but the air is already filled with mystical and inexplicable eerie notes. Summer foliage is fluttering, but you’re stuporous and afraid to look at the trees because you know—there’s no wind outside...

If you high-key like when chills run down your spine, let us introduce you to yurei—the vast category of Japanese folklore that includes internationally famous legends about revengeful and spiteful ghosts. Unlike some stories about yokai (supernatural monsters), which mostly tend to be playful and hilarious, these Japanese ghosts and their tales are more sorrowful and uncanny and probably will make you feel uneasy.

1. Goryo: The Noble Dead

Literally translated as “honorable spirit,” goryo are ghosts from the aristocratic class who suffered tormented and agonizing deaths. The first mention of them goes back to the Heian period. They are believed to be “the spirits of powerful lords, who have been wronged, that were capable of catastrophic vengeance.” Existing solely for vengeance, goryo are a type of ghost that chases after those who wronged them during their life. They’ll wreak havoc on them, causing calamities and disasters.

The Tale of Tenjin

A brilliant scholar and loyal official, Michizane had served the imperial court with unmatched wisdom. But jealousy runs deep among men, and the powerful Fujiwara clan, fearing his rise, whispered lies into the emperor’s ear. Branded a traitor, Michizane was banished, left to die in distant obscurity.

But death did not silence him. Not long after, storms unlike any seen before struck the capital. Thunder cracked the heavens. Rain poured until streets became rivers, and lightning set the palace ablaze. Fire and flood ravaged the city. Then, as if guided by unseen hands, the Fujiwara chief perished. Soon after, the emperor’s beloved crown prince also fell.

Panic swept the court. The signs were clear: Michizane’s soul had become a goryo. To soothe him, Emperor Daigo reversed the exile, burned the decree that damned him, and restored Michizane’s titles. But it wasn’t enough.

Only when the people raised shrines in his honor and prayed to him as Tenjin-sama—the heavenly deity—did the storms begin to fade. And so, the wronged man became a god, watching from the skies over poets, scholars and seekers of justice ever since.

2. Onryo: The Rage Of The Dead

Onryo are Japanese ghosts with vengeful spirits. Still, unlike goryo, which are not necessarily wrathful spirits, the onryo are almost always malicious ghosts. They die full of anger and only return to scare the living to death and take their souls. Victims of domestic abuse or women martyred by wicked stalkers or maniacs will most likely turn into onryo in the afterlife. This category also serves as a staple for J-horror movies. Onryo appears as the renowned Kayako from The Grudge or Sadako from The Ring.

Beware Of Weeping Women

It is said that when an onryo decides to reveal itself, a heavy shadow falls upon the unlucky soul. At first, you might notice a sudden wave of nausea, a pounding headache, and a tightness in your chest, as if the air itself grows thick and suffocating.

Passing by, you may glimpse a collapsed woman, slumped in the shadows, appearing unconscious and fragile. But approach too closely, and the eerie silence breaks with soft weeping and low groans. Her lips part to whisper words you cannot understand—words that chill the very marrow of your bones.

Then, without warning, she rises, levitating toward you, arms outstretched, desperate to grasp your head. Thick, tangled hair falls over you like a shroud, drowning you in darkness. The weight of her presence brings unbearable pain, and those who are caught in her grasp soon succumb, their lives claimed by the relentless curse of the onryo.

3. Ubume: The Burden Of Mothers

Ubume is the ghost of a woman who died during childbirth—sometimes with her baby, sometimes leaving the child behind. Her spirit returns to the world of the living, driven by a mother’s final wish: to protect or find safety for her child. She’s often seen as a pale, sorrowful woman cradling a baby in her arms. In many tales, she hands the baby to a passerby before vanishing. But when the person looks down, they find only a heavy stone or a bundle of leaves.

In more unsettling versions of the legend, Ubume appears soaked in blood, wearing only a tattered koshimaki (stomach wrap), endlessly carrying the underdeveloped remains of her unborn child.

A Mother’s Will

In the dead of night, she appears on quiet streets, cradling her newborn in trembling arms. Driven by a mother’s devotion, she will wander into shops to buy food for her child. The shopkeeper, moved by her desperation, takes her payment, only to discover later that the coins have turned into dry leaves.

Some say Ubume can be found at temple gates or lonely crossroads, lingering just long enough to guide someone toward her hidden child. Her hope is haunting yet straightforward: that someone, anyone, will care for the baby she can no longer protect.

4. Shiryo: Deader Than Dead

Shiryo are the Japanese ghosts of those who have just left this world. There’s a kanji 死 (shi) in this word that means “death”. It strongly hints that this sort of yurei is not to be romanticized or taken as mystically attractive. Shiryo usually appear right after death, commonly to say one last goodbye to their relatives. However, sometimes things turn out differently. Shiryo may appear not only for a final farewell but also to take their beloved along with them.

Daddy Issues

A girl was left alone after the abrupt death of her father. She was grieving and devastated. One night, her father’s spirit visits her. Unfortunately, he had come not to say goodbye but to drag his precious daughter into the world of the dead.

Despite friends and acquaintances agreeing to stay overnight to watch over her, the ghost of her father kept appearing. For a while, he kept returning, disturbing and scaring the heck out of everyone. Over time, as suddenly as they’d come, the visits stopped, as did the girl’s heart.

5. Funayurei: Ship Ghosts

According to some legends, Funayurei are remnants of those who sank in shipwrecks and crave vengeance for their deaths. Trying to take the living away with them, Funayurei causes sea storms or damages ships. They are usually depicted as scaly fish-like men with droopy eyes and a deformed head. They appear in the sea, standing on a ghost ship blazing in the foggy night and willing to expand their gruesome crew.

Creating A Crew

They say that once the funayurei spot the bow of your ship rising through the mist, there is no turning back. The spirits of those lost at sea, pale and soaked, begin to gather—silent at first, then all at once, rushing toward the deck in a frenzy. With each ghostly form that climbs aboard, their number seems to double, and panic takes hold of the living crew. Desperate to escape, the sailors jerk the ship too sharply, only to find themselves sinking beneath the waves, claimed by the same fate as the spirits before them.

But not all hope is lost. Old seafarers whisper that tossing food into the sea might distract the funayurei. They say the spirits will go for the offerings instead of the living, though few believe it truly works. After all, the dead are rarely so easily satisfied.

6. Fudakaeshi: The Persuasive

Fudakaeshi are notorious for their ability to persuade people to remove their protective charms against fuda (ghosts) and let vengeful spirits in. They were first described in Kyoka Hyaku Monogatari, a collection of comical poems about Japanese ghosts from the late Edo period. Being yurei themselves, fudakaeshi can not touch or remove protective fuda, but by tempting or bribing foolish and greedy people, they achieve this goal and can attack their poor victims. Fudakaeshi usually appears as a long-haired, semi-transparent woman clad in a kimono.

Botan no Doro (The Tale of the Peony Lantern)

They say the fudakaeshi was once a ghost with the heart of a woman still beating inside her. Night after night, she stood outside the home of the man she loved, unable to cross the threshold. Sacred talismans hung above his door—charms meant to keep spirits like her at bay.

But love, even in death, can be persistent. Night after night, she whispered to him through the paper screens, pleading softly: “Just remove the charm, and let me in.” Moved by her voice, the man eventually gave in. He peeled away the protection, and with a rustle of wind, she entered.

That night, they were lovers at last—her touch cold as river stones, her gaze full of longing. But by morning, the man lay pale and lifeless. His spirit had been drained, drawn into the embrace of the one who could never let him go.

7. Suppon No Yurei: A Ghost On Your Plate

Yurei are usually Japanese ghosts of dead people who long for an act of vengeance, but sometimes it could be a spirit of something you’ve just ingested! Suppon no yurei are softshell turtles that are coming back to haunt humans who are involved in the selling, eating and catching activities of suppon turtles.

Softshell Son

Long ago, in a quiet village by the water, there lived a man who made his living catching softshell turtles prized for their meat. Day after day, he pulled them from the river, selling them at market without a second thought. But the turtles did not go quietly.

Soon, his nights were filled with dread. Pale, long-legged spirits began to appear at the foot of his bed—ghosts with slick skin and swollen lips, silently watching him with mournful eyes. No matter how tightly he locked his doors, they returned every night.

When his son was born, the horror deepened. The child’s face bore a terrible likeness to the creatures he had once caught—wide, glistening eyes, lips drawn into a pointed snout, and fingers webbed like the feet of a turtle. Worst of all, the baby could not eat human food. Only worms passed through his strange, gaping mouth.

Some say it was a curse from the suppon spirits. Others call it a warning: take too much from nature, and nature may take something in return.

You never know when one of these Japanese ghosts may appear, so it’s best to keep a protective charm close.