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ANGRY GHOSTS
An element of Japanese superstition that reemerges
continuously is the notion that the final thought or emotion
of a dying person determines his or her eternal fate. While
this seems in some ways tied to Buddhist principles
of Karma, in Japanese tales it most often involves
Shinto notions of lingering ghosts whose last breath in
anguish results in terrorized haunting.
The Japanese believe that they are surrounded by spirits
all the time. According to the Japanese Shinto faith, after
death a human being becomes a spirit, sometimes a deity. It
is believed that eight million deities inhabit the heavens
and the earth - the mountains, the forests, the seas, and
the very air that is breathed. Traditions tell us that these
deities have two souls: one gentle (nigi-mi-tama), and the
other violent (ara-mi-tama). |
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The Japanese believe that after death all spirits
are angry and impure. Traditionally, rituals are performed for seven
years to purify and pacify the soul. In this way the person becomes
a spirit. According to belief, a spirit wanders between the land of
the living and the world of shadows. For this reason, prayers are
offered to insure passage to the Land of the Dead.
If the soul of the dead is not purified, it can
return to the land of the living in the guise of a ghost. Also, if a
dead person is not delivered, through prayer, from personal emotions
such as jealousy, envy or anger, the spirit can return in a ghostly
guise. The ghost haunts the place where it lived and persecutes
those responsible for his or her bitter fate. The ghost will remain
until released from its suffering through the good intents of a
living person who prays that the soul of the dead may ascend.
For o'er thy head
the dark cloud rolls,
Black as thy blasted pride.
How deep the angry tempest growls
Along the mountain's side!
Joanna Baillie (1762-1851),
Poems (1790)
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