Japanese Folklore: Ghosts, Yuki-Onna & Vengeful Spirits

What happens when the dead have unfinished business? In this episode, we dive into three haunting Japanese folktales filled with ghosts, secrets, and supernatural encounters. 

We will hear the tragic story of O-Sono and the secret letter she couldn’t leave behind, encounter the chilling Yuki-Onna, and explore a bizarre tale of vengeance, ghosts, and severed heads. 

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Resources: 

Tales of Japan, Illustrated By: Kotaro Chiba 

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:03

Hello everyone and welcome. My name is Clarissa, and this is The Mythic Atlas, a podcast where we dive into the world of mythology, legends, and mystery. Today is Friday, which means we will be discussing folklore. Specifically, we're talking about Japanese folklore, and I wanted to give a disclaimer that I am going to do my absolute best to pronounce everything correctly. But if I do mispronounce a name or a word or a place, please let me know and just know I am so so sorry. If you have any recommendations for an episode topic, please DM me on Instagram at th.mythic.atlas. Chatting with you guys has been a highlight of my day. If you like this episode, please feel free to leave me a review, a rating, and share with anyone who you also think would love this. And if you're on YouTube, like and subscribe. I really appreciate everyone who's been tuning in for the past few weeks. I spent all my free time working on these episodes, so I'm really glad that everybody's liking them. I started this podcast thinking that it wouldn't go anywhere, and I was honestly just kind of releasing episodes and shouting into the void. And honestly, I've racked up a couple listeners that are really enjoying it, and that just means a lot to me. I hope I can continue to grow this and do this for a really long time. But without further ado, let's get into the actual episode. Part one: A Dead Secret. Many years ago in the Providence of Tamba lived a rich merchant by the name of Inamaria Gensuke and his daughter Osono. Her father thought that she was too pretty and too smart for basic teachers to teach her, so he sent her to Kyoto so that she could be trained in pleasantries that were taught to the ladies of the capital. After she had been trained, she got married to a family friend by the name of Naguraya. They had a child together, and unfortunately, Osono died in the fourth year of their marriage. Honestly, I wasn't expecting someone to die in the first few minutes of this episode, but here we are. On the night of the funeral, Osono's son said that she was back and that she was waiting upstairs for everyone. She smiled at him but didn't say a word, and that scared him, so he ran away. Some of the family went upstairs to check out what was going on, and lo and behold, there was Osono lit up by the light of the lamp. Her head and shoulders were visible, but her bottom half kind of just faded away into mist. Obviously, the family was scared, so they went back downstairs because they were like, I'm not dealing with that tonight. Osono's husband said that she loved her items, so it's possible that she came back to see them, and that they should bring them to the parish temple to burn them so that she could finally move on. And that's exactly what they did. But that night Osono came back, and then she came back the next night, and then the night after that, and she was just continuing to come back every single night. Everyone was scared, and honestly, I can't blame them. There's a ghost in the house. Osono's mother-in-law went to the parish temple to talk to the head priest and asked for ghostly counsel. He said that the reason that she might be coming back and being in that specific room is because there's something there that's giving her anxiety. And Osono's mother-in-law explains that there's literally nothing in that room besides a dresser. And everything in the dresser had been brought to the parish temple, so she doesn't understand what could be in there that is causing her anxiety. The priest says that he will come over that night and sit in that room and wait for her, and no one will come in unless he calls for them specifically. After some time of sitting and waiting, lo and behold, Osono shows up. He set a holy formula to her that had been created long ago just for times like these. He also tells her that he has come to help her and that there may be something that's causing her great anxiety. He opened up the chest that she'd been staring at all of this time and rummaged through it and couldn't find anything. So he started ripping up the paper that was at the bottom of the drawers, and at the last drawer, he finds a letter. He shows it to her and he says, Is this what you have been looking for? Is this what you need? She just stared at him. He then asked if she would like him to burn it for her, and she bowed in response. He promised her that he would burn it the next morning and no one would know about the letter, nor would read it. Besides him, of course, he's going to read it. He went to the parish temple and burned it the next morning, and she never returned. And I'm sure you're wondering what was in the letter. The letter was a love letter back from when she was spending time in Kyoto. The priest forever kept her secret. Nobody knew about the letter, nobody knew anything. This story actually gives me chills. Like it's so beautiful and haunting, and also just really sad. I don't know. I just feel so many emotions about that story. I was reading it and writing this episode and I was tearing up. I was like, this is this is a story, that's for sure. Part 2. Yukiyana. In the village of Musashi lived two woodcutters by the names of Mosaku and Munukichi. Musaku was an elderly man, and Monokichi was his apprentice. Every day they went to the forest, and to get to the forest, they had to cross a river. There was a ferry boat with a ferryman that drove the boat. They had made numerous bridges over that river, but the river kept crashing those bridges down. It just didn't like him, I guess, and I feel like that's trying to tell you something, bud. Mosaku and Munokichi were on their way home one night and a blizzard came out of absolute nowhere. They reached where the ferry had been just to come to find out that the boat was literally on the other side and the ferryman was nowhere to be found. So they proceeded to take shelter in the ferryman's hut just until the blizzard passed. There was no place in the hut to make a fire, so they decided to just lay down, try to sleep, and they used their straw coats as blankets. At first they weren't very cold and they just assumed that the storm would be over quite soon. Musaku fell asleep relatively quickly, but Munokichi did not. He kept hearing the snow and the wind hit the door, so he was just not having a fun time. The blizzard continued to rage, and eventually Monokichi fell asleep. He woke up abruptly because snow was falling on his face, and when he got up and looked around, he found that the door had been busted open and a woman in all white was standing inside. She was leaning over Musaku, breathing in his face. She then looked over to see Munokichi staring at her and got in his face to do the exact same thing. He tried to scream, but nothing was able to come out of his mouth. He couldn't move, anything. She explained to him that she wanted to do to him what she just did to Musaku. But she feels sorry for him because he's so young, and she decides that she will not kill him at this moment. But she does tell him that he can never tell anyone what he saw here that night, and if he does, she will kill him. And with that, she left. Munukichi was able to move again and speak again, and he kind of just felt like it was all a dream. He called out to Mosaku to tell him about this crazy dream that he just had, but he didn't get a response. He touched Musaku's face to realize that he had turned into complete ice. I honestly didn't know there was gonna be so many deaths in these stories, so I'm I'm sorry about that. By dawn, the storm had subsided and the ferryman came back. He returned to seeing Munokichi lying directly next to Mosaku's frozen body. That is so freaking sad. Monokichi was cared for and returned home, but he stayed sick for a while just because of how cold that night was. And once he felt better, he continued his legacy and went to the forest to retrieve wood to sell. In the winter the following year, Munokichi was walking home and he ran into a girl who decided to walk and chat with her, and she told him that her name was Oyuki. And just a heads up for some context, y'all, her name plainly means snow. She told him that she had lost both of her parents and that she was headed off to Yeado to hopefully find a job to be a servant. He was completely captivated by this girl, so much so that he asked her if she was married. She responded that she was not and then asked him if he was married. He explained to her that he wasn't married, but he had to support his mother, so he didn't really have time for the whole marriage thing. By the time they had reached the village, Munokichi grew quite fond of her and asked her if she wanted to come to his home. She was a little shy at first, but she said yes eventually. Monokichi's mother ended up making them all a warm meal and she expressed to him that she really liked Oyuki. She even tried to convince her to delay her journey. Oyuki ended up staying there, and later on, her and Monokichi got married. Five years after they got married, the mother ended up falling sick, and on her deathbed, she was talking about how much she loves Oyuki and how she's so grateful for everything that she has done for this family. Oyuki and Monokichi ended up having 10 children together. And even after many years and 10 children, she didn't ever seem to age, which is kind of suspicious if we think about it. One night after all of the littles had gone to bed, Oyuki was sewing, and Monokichi said that he reminded her of someone that he met years ago on a really strange night. He continued to mention how the woman looked very similar to her, and then proceeded to tell the story of what happened that night. Oyuki threw her sewing project on the ground, got up and started screaming in his face that that was her, that she was the one that did that. And then reminded him that if he ever spoke about it, she was going to kill him. But since the children were in the house and that they were sleeping, she would not kill him at this time. And that he better take great care of those kids, because if she finds out that he's not, he's a goner. And as she was screaming at him, she turned into a bright white mist, went straight through the roof, and was never to be seen again. I mean that must be a great thing to explain to your children when they wake up. Oh yeah, your mom, she's not coming back anymore. Why? Um, she turned into a bright white mist and kind of just like left. I just want to know if that means that he can talk about what happened or if it still has to stay a secret. Because how are you supposed to explain that to your kids? You let me know though. Is he allowed to talk about it? I want to know. I'm curious. Part 3. Diplomacy. One last story before I send you on your way. These have been so fun to read and write for y'all, so I hope you're enjoying them as much as I am. An execution had been ordered to take place in the garden of Yashiki. So a man was taken there and forced to kneel down. Retainers brought buckets of water as well as rice bags filled with pebbles that they set up all around him so that he was unable to move. The master came in to continue with the execution process, and the man cried out that it was not his fault. He's just dumb and he didn't mean to do it. And the only reason he gives for being dumb is because of his karma. In this version, karma is being used as a consequence for one's actions in a past life or this life, but it can be used in different ways across different parts of Asia. And I'm sure you're wondering, well, what did he do that was so bad? And the answer to that is I don't know, they don't tell us in this story. That's not the point of the story. The man argues that killing him for just being kind of dumb is ridiculous. And if they do proceed to kill him, he will go and avenge himself. It also states in the story that if anyone is killed holding deep resentment, that their ghost can come back and basically avenge them. So that's what he's feigning. The master knew this and he responded by saying that I he doesn't think the man is holding that much deep resentment. So he's chilling, he's gonna be fine. He says he's still going to cut off his head, but if it is true that he's holding that much resentment, then when the head falls, it should bite onto the stone that is right below him. The man responds back saying that he will bite the stone and basically just screams that over and over and over again until he is eventually beheaded. And just as he says he would, he bites the stone. Everyone was kind of freaked out by this, except for the master. He didn't really seem to care. He simply held out his sword to be washed and dried and went on his merry way. For months, everyone lived in fear that the ghost would come back and seek its vengeance. Once again, except for the master. But everyone else was so scared that they were even plotting to kill the master so that they didn't have to think about this ghost coming to get them. The master walked in on all of their plotting and he explained that in order for the spirit to be vengeful and want to come back and kill you, it had to be holding deep-seated resentment at the time of the death. And by telling the man to bite the rock, the guy's last thought wasn't about his deep-seated resentment. It was about how am I gonna bite this rock. And alas, nothing ever happened to any of them. All is well. We just have to exclude the guy that got his head jumped off. Part 4. The beginning of the end. This episode had a lot of death in it, and that was not done on purpose. That kind of just happened. But I guess it's nice when everything kind of ties into an overarching theme. With that all being said, I really hope you enjoyed this episode. I really enjoyed all the stories in this one, so this was a treat to create. If you like this podcast, please give me a rating and a review. And if you're on YouTube, like and subscribe. Follow me on other platforms to keep up with me and the podcast. And if you would like to support me on this journey at all, I will have my Venmo linked in my description, as well as an Amazon wishlist filled with books. Stay tuned for Monday's episode where we discuss Medusa from Greek mythology, Mondays are for myths, Wednesdays are for mythical stories, and Fridays are for folklore. The book I used in this episode will be credited in the description, so if you're interested in these stories and all and want to know more, it will be in the description. I truly hope you enjoyed listening to this episode for however long it ends up being. Right now, my recording is at 32 minutes, so we'll see how long it is. And I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day. You have been listening to The Mythic Atlas hosted by Clarissa.