Ikiryō , also known as shōryō (しょうりょう), seirei (せいれい), or ikisudama (いきすだま), is a disembodied spirit or ghost in Japanese popular belief and fiction that leaves the body of a living person and subsequently haunts other people or places, sometimes across great distances. The term(s) are used in contrast to shiryō, which refers to the spirit of those who are already deceased.
Ikiryō (生霊) from the 1776 book Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by Sekien Toriyama
Nihonga Honō (焔, Flame) by Uemura Shōen, 1918. Tokyo National Museum. This work was inspired by Lady Rokujō, the ikiryō from The Tale of Genji and the Noh play Aoi no Ue.
"Onna no Mōnen Mayoiaruku Koto" (女の妄念迷ひ歩く事) from the 1573 work Sorori Monogatari (曾呂利物語)
Rikonbyō (離魂病) from the Kyōka Hyaku Monogatari, illustrated by Masasumi Ryūkansaijin in 1853. The woman on the left is afflicted by the "soul separation illness", and her ikiryō appears next to her.
In Japanese traditional beliefs and literature, onryō are a type of ghost believed to be capable of causing harm in the world of the living, injuring or killing enemies, or even causing natural disasters to exact vengeance to "redress" the wrongs it received while alive, then taking their spirits from their dying bodies. Onryō are often depicted as wronged women, who are traumatized, envied, disappointed, bitter, or just furious by what happened during life and exact revenge in death. These kinds of ghosts appear extremely vengeful, ruthless, heartless, brutal, cruel, deranged, egotistical, selfish, bloodthirsty, and cold-hearted.
Ukiyo-e by Utagawa Yoshitsuya depicts the moment when Emperor Sutoku, who died in exile, became an onryō.
The headstone of Taira no Masakado, located between the skyscrapers of Ōtemachi near Tokyo Station, was renovated in 2021 when the surrounding skyscrapers were rebuilt, but the headstone was never moved.
Ukiyo-e by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi depicting Sugawara no Michizane as the Tenjin (kami of thunder.). After Sugawara no Michizane's death, lightning struck the palace, killing and injuring many of the powerful people involved in his banishment, and Sugawara no Michizane was enshrined in the Tenmangū (Shinto shrines) as the Tenjin.
Onryō from the Kinsei-Kaidan-Shimoyonohoshi (近世怪談霜夜星)