The onryō is a staple of the J-Horror genre, most notable being Sadako Yamamura and Kayako Saeki from the Ring and Ju-On franchises, respectively. The characters in these works are …

Onryō inflict a terrible curse on the people or places that they haunt. This curse can be transmitted to others like a contagious disease, creating a circle of death and destruction far more …

Oct 27, 2020 · Wrathful ghosts, to be terribly feared, onryō are driven by the desire to get even for some perceived wrong, going so far as to cause natural disasters to get their way. This desire …

The Onryō: Vengeful Spirits in Japanese Folklore Within the mystical realm of traditional Japanese folklore, the Onryō, notoriously known as vengeful spirits, relentlessly pursue justice …

Jul 20, 2024 · The onryō is the vengeful spirit of someone who has died a wrongful death, was wronged in life, or died with unresolved anger and therefore spends the afterlife focused on …

An onryō is a vengeful spirit born from an untimely or unjust death, or a living person’s overwhelming grudge that manifests harm. From antiquity through the medieval era, disasters …

Jun 24, 2025 · This is the Onryō (怨霊) – Japan’s iconic vengeful ghost. More than just a scary story, the Onryō embodies deep cultural fears about injustice, unresolved trauma, and the …

Onryō (怨霊) means “vengeful spirit” in Japanese. These ghosts return from the afterlife to exact revenge on those who wronged them in life. Appears in Heian period ghost stories and …

Onryō (怨霊) is a mythological spirit from Japanese folklore who is able to return to the physical world in order to seek vengeance. While male onryō can be found, mainly in kabuki, the …

Mythical Attributes: Onryō are vengeful spirits capable of causing harm in the world of the living to exact revenge. Role in Mythos: Onryō are spirits that come back from the afterlife, often due to …