A Yūrei - Japanese Ghost - Gouache And Ink Meiji Period - Japan

total height 190 cm - Total width 66 + tips - drawing 53 x 136 cm. gouache mounted on kakemono - wear on the hair. This is a yūrei-zu representation of a ghost, a genre reaching a peak of popularity at the end of the 19th century. Yūrei is one of the many Japanese words designating spiritual beings. In Japan, belief in the supernatural comes from various influences such as Buddhism, Taoism, and especially Shintoism, an animist religion postulating the presence of millions of omnipresent spirits in the physical world. The souls of those who die violently do not receive funeral rites, do not join the spirits of their ancestors in the afterlife. Instead, their souls wander, consumed by a desire for revenge. The yūrei are depicted as skeletal, in white funeral kimono (katabira), with long, disheveled hair. They appear to float above the ground. These ghosts often appear at night, and haunt specific places linked to their life or death. To appease a yūrei, Buddhist or Shinto rituals are often practiced.