Onryō

In traditional beliefs of Japan and in literature, onryō (, literally "vengeful spirit", sometimes rendered "wrathful spirit") refers to a ghost (yūrei) believed capable of causing harm in the world of the living, harming or killing enemies, or even causing natural disasters to exact vengeance to redress the wrongs it received while alive then takes their spirits from their dying bodies.

The term overlaps somewhat with goryō (御霊^?), except that in the cult of the goryō, the acting agent need not necessarily be a wrathful spirit.

While the origin of onryō is unclear, their existence can be traced back to the 8th century and was based on the idea that powerful and enraged souls of the dead could influence or harm the living people. The earliest onryō cult that developed around Prince Nagaya who died in 729; and the first record of possession by the onryō spirit affecting the health is found in the chronicle Shoku Nihongi (797), which states that "Fujiwara Hirotsugu (^?)'s soul harmed Genbō to death" (Hirotsugu having died in a failed insurrection, named the "Fujiwara no Hirotsugu Rebellion," after failing to remove his rival, the priest Genbō, from power).

Traditionally in Japan onryō driven by vengeance were thought capable of causing not only their enemy's death, as in the case of Hirotsugu's vengeful spirit held responsible for killing the priest Genbō,), but causing natural disasters such as earthquakes, fires, storms, drought, famine and pestilence, as in the case of Prince Sawara's spirit embittered against his brother, the Emperor Kammu. In common parlance, such vengeance exacted by supernatural beings or forces is termed tatari (^?).

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