Avenging Spirits

[JHorror]

I've been watching some J Horror recently, such as Audition, Ringu, Ju On and the like, and I've been wondering why most J horror I've seen have these avenging spirits included in them. Is it all to do with Japanese culture and their stories and such?
Also, what do you think of the films mentioned above?

[BookZombie]

Yes it has to do with Japanese culture and their stories. Japanese folklore is full of ghosts, and one of the classical ghost archetypes are the woman with her long, black unkempt hair, limp hands and often pale clothes. The reason for this appearance of Japanese ghosts is that Japanese women traditionally grew their hair long, but it was pinned up, however the hair was loosened for burial. The typical ghost you see in Japanese horror movies are called Yūrei. Now there are several categories of Yūrei, the one you usually see in movies are called a Onryō, they are vengeful ghosts who typically will exhort their vengeance on anyone who comes close as they becomes more spirits of vengeance than really just going after whoever wronged them. Most Onryō are seen as women, as traditionally women in Japan where at the mercy of men and they where more often brutalized or killed, and it is believed that they would then come back after death to avenge what wrongs where done to them. Onryō are very popular figures to use in stories, movies and so on in Japan, just like the typical Western vampire is popular here in the West.

[Fearonsarms]

Fascinating book zombie I never knew that :)

[BookZombie]

I love Japanese myths and legends, they have a very rich folklore, especially when it comes to various types of Spirits.

[ChronoGrl]

Originally Posted by BookZombie

I love Japanese myths and legends, they have a very rich folklore, especially when it comes to various types of Spirits.

I think you would enjoy The Great Yokai War. It's not horror, but if you're into Japanese myths and yokai, you'll really dig it. It's Miike doing, of all things, a kids' fantasy film. Check it out if you haven't seen it already.

I think you'd also really like The Maid - It's from Singapore, but centers around the Chinese "Hungry Ghost Month."

Also - Welcome to the forum. It's nice to see other Asian Cinema aficionados around here.

[BookZombie]

Thank you for the movie suggestions, both are on my wish list. And thank you for the welcome I appreciate it.