Onryō is a Japanese ghost who is able to return to the physical world in order to seek vengeance.
They are mainly represented by women, although few male onryos can be found (extremely rare). Seemingly, they were peaceful and inoffensive in life and are victims of a love betrayal of their couples which are commonly represented as the responsible for their tragedies. After death, they become strong and dangerous.
Origin[]
Onryos can be dated in the 7th or 8th Century aproximately. The idea of an evil ghost coming back from the Otherworld looking for vengeance was quickly
believed in those ancient years.
In the Japanese folklore, these spirits were seen as the punishers to the abusive and brutal men toward innocent and weak females, threatening with an unbearable and eternal torture if they continue with their agressivity against the women. In the 1900 initial years, the onryos became one of the most feared legends in Japan and other asian countries.
Appearance[]
Originally, the Onryos didn't have an official or recognizable appearance, but soon some of the people who were apparently "attacked" by one of them, agreed in one apperance.
They consists of a white and slender females, dressed with white but blood-stained clothes (mainly kimonos), marked green and purple veins and a black and long hair covering their faces. When they become angry (acting as poltergeist), their hair bristles, revealing a deformed face or in other cases, with a mouth, but no eyes nor nose (almost faceless).
Haunting/Manifestation Entry[]
When they decide to manifest their selves, people who were apparently attacked by them, describe that the Onryo is initially found collapsed on the floor, looking as a common woman who is apparently unconscious. While approaching to the evil ghost, a bad feeling and pain in the head (migrain) and chest can be experimented.
If the victim gets very close to the Onryo, she/he will start to move; making sounds that can't be clearly described as weepings or laughs and whispering incomprehensible words in an unknown language. When they finally stand up, they will start to levitate towards their victim trying to catch him/she with one of their hands. Besides, a dark and heavy aura surrounds them, which is the reason that causes the pain, leaving hair strands and now making acute growls.
Reason for vengeance[]
As mentioned before, in life the Onryos were lovely and loyal couples, but their soulmates were not. Their deaths can be a result of a tragedy, suicide and in common cases, by the hand of the lover, which instantly become the reason of vengeance for an Onryo.
Usually, the japanese people in those centuries though that the only victim of an Onryo is the man or woman (lover) who betrayed them, being the responsible for their deaths. Sometimes, seems to be truth, in other cases the Onryos use other ways like cursing the traitor's family, life and sometimes sentencing every woman to death if the traitor talks or gets closer to the traitor.