Goryō faith

festival in Kyoto city, Japan

thumb|Depiction of an onryō in the , by Katsushika Hokusai.

Japanese scholarship deity

Chinese conception of the preta of Buddhist mythology

The Japanese word refers to the spirit of a kami or the soul of a dead person. It is composed of two characters, the first of which, , is simply an honorific. The second, means "spirit". The character pair , also read , is used exclusively to refer to a ''kami's spirit. Significantly, the term is a synonym of shintai, the object which in a Shinto shrine houses the enshrined kami''.

thumb| by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi depicting [[Sugawara no Michizane as the . After Sugawara no Michizane's death, lightning struck the palace, killing and injuring many of the powerful people involved in his banishment, and Sugawara no Michizane was enshrined in the (Shinto shrines) as the Tenjin.]] In a broad sense, is an honorific for a spirit, especially one that causes hauntings, and the term is used as a synonym for . In a narrower sense, it refers to a noble or accomplished person who lost a political power struggle or died prematurely from an epidemic or other disease, becoming an that brin

right|thumb|200px|"" from the by Toriyama Sekien '''''' are the souls of the dead in Japanese folklore. This contrasts with , which are souls of the living.

Shinto shrine in Satsumasendai, Japan

thumb|Suiten shrine in Tokyo is the name of numerous Shinto shrines in Japan. Suiten-gū shrines are famous for their blessings of safe childbirth, but are also known to provide protection from water-related natural disasters, protection from fire, and aid in childrearing. The head shrine is the Suiten-gū in Kurume city, Fukuoka, which also enshrines members of the Taira clan. The Tokyo Suiten-gū is also known as a patron of Mizu shōbai workers.