Yūrei-zu (幽霊図 - ghosts demons monsters and spirits) (genre )
obake (お化け: ghost; apparition; goblin; monster; demon)yōkai (妖怪: ghost; apparition; phantom; spectre; specter; demon; monster; goblin)
shiryō (死霊: spirit of a dead person; ghost; departed soul)
bōrei (亡霊: departed spirit or soul of the dead or ghost or apparition)
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Biography:
Yūrei-zu (幽霊図) are a genre of Japanese art consisting of painted or woodblock print images of ghosts, demons and other supernatural beings. These types of art works reached the peak of their popularity in Japan in the mid to late 19th century. Synonyms include: obake (お化け), yōkai (妖怪), bōrei (亡霊), and shiryō (死霊).
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Ghosts (or revenants)
Mary Picone in her article 'Ombres japonaises : l'illusion dans les contes de revenants (1685-1989)' in L'Homme, 1991, tome 31 n°117, noted on pages 124 and 126 that there are quite a few different types of ghosts and spirits: there is the muenbotoke (無縁仏) or spirit who died with no one to tend their grave. They are often accompanied by a 'cold flame', one which does not generate enough heat to start a fire, but which can certainly attract one's attention. Such flames can even be seen in underwater scenes; according to scholarly sources, citing its Chinese origins, the soul is divided at death. There is the kon (魂) or 'inherent spirit of something' which ascends to the heavens and baku (獏), if we understand it clearly, is the part that stays near the cadaver and also devours dreams, both good and bad. The part that stays behind can sometimes take the appearance of a human accompanied by a flame or even just a head floating through the air; some spirits are condemned to return to earth to suck the oil out of temple lamps so they will not starve even more; the free-floating flame is an indication of anger, a grudge, or resentment urami (恨み); a ghost comes from an incomplete soul who either died too young, or was not given a dignified burial, a miscarried child, or even a woman who died in childbirth; someone who dies without getting revenge for a wrong; souls who died with too great an attachment for a lover; souls who died in double suicides; mothers deprived of their children; and those that simply hate too much. Revenants could appear in their almost human form at the place where they died or were buried to any human who happened into their vicinity. Or they could appear to specific people: either haunting the person who caused their death or to seek out a person who they loved and loved them in return to see the level of continued devotion.
Note that the many prints of ghosts in the Lyon Collection only fit into a few of these categories.