Spirits, yōkai, and unseen beings

Japan is full of spirits. They live in old trees and abandoned houses, they cross bridges and wander through the mountain mist, they sit in temples and sleep in stones. In Japanese culture the line between the visible and the invisible world has always been drawn quite softly, and that is what this article is about.

If you watch anime or read manga, you meet these beings all the time, often without knowing that there are real traditions behind them: the foxes, the demons, the tengu, or the protective beings with their halos of flames. In this article I'd like to give you an overview of the most important kinds of beings and explain where they come from.

The basic structure 六道

The Japanese tradition doesn't divide the world of spirits simply into good and evil. Instead there is a whole range of beings, fed from several sources: Shintō, Buddhism, Daoism and the shamanic traditions of East Asia. To find your way around, it helps to look at the most important groups.

Rei, what "spirit" means in Japanese 靈

When we hear the word "spirit" in English, many people think of ghosts and horror films. Rei has a much wider meaning in Japanese. It covers everything that lies beyond physical perception: the life energy in all things, the power of the ancestors, the presence of the Buddhas and the nature spirits.

The invisible world in Shingon 密教

In Shingon Buddhism there is no strict separation between the visible and the invisible world. Everything is an expression of the Great Sun Buddha Dainichi Nyorai 大日如来, who shines in all things. So the beings that are invoked in rituals are not simply outside somewhere. They are aspects of the same reality that is also within you.

Shingon has a term for this, nyūga ganyū 入我我入, "the Buddha enters me, and I enter the Buddha". When a Shingon practitioner recites the mantra of Fudō Myōō and forms his mudra, the boundary between the practitioner and Fudō Myōō dissolves for the duration of the practice. Kūkai calls this coming together kaji 加持.

The wisdom kings 明王

The wisdom kings (jap.: myōō 明王) are among the most striking beings of esoteric Buddhism. They have halos of flames, fierce faces and weapons in their hands, and if you see them for the first time, you might think they are demons. In fact they are protectors of the Buddhist teaching, and you could say their wrath is compassion in its most direct form.

The best-known wisdom king is the Immovable Wisdom King Fudō Myōō 不動明王. He holds a sword that cuts through ignorance and a rope that binds what needs to be bound, and his flames burn away what stands between you and your true nature.

In Shugendō, the tradition of the mountain ascetics, Fudō Myōō plays a big role. The mountain ascetics (jap.: yamabushi) invoke him, for example, in the fire-walking ritual and when they practice under waterfalls.

Foxes, tanuki and other animal beings 狐

Japan has one of the richest traditions of animal spirits in the world. Foxes (jap.: kitsune 狐) can take on human form, create illusions, and both harm and protect. The older a fox gets, the more tails it grows, and a fox with nine tails is very old and very powerful.

Foxes are closely connected with the kami Inari 稲荷, the kami of rice and prosperity. It is important to understand that Inari is not a fox. The foxes are Inari's messengers (jap.: shinshi or otsukai), which is why you see fox statues at every Inari shrine. The thousands of red torii gates of Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto are among the best-known images of Japan.

Tanuki 狸, the Japanese raccoon dogs, are shapeshifters too. They play tricks and sometimes bring luck, and with their round bellies they are among the most popular figures in Japan. Some of them even have their own shrines, such as Tasaburō on Mount Yashima, whom I describe in the article on Yashimaji.

Dealing with the invisible world 結界

The Japanese tradition has clear rules for dealing with the invisible world. You don't simply open a door and wait to see who comes through. That would be risky and also disrespectful. That is why the serious spiritual traditions in Japan place great value on preparation, protection and the right inner attitude.

In Shingon rituals, for example, a protected space (jap.: kekkai 結界), literally a "bound realm", is established before the actual practice begins. Kuji Kiri also has a lot to do with protection. Its first sources come from China. Over centuries it came to Japan in several waves through the exchange with China, and there it developed further into a system that only exists in this form in Japan, a combination of Daoism, Japanese folk magic and Shingon Mikkyō. You can read more about it on the Kuji Kiri page.

Why this matters for Reiki 靈氣

Reiki came about in a culture in which the invisible world is as real as the visible one. According to my research, Usui studied Buddhist scriptures and practiced the meditations and rituals of esoteric Buddhism. So the experience he had in the Kurama mountains has a history and a context within the Japanese tradition.

In Shingon Reiki this connection is cultivated consciously, through meditation with the Buddhas and bodhisattvas, through mantras and mudras, through the Siddham characters (Bonji in Japanese) and through initiations. Which of these beings have you already met in anime or manga, and would you like to know more about where it comes from?