Passionate Women, Vengeful Spirits: Female Ghosts and the Japanese Gothic Mode

Female phantasms of the living and the dead that appear in Japanese folklore and literature involve a dual image of women: the representation of a patriarchal ideal of women, and the monstrous double that revolts against that ideal. Representations of this folklore-inspired ideal/monstrous woman can be seen in a wide-ranging array of twentieth and twenty-first century Japanese fiction, from the early cannibalistic spirits in folklore-inspired tales to Romantic and Absurdist works to possession narratives. This essay builds upon extant research from folklorists and cultural anthropologists as well as critical literary theories on the appearance of ghosts in Japanese fiction. I assert that certain feminine ghostly presences in twentieth century Japanese literature may be termed an expression of Globalgothic, especially through ghost stories that demonstrate the subordination of women and their subversive acts via implementation of the supernatural.