Why This Story
I first encountered this account while researching documented cases of ikiryō—living spirits—in Edo-period records, and it immediately stood out for its unusual trajectory. Unlike most ghost stories where the supernatural elements remain comfortably abstract, this one pivots midway through: what begins as a haunting by living spirits transforms into something far more tragic when one of those spirits dies while still attached to its victim.
The version presented here has been adapted for English-speaking readers with careful attention to narrative flow and cultural context. Some structural elements have been reordered, and dialogue has been expanded from the more compressed original documentation, but the essential sequence of events—the dual possession, the priest’s intervention, the death of one spirit, and the recovery of the other—remains unchanged. What draws me to this case is precisely that documented specificity: real names, a real location, a real priest known to history. It’s not “once upon a time.” It’s spring 1729, Shijō-Sakaichō street, and things went very wrong.
The Incident in Brief
In 1729 Kyoto, a fourteen-year-old merchant’s son named Matsunosuke became the object of secret affection for two neighborhood girls. Neither girl knew of the other’s feelings. Their obsession grew so intense that both of their souls separated from their living bodies and simultaneously possessed the boy—a phenomenon known in Japanese tradition as ikiryō, or “living spirit” possession.
What followed was an escalating supernatural crisis: Matsunosuke’s body levitated, spoke in the girls’ voices, and deteriorated rapidly. A renowned Buddhist priest was summoned to perform exorcism rites. But during the course of those prayers, something unprecedented occurred: one of the living spirits, having been separated from its body for too long, died—transforming mid-haunting from ikiryō to shiryō (death spirit). The case became a sensation in Kyoto, drawing crowds of curious onlookers to the merchant’s home.
The Account
The incident is recorded in Okinagusa, an extensive Edo-period compendium compiled by Kanzawa Tokō, a magistrate’s assistant in Kyoto. Volume 56 documents the case with specific details: the Matsutooya merchant house on Shijō-Sakaichō street, the boy Matsunosuke (age 14-15), and the intervention of Zōkai Etan (1682-1733), a historically verified Buddhist priest known for completing the rigorous “Thousand Monk Offering” ritual.
According to the account, Matsunosuke’s symptoms began subtly—sudden pallor, unexplained trembling—but escalated dramatically. His body levitated during dinner. Two distinct female voices spoke through his mouth simultaneously, expressing jealousy and longing. His parents found him being dragged across the tatami mats by invisible forces.
When Zōkai arrived and began his prayers, both spirits manifested through the boy’s body, reacting with terror to the sutras. Over several days, one spirit gradually regained rational thought. She identified herself as Oyuu and explained that she had been possessing Matsunosuke for eight days, driven by uncontrolled jealousy and desire. During that time, her soul had been absent from her physical body for so long that the body had died.
Oyuu, now technically a death spirit, requested time to “change clothes” before departing—a poignant moment where she recalled her favorite indigo robe with cherry blossoms, sewn by her mother. After this preparation, she peacefully left Matsunosuke’s body.