The Funayūrei
Out at sea on dark, foggy nights, Japanese fishermen say the drowned rise from the water and ask for a ladle. Give them one with no bottom.
What was reported
Funayūrei are spirits of people lost at sea, told of along Japan's coasts. They're said to appear on stormy or foggy nights, especially around the festival of the dead in summer, sometimes as pale hands rising from the water, sometimes as a phantom ship that sails straight at a boat.
They call out for a hishaku, a ladle, to fill the boat with water and sink it. Fishermen carried a ladle with its bottom knocked out, so that the spirits could scoop forever without harming them.
Explanations offered
Folklorists see the funayūrei as a way of dealing with the danger and grief of fishing life, and as a warning to stay ashore in bad weather. Phantom ships seen in fog may be mirages or real boats glimpsed briefly. The stories inspired many later tales and artworks.
- When
- Told for centuries
- Where
- The seas around Japan
- Witnesses
- Japanese fishermen and sailors
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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