Many monsters you meet in games and anime are not made up. Many of these monsters keep their real folklore names. The Onryo in Phasmophobia is a real kind of Japanese ghost. Turbo Granny in Dandadan is a real road legend. The tall lady in Resident Evil Village began, in part, with a 2008 forum post.
Here are 23 works and the real legend behind each one. We only list a work when the link is on record: the creator said so, a reputable outlet reported it, or the work uses the folklore name itself.
At a glance
| Work | Year | Type | The real legend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phasmophobia | 2020 | Game | Onryo, Yurei, Oni, Raiju |
| Resident Evil Village | 2021 | Game | Hasshaku-sama |
| Ghostwire: Tokyo | 2022 | Game | Kuchisake-onna, tengu, kappa |
| Dead by Daylight | 2016 | Game | Onryo |
| Persona 5 Royal | 2020 | Game | Nekomata, Inugami, Nue |
| Nioh 2 | 2020 | Game | Shuten-dōji, Tsuchigumo |
| Ōkami | 2006 | Game | Yamata-no-Orochi |
| Paranormasight | 2023 | Game | The Seven Wonders of Honjo |
| Dandadan | 2024 | Anime | Turbo Baba, Acrobatic Silky |
| Jujutsu Kaisen | 2020 | Anime | Ryōmen Sukuna, Kuchisake-onna |
| Demon Slayer | 2019 | Anime | Oni |
| Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun | 2020 | Anime | Hanako-san |
| Otherside Picnic | 2021 | Anime | Kunekune, Hasshaku-sama |
| Hell Girl | 2005 | Anime | Hone-onna, Wanyūdō |
| Mononoke | 2007 | Anime | Bakeneko, Zashiki-warashi, Umibōzu |
| Ring | 1998 | Film | Oiwa of Yotsuya Kaidan (the director) and Okiku, the well ghost (critics) |
| Spirited Away | 2001 | Film | Kamikakushi |
| Kisaragi Station | 2022 | Film | Kisaragi Station |
| Carved | 2007 | Film | Kuchisake-onna |
| Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain | 2024 | Film | Karakasa, the umbrella spirit |
| Kwaidan | 1964 | Film | Yuki-onna |
| Onibaba | 1964 | Film | A Buddhist tale of a demon mask |
| Kuroneko | 1968 | Film | Bakeneko |
Ghost games
Phasmophobia names several ghost types after real Japanese spirits. An onryo is a ghost driven by a grudge. A yurei is the general word for a ghost. Oni are demons, and a raiju is a thunder beast. Three of them, Onryo, Obake and Raiju, arrived in the 2021 Nightmare update.
Resident Evil Village gave the world Lady Dimitrescu. Capcom's art director, Tomonori Takano, named Hasshaku-sama as one inspiration, along with Elizabeth Báthory. Hasshaku-sama is an eight-foot woman in a white hat, from a forum post in 2008.
Ghostwire: Tokyo fills Tokyo with yokai. Its scissor-carrying enemy is based on Kuchisake-onna, the slit-mouthed woman of 1979 school rumors. Bethesda's own guide names tengu, kappa, tanuki and nekomata too.
Dead by Daylight added Sadako from Ring in its 2022 chapter, and calls her "The Onryō."
Steam · Amazon That is the Japanese word for a vengeful ghost.
Myth and monster games
Persona 5 Royal lets you recruit Nekomata, Inugami and Nue under their folklore names. Nioh 2 keeps the old stories as well. Shuten-dōji is the demon king of Mount Ōe, and Tsuchigumo is the earth spider that a famous warrior killed.
Persona 5 Royal on Steam · Nioh 2 on Steam · Persona 5 Royal on Amazon · The Nioh Collection on Amazon
Ōkami has you beat Orochi, the eight-headed serpent, with eight vats of sake. That is how the god Susanoo does it in the Kojiki, from 712.
Paranormasight is built on the Seven Wonders of Honjo. These are real ghost stories from one Edo-period district of Tokyo.
Anime
Dandadan pulls its villains straight from modern urban legends. Turbo Granny runs beside speeding cars at night. Acrobatic Silky is a tall woman in red who leaps from buildings. She was first posted on 2channel, a Japanese forum, in 2008. The manga, and the anime after it, add a backstory of their own. The legend has none.
Jujutsu Kaisen names its king of curses after Ryōmen Sukuna. In the Nihon Shoki, from 720, he is a two-faced man the emperor sent a general to kill. The book never calls him a demon. In season 2, Geto's cursed spirit Kuchisake-onna carries scissors, like the 1979 rumor.
Demon Slayer calls its demons oni (鬼), the old Japanese word.
Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun turns Hanako-san, the girl in the third stall, into a boy. The knock-and-call ritual stays the same.
Otherside Picnic hunts internet legends by name. Episode 1 is about Kunekune. Episode 2 is about Hasshaku-sama.
Hell Girl names its helpers after a skeleton woman, Hone-onna, and a burning wheel, Wanyūdō. Mononoke names its story arcs after real yokai: Bakeneko, Zashiki-warashi and Umibōzu.
Movies
Ring gives Sadako a full backstory of its own. The director, Hideo Nakata, named Yotsuya Kaidan, the kabuki story of the ghost Oiwa, as an influence. Critics also see Okiku in her, the ghost who counts plates at the bottom of a well. That second link is their reading.
Spirited Away has the old word in its Japanese title, Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi. Kamikakushi means being taken away by spirits.
Kisaragi Station films the 2004 forum story of a train that stops at a station on no map. Carved is simply titled Kuchisake-onna in Japanese.
Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain has the subtitle Karakasa, the paper umbrella behind the one-eyed umbrella yokai. Its spirit is not the hopping cartoon umbrella. It only shares the name.
Kwaidan adapts four of Lafcadio Hearn's ghost stories. Yuki-onna, the woman of the snow, comes from his 1904 book Kwaidan. Onibaba is built on a Buddhist tale about a demon mask stuck to a woman's face. Kuroneko brings back two murdered women as ghost cats, drawing on bakeneko folktales.
Kwaidan on the Criterion Channel · Kwaidan on Amazon · Onibaba on Amazon · Kuroneko on Amazon
Where to go next
If one of these caught you, here is where the real story continues.
You came from a ghost game. Start with onryo, the vengeful ghost, and yurei, the plain word for a ghost. Then read why Japanese ghosts have no feet. The long hair and the white robe have a history too.
You came from Dandadan or Otherside Picnic. These shows run on internet legends. Our Japanese urban legends guide ranks them by how far they reached real life, from police cars to a sold-out train ticket.
You came from Nioh, Ōkami or Jujutsu Kaisen. Their monsters are much older. Read the oldest yokai, where Ryōmen Sukuna and the eight-headed serpent both appear.
Left out, and why
Some famous works are often linked to old ghosts, but we found no record of it. Ju-On uses the idea of the onryo, the grudge ghost, but names no single legend. Its director talks about his own childhood fears. Fatal Frame, Sekiro and Corpse Party have no documented link to one real legend. We will add a work when a source turns up.
