Kwaidan: Japanese Ghost Stories

More than seven hundred years ago, a great sea battle took place at Dan-no-ura, in the south of Japan. It was the last battle of a long war between two powerful families, the Heike and the Genji. In that battle the Heike family was destroyed completely. Their warriors died, and their women and children died too. Even their child emperor, a little boy named Antoku, was drowned in the sea.

People say that the sea and the shore there have been haunted ever since. On dark nights, thousands of ghostly lights float above the beach and the waves. The fishermen call them demon fires. And when the wind is strong, a sound like the shouting of a great battle comes from the sea.

In the old days, the dead Heike warriors were even more restless than they are now. They rose up around ships that passed in the night and tried to sink them. They watched for swimmers and pulled them under the water. To bring peace to the dead, the people built a Buddhist temple called Amidaji, near the shore. Next to it they made a cemetery, with stone monuments for the drowned emperor and his great lords. Priests prayed there regularly for the spirits of the dead. After that, the Heike gave less trouble. But from time to time strange things still happened, which showed that they had not found perfect peace.