If you’ve been looking for some classic Japanese ghost stories, try the following stories below. These stories have been told not just orally, but in films, dramas, plays and comics.

Yotsuya Kaidan (四谷怪談) is a famous ghost story that has suicide, revenge, incest, love, murder, deception and betrayal. There are other characters, but the two main characters are Oiwa and Iemon. Iemon leaves Oiwa for another woman, and Oiwa becomes a ghost of vengeance. A lot of Japanese ghost stories have a ghost in female form and Yotsuya Kaidan is no exception.

Botan Dōrō (牡丹燈籠) is also a famous ghost story with a female ghost. There are two main characters named Saburo and Otsuyu. Otsuyu is a ghost in female form. Saburo doesn’t know this and he falls in love with Otsuyu. Not heeding the advice of others, Saburo dies in the arms of Otsuyu. It’s one of those ghost stories that warn against the dangers of being blind to love.

Like the other ghost stories, Banchō Sarayashiki (番町皿屋敷,) is another ghost story with a female lead. The story involves a woman named Okiku and her samurai lover. Okiku wanted to test her lover’s love for her, so she broke ten of his most treasured heirloom plates. When she confessed to breaking the plates on purpose, her lover kills her in a rage. She then becomes a ghost in torment.

Mimi-nashi Hōichi (耳なし芳一) is a story about a blind lute player named who is asked by a samurai lord to perform before an audience. Since Hōichi is blind, he doesn’t realize that he is performing for ghosts. The local Buddhist priest suspects that something is wrong and writes a sutra all over Hōichi’s body except his ears. The samurai ghost is unable to harm Hōichi except for his ears. The ghost leaves in frustration and Hōichi is free of this ghost. In time Hōichi becomes a sought out lute player. The moral of the story is that some sacrifice is sometimes needed to achieve success.