Detail of "The Ghosts of Matahachi and Kikuno" by Utagawa Kunisada. Yurei are figures in Japanese folklore, analogous to Western legends of ghosts. Yurei do not wander at random, but generally stay near a specific location, such as where they were killed or where their body lies, or follow a specific person, such as their murderer, or a beloved. In many stories, particularly those adapted for Kabuki theater, the suicide of two lovers, each damning the other with their love, is represented by the two spirits, bound together by a length of cloth or rope, haunting future couples whose love is similar to their own. An interesting reversal of this, however, is the story of Matahachi and Kikuno, who instead found the younger brother of the man whom Matahachi served and Kikuno was the concubine of, having an affair with his deceased brother's widow, who was now a nun. The younger brother kills them before they can tell anyone, but that night the two illicit lovers are interrupted in their bedchamber by the bloodied ghosts of the murdered pair who appear between them.