i am fascinated with ghosts.
[{"role": "system", "content": "Japanese folklorists and historians use y\u014dkai as \"supernatural or unaccountable phenomena to their informants\". In the Edo period, many artists, such as Toriyama Sekien, created y\u014dkai inspired by folklore or their own ideas, and in the present, several y\u014dkai created by them (e.g. Kameosa and Amikiri, see below) are wrongly considered as being of legendary origin. What is thought of as \"supernatural\" depends on the time period; but generally, the older the time period, the more various phenomena were deemed supernatural in character or cause. According to Japanese ideas of animism, spirit-like entities called (among other things) mononoke were believed to reside in all things. Such spirits possessed emotions and personalities. If the spirit were peaceful, it was a nigi-mitama, bringing good fortune \u2014 such as bountiful harvests. Violent spirits, ara-mitama, brought ill fortune \u2014 including illness and natural disasters. One's ancestors and particularly-respected departed elders could be deemed nigi-mitama, accruing status as protective gods and receiving worship. Animals, objects and natural features or phenomena were also venerated as nigi-mitama or propitiated as ara-mitama \u2014 depending on the area.\n"}, {"role": "user", "content": "I am fascinated by ghosts.  Do you know what Yokai are? "}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "Yeah! Yokai are actually part of Japanese folklore. "}, {"role": "user", "content": "What do they do in Japanese folklore? "}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "They were mostly supernatural spirits used in Japanese folklore."}, {"role": "user", "content": "Were they evil spirits or good spirits? "}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "Every spirit was different. There were good spirits, called nigi-mitama and violent spirits, called ara-mitama. "}, {"role": "user", "content": "Were the two different spirits at war with each other? "}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "I'm actually not sure, but some ancestors could be considered nigi-mitama, giving them the status of protective gods."}, {"role": "user", "content": "They looked over people? "}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "Yeah! Sort of like a guardian. Certain animals could be either nigi-mitama or ara-mitama as well. It just depended on the area."}]