Spirit away


The expression to "spirit away" means to remove without anyone's noticing.
Kamikakushi means "spirited away". Kamikakushi is used to refer to the mysterious disappearance or death of a person that happens when an angered god takes a person away. Japanese folklore contains numerous tales of humans abducted to the spirit world by kami. Folklorist Kunio Yanagita records several tales of kamikakushi in Tōno Monogatari.

Modern fiction

In the anime film Spirited Away, the main protagonist, Chihiro, is "spirited away" from reality to the spirit world. There, she meets friendly and aggressive spirits as she tries to return before forgetting her memories.
In the short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, when the main character Ichabod Crane vanishes after being pursued by the Headless Horseman, he is rumored to have been spirited away by the specter.
In the anime, manga and visual novel Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, one person dies and one disappears mysteriously every year in Hinamizawa village. This is known as "Oyashiro-sama's curse," named after the village kami Oyashiro. The first arc of the series is called "Abducted by Demons".
In the novel and manga Missing / Spirited Away by Gakuto Coda, the main character Utsume Kyoichi goes missing for a second time, in the company of his new spirit girlfriend Ayame.
In the manga Rin-ne by Rumiko Takahashi, heroine Sakura Mamiya disappeared for a week after being taken away by spirits, and she was brought back to this world by Rinne's grandmother Tamako. Sakura can't remember what exactly happened to her during these days, but as a consequence she gained spiritual powers that let her see ghosts, something that she wants to get rid of.
Kamikakushi is mentioned in a song "Madoite Kitare, Yuuda na Kamikakushi ~ Border of Death" by IOSYS. It refers to Yukari's mystic abilities.
In the video game series Fatal Frame many of the characters get spirited away by ghosts often leading them into a spirit world where they use the Camera Obscura, an antique camera-like device that captures images of spirits to either find a way out or save someone who has been spirited away.