1.
guardian spirit
A spirit believed to watch over and protect a particular person throughout their life — often imagined as the soul of an ancestor or a benevolent spiritual being. A common figure in Japanese spiritualism and popular supernatural fiction, rather than in any one formal religion.
守護霊が守ってくれる。
My guardian spirit protects me.
祖父はきっと今、私の守護霊になっている。
I'm sure my grandfather is my guardian spirit now.
あの霊能者は、人の守護霊の姿が見えると言っている。
That spiritual medium says she can see people's guardian spirits.
大きな事故から無事に逃れた彼は、「守護霊に助けられた」と真顔で語っていた。
Having escaped the big accident unharmed, he said with a straight face, "My guardian spirit saved me."
Composed of 守護 (protection, guardianship) + 霊 (spirit, soul). Not a technical term from any one religious system, but a widely used word in Japanese popular spiritualism, occult entertainment, and casual conversation about luck and fate.
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 守護霊に守られる: to be protected by one's guardian spirit
- 守護霊が見える: to be able to see (someone's) guardian spirit
- 守護霊の存在: the existence of a guardian spirit
- 強い守護霊: a strong guardian spirit
- ご先祖様が守護霊になる: one's ancestors become one's guardian spirits
SIMILAR WORDS:
- 背後霊: a spirit standing behind someone — a related occult word; sometimes benevolent like a 守護霊, sometimes ambiguous or negative.
- 先祖の霊: ancestral spirits — a broader, more religious term; in Japanese folk belief, ancestral spirits often take on a guardian role toward living descendants.
- エンジェル / 天使: angel — the Christian / Western equivalent; conceptually similar but culturally distinct.
CULTURAL NOTE:
Belief in 守護霊 is widespread in Japanese popular culture but does not belong to any one religion. It draws on a loose blend of Buddhist ideas about ancestors, Shintō sensibilities about spirits, and modern spiritualism. The word appears frequently in TV programs about fortune-telling, psychic phenomena, and supernatural investigations; it is also a common motif in manga and anime.