幽ゆう冥めい界かい

ゆ

う

め

い

か

い

Meanings

1

noun

hades; realm of the dead; underworld

A Buddhist term for the dark world where the dead reside; used in religious, mythological, or literary contexts.

幽ゆう冥めい界かいに迷まよい込こんだ魂たましいの話はなしを読よんだ。
I read a story about a soul that wandered into the realm of the dead.

幽seclude, confine to a room, deep

冥dark

界world, boundary

Similar words

冥めい界かい
冥界 is a more common term for the underworld or Hades, while 幽冥界 is more literary and explicitly Buddhist.
黄泉よみ
黄泉 is the native Japanese word for the land of the dead, often used in Shinto contexts, whereas 幽冥界 is a Sino-Japanese Buddhist term.

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 幽冥界, composed of 幽 (dark, secluded), 冥 (dark, underworld), and 界 (world, realm). The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the term is used in Buddhist texts to refer to the realm of the dead.