Kayako Saeki

is the main antagonist of the Ju-On and The Grudge horror franchises. Kayako's fictional history alternates slightly between continuities, but all depict her as the vengeful ghost of a woman killed by her husband Takeo along with their son Toshio in a murder-suicide after he came to believe she was having an affair, before the spirits of all three are bound to their family home, haunting and killing all to enter over varying periods of time, ranging from days to years. Kayako Saeki has been played by a number of actresses in films, including Takako Fuji in Katasumi (1998), Ju-On: The Curse, Ju-On: The Curse 2 (both 2000), Ju-On: The Grudge (2002), Ju-On: The Grudge 2 (2003), and the American remake films The Grudge (2004) and The Grudge 2 (2006), Misaki Saishō in Ju-On: The Beginning of the End (2014) and Ju-On: The Final Curse (2015), Kyōka Takizawa as a child in the American The Grudge 2, Aiko Horiuchi in the American The Grudge 3 (2009), Anna Moon in the American Tales from the Grudge (2006), and Junko Bailey in the American The Grudge: The Untold Chapter (2020). American adaptations expanded the character's backstory, with the character only cameoing in the 2020 film as her "grudge" is transferred to other spirits. The character also appears in Kōji Shiraishi's 2016 crossover film Sadako vs. Kayako portrayed by Runa Endō, alongside The Ring antagonist Sadako Yamamura, both serving as principle inspirations for the webtoon series Erma. History and characteristics Japanese timeline In the Ju-on timeline, as revealed in the official novel written by Kei Ohishi, both of her parents were present albeit highly neglectful, causing Kayako to often feel depressed and lonely.