The Book of Yokai, Expanded Second Edition: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese FolkloreSignificantly expanded and updated—a lively excursion into Japanese folklore and its increasing influence within global popular culture. Monsters, spirits, fantastic beings, and supernatural creatures haunt the folklore and popular culture of Japan. Broadly labeled yōkai, they appear in many forms, from tengu mountain goblins and kappa water sprites, to shape-shifting kitsune foxes and long-tongued ceiling-lickers. Popular today in anime, manga, film, and video games, many yōkai originated in local legends, folktales, and regional ghost stories. The Book of Yōkai invites readers to examine how people create, transmit, and collect folklore, and how they make sense of the mysteries in the world around them. Revised and expanded, this second edition features fifty new illustrations, including an all-new yōkai gallery of stunning color images tracing the visual history of yōkai across centuries. In clear and accessible language, Michael Dylan Foster unpacks the cultural and historical contexts of yōkai, interpreting their varied meanings and introducing people who have pursued them through the ages. |
Contents
Introducing Yōkai | 3 |
Hyakkiyagyō tsukumogami | 18 |
Ghost of Iohata | 26 |
Yanari in the style of Toriyama Sekien | 29 |
ShapeShifting History | 36 |
Kawatarō and suiko from the Three Realms 5253 | 52 |
Toriyama Sekiens tanuki | 55 |
Big names of yōkai studies | 84 |
Amabie logo | 183 |
Amabie from an 1846 kawaraban | 185 |
Amahiko no zu | 186 |
Amabie of Kumamoto | 191 |
Kawatarō from Nihon sankai meibutsu zue | 199 |
Kappa also called kawatarō by Toriyama Sekien | 200 |
Suiko jūni hin no zu | 203 |
Kappa and kawauso | 205 |
Police box in Tōno | 89 |
Nyūdō of Hotokenokawa at the Yōkai House in Yamashirochō | 92 |
Stuffedanimal versions of Barysan | 112 |
YŌKAI CODEX | 119 |
Kodama | 135 |
Oni | 139 |
Scene from Ibukiyama Shuten dōji emaki picture scroll | 141 |
Scene from Momotarō emaki picture scroll | 143 |
Yamabiko | 148 |
Raikō beheading the tsuchigumo | 150 |
Tengu | 152 |
Mukade near Lake Biwa | 160 |
Nurikabe | 162 |
Mikoshinyūdō | 165 |
Yamamba and Kintoki | 169 |
Ninmenju by Toriyama Sekien | 172 |
Iskandar Alexander and the talking tree | 174 |
Kawaraban print of ningyo | 178 |
Mummified ningyo | 180 |
Hyōsube | 208 |
Mōryō from the Three Realms | 210 |
Mōryō by Toriyama Sekien | 211 |
Azukiarai | 213 |
Yukionna from Bakemono zukushi emaki | 217 |
Kamaitachi | 222 |
New Years Eve Foxfires at the Changing Tree Ōji | 232 |
Kitsune and tanuki | 233 |
Tanuki demonstrating their shapeshifting talents and paraphernalia | 236 |
Mujina by Toriyama Sekien | 241 |
Nue in the style of Toriyama Sekien | 244 |
Raijū and tsuchinoko | 246 |
Hitotsumekozō | 252 |
YŌKAI GALLERY | 297 |
Monsterful | 351 |
Bibliography | 403 |
Alphabetized List of Yōkai in the Codex | 429 |
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Common terms and phrases
Abe no Seimei amabie appear artists associated Bakemono beliefs Buddhist bunka called century characters Collection contemporary creature culture demon Edo period emaki encyclopedias example eyes famous Figure folklore folklorist ghost Hearn Heian hitotsume-kozō human hyaku-monogatari imagination Inoue Enryō Japan Japanese Kabuki Kadokawa kaidan kaii kami kanji kappa Kawade shobō shinsha kawatarō kenkyū kibyōshi Kitarō kitsune Kokusho kankōkai Komatsu Kazuhiko kuchi-sake-onna Kyōsai legends Meiji minzoku minzokugaku Mizuki Shigeru monogatari Monsters mountains mujina Murakami Museum mysterious narratives Nihon ningyo nurikabe Onmyōdō picture scrolls popular portrayed Prefecture Raikō rokurokubi scholars sekai setsuwa shape-shifting Shinonome Kijin Shōgakukan shoten shuppan sorts spirit story strange Studies sugoroku supernatural tale tanuki tengu texts things Three Realms throughout Japan tion Tokyo tomokazuki Tōno Toriyama Sekien translated tsuchigumo tsuchinoko tsukumogami ubume University Press woman word yamamba Yanagita Kunio yōkai Yōkai jiten yōkaigaku yuki-onna Yumoto yūrei zashiki-warashi