“Yōkai”: Illuminating the History of Japan’s Imaginary Beasts

Yōkai from Mizuki’s Gegege no Kitarō. (© Mizuki Pro)

Edo-period portrayals of a kappa (left) and a rokuro-kubi (snake-necked woman) with an inu-gami (dog spirit). (Courtesy International Research Center for Japanese Studies)

Sannin kodakara-bakashi (The Peach-Eating Treasure Trio) is a kusazōshi featuring two of Japan’s most famed folklore heroes, Momotarō and Kintarō, on an adventure. They visit an old temple and are attacked by bakemono, which they defeat. (Courtesy Kagawa Masanobu)

Bakemono setai katagi (The Bakemono Family) features bakemono as protagonists. In it, their leader, a yōkai called Mikoshi-nyūdō (the Look-Over Monk), orders them to stop tricking humans and start working honest jobs. (Courtesy Kagawa Masanobu)

Hyakki yagyō emaki (Illustrated Yōkai Parade Scroll). One of many scrolls portraying parading yōkai. Many types are shown, including tools turned yōkai and animal yōkai. (Courtesy Hyōgo Prefectural Museum of History)

Mimikyū (left) and Pikachū on the red carpet at the 2017 Tokyo International Film Festival. Currently, there are 901 distinct characters in the Pokémon series. (© Jiji)

Numerous yōkai portrayed on a single sheet in what is known as a bakemono-tsukushi (“Many Bakemono”) style of omocha-e. (Courtesy Hyōgo Prefectural Museum of History)

Bakemono mawari waraigusa (A Fun Bakemono Game). A sugoroku game board print. Each space features a bakemono, making it a form of encyclopedia. (Courtesy Hyōgo Prefectural History Museum)

Obake ekruta cards, circa 1860. The cards with text were read aloud, and the first player to snatch the corresponding yōkai picture took it. Some 130 years before the birth of Pokémon, Japanese children were collecting monsters. (Courtesy Hyōgo Prefectural History Museum)

Examples of modern-day yōkai portrayals include Kapal,” the mascot of the sports promotion committee of Shiki, Saitama, and “Konyūdō-kun,” the city mascot of Yokkaichi, Mie, home to Japan’s largest festival of clockwork automata parade floats. (Courtesy Shiki City Sports Promotion Committee and Yokkaichi City)