Youkai, ghosts and Japanese monsters
The other land of ghosts
Yokai, or Japanese ghosts, are supernatural creatures from Japanese folklore. The word youkai can also refer to strange or inexplicable phenomena.
Illustration from the manga "Kitaro pushing him away" by Shigeru Mizuki
Manga Gegege no Kitaro
On the border of fantasy
You wouldn't find so many Japanese horror films, horror books, and manga without having a long tradition of monsters and ghosts of all kinds. In Japan, we will speak of youkai, obake, shinigami, oni, or even mononoke to say ghosts or spirits. Japanese yokai, bordering on comedy and horror, has been part of Japanese folklore and storytelling for ages and is still extremely popular today. They have supernatural powers which often include shapeshifting; which makes them difficult to recognize. There are thousands of different shapes and types and new ones are still being imagined today. You see them on the Japanese streets without realizing what they are all about.
The mangaka Shigeru Mizuki had a whole horrific bestiary to inspire his repulsive Kitaro and the filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki presented us with a whole plethora of them through his films.
The youkai: an astonishing bestiary
Do you meet a funny big raccoon statue? He is a tanuki, a spirit of the forest.
Do you see a representation of an animal reminiscent of a turtle? It is a kappa, a being that feeds on cucumber and lives in ponds.
A character with a huge Cyrano-like nose? A tengu is a winged demon ( oni ) particularly terrifying for children. The list is impossible to complete.
Young men must beware of beautiful strangers, they can be kitsune, or vixens, who are setting a trap for them!
An object preserved for more than 100 years will come to life to become a tsukumogami.
In the evening, at a street bend, you might cross paths with the terrifying Kuchisake-onna, a woman with a carnivorous smile.
Read: The Setsubun Festival
Kappa statues in Oita
George Alexander Ishida Newman
Tanuki Statues
Meredith Kahn
The Lantern Ghost, by Katsushika Hokusai
Wikimedia Commons
The terrifying Kuchisake-onna, a woman with a carnivorous smile.
Manga "Kitaro Repelling Him" by Shigeru Mizuki
Youkai: ubiquitous characters
These characters are not confined to children's stories but are evoked in prints or current daily life as elements of folklore. It's hard to distinguish between belief and habit, but some places are known to still host youkai.
The Japanese often exorcise fears by giving them a shape and a personality, one can for example arrange with youkai: a means of having control over the uncontrollable. The best is still to go and meet them for yourself in Yokai Street in Kyoto, more particularly for the Hyakki Yagyo, every October 15 during the Yokai Costume Parade!
