:Yōkai

The concept of {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}}, their causes and phenomena related to them varies greatly throughout Japanese culture and historical periods; typically, the older the time period, the higher the number of phenomena deemed to be supernatural and the result of {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}}.{{sfnp|Komatsu|2015|p=24}} According to Japanese ideas of animism, spirit-like entities were believed to reside in all things, including natural phenomena and objects.{{sfnp|Komatsu|2011|p=16}} Such spirits possessed emotions and personalities: peaceful spirits were known as {{transliteration|ja|nigi-mitama}}, who brought good fortune; violent spirits, known as {{transliteration|ja|ara-mitama}}, brought ill fortune, such as illness and natural disasters. Neither type of spirit was considered to be {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}}.

One's ancestors and particularly respected departed elders could also be deemed to be {{transliteration|ja|nigi-mitama}}, accruing status as protective spirits who brought fortune to those who worshipped them. Animals, objects and natural features or phenomena were also venerated as {{transliteration|ja|nigi-mitama}} or propitiated as {{transliteration|ja|ara-mitama}} depending on the area.

Despite the existence of harmful spirits, rituals for converting {{transliteration|ja|ara-mitama}} into {{transliteration|ja|nigi-mitama}} were performed, aiming to quell malevolent spirits, prevent misfortune and alleviate the fear arising from phenomena and events that otherwise had no explanation.{{sfnp|Miyata|2002|p=14}}{{sfnp|Komatsu|2015|pp=201–204}} The ritual for converting {{transliteration|ja|ara-mitama}} into {{transliteration|ja|nigi-mitama}} was known as the {{Nihongo3|{{lit|the calming of the spirits}} or 'requiem'|鎮魂|chinkon}}.{{sfnp|Komatsu|2011|pp=16–18}} {{transliteration|ja|Chinkon}} rituals for {{transliteration|ja|ara-mitama}} that failed to achieve deification as benevolent spirits, whether through a lack of sufficient veneration or through losing worshippers and thus their divinity, became {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}}.{{sfnp|Miyata|2002|pp=12–14}}{{sfnp|Komatsu|2015|pp=205–207}}

Over time, phenomena and events thought to be supernatural became fewer and fewer, with the depictions of {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} in picture scrolls and paintings beginning to standardize, evolving more into caricatures than fearsome spiritual entities. Elements of the tales and legends surrounding {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} began to be depicted in public entertainment, beginning as early as the Middle Ages in Japan.{{sfnp|Komatsu|2011|pp=21–22}} During and following the Edo period, the mythology and lore of {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} became more defined and formalized.{{sfnp|Komatsu|2011|pp=188–189}}

File:Katsushika_Hokusai_-_The_Lantern_Ghost%2C_Iwa_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg|{{transliteration|ja|Chōchin-oiwa}} by Katsushika Hokusai

File:Kuniyoshi Kidomaru.jpg|{{transliteration|ja|Kidōmaru}} by Utagawa Kuniyoshi

File:Suushi Nekomata.jpg|{{transliteration|ja|Nekomata}} from the Hyakkai Zukan by Sawaki Suushi

File:Yoshitoshi_The_Ground_Spider.jpg|{{transliteration|ja|Tsuchigumo}} from the {{nihongo||新形三十六怪撰|Shinkei Sanjurokkai Sen}} by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

File:Gamayoukai.JPG|{{transliteration|ja|Gama Yōkai}} from the {{transliteration|ja|Saigama to Ukiyo Soushi Kenkyu}} Volume 2, special issue {{transliteration|ja|Kaii}} Tamababaki

File:SekienNarigama.jpg|{{transliteration|ja|Narikama}} from the Gazu Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro by Sekien Toriyama

File:Kawanabe Kyōsai - Theatre Curtain of the Shintomi-za, with an Impromptu Sketch Monsters.jpg|Theatre Curtain with Yokai by Kawanabe Kyōsai (1880)

The folklorist Tsutomu Ema studied the literature and paintings depicting {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} and {{Nihongo3|{{lit|changed things/mutants}}|変化|henge}}, dividing them into categories as presented in the {{transliteration|ja|Nihon Yōkai Henge Shi}} and the {{transliteration|ja|Obake no Rekishi}}:

• Categories based on a {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}}'s "true form":
• Human
• Animal
• Plant
• Object
• Natural phenomenon
• Categories depending on the source of mutation:
• Mutation related to this world
• Spiritual or mentally related mutation
• Reincarnation or afterworld related mutation
• Material related mutation
• Categories based on external appearance:
• Human
• Animal
• Plant
• Artifact
• Structure or building
• Natural object or phenomenon
• Miscellaneous or appearance compounding more than one category

In other folklorist categorizations, {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} are classified, similarly to the nymphs of Greek mythology, by their location or the phenomena associated with their manifestation. {{transliteration|ja|Yōkai}} are indexed in the book {{Nihongo3|A Complete Dictionary of Japanese Folklore|綜合日本民俗語彙|Sogo Nihon Minzoku Goi}}{{cite encyclopedia|author=Minzokugaku kenkyujo |title=Sōgō nihon minzoku goi |script-title=ja:綜合日本民俗語彙 |volume=5 |publisher=Heibonsha |date=1956 |url= |pages=403–407}}{{efn|The index has the heading {{nihongo|reikai|霊怪|extra="spirits and monsters"}}, under which {{nihongo|reikai|霊怪}}, {{nihongo|yōkai|妖怪}}, {{nihongo|tsukimono|憑物|extra="possession by spirits"}}.}} as follows:

• {{nihongo|Yama no ke|山の怪}} (mountains)
• {{transliteration|ja|michi no ke}} (paths)
• {{transliteration|ja|ki no ke}} (trees)
• {{transliteration|ja|mizu no ke}} (water)
• {{lang|ja-Latn|umi no ke}} (the sea)
• {{transliteration|ja|yuki no ke}} (snow)
• {{transliteration|ja|oto no ke}} (sound)
• {{transliteration|ja|dōbutsu no ke}} (animals, either real or imaginary)

• 772 CE: in the {{transliteration|ja|Shoku Nihongi}}, there is the statement "Shinto purification is performed because {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} appear very often in the imperial court", using the word {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} to not refer to any one phenomenon in particular, but to strange phenomena in general.
• Middle of the Heian period (794–1185/1192): In The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon, there is the statement "there are tenacious {{transliteration|ja|mononoke}}", as well as a statement by Murasaki Shikibu that "the {{transliteration|ja|mononoke}} have become quite dreadful", which are the first appearances of the word {{transliteration|ja|mononoke}}.
• 1370: In the {{transliteration|ja|Taiheiki}}, in the fifth volume, there is the statement, "Sagami no Nyudo was not at all frightened by {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}}."

File:Susanoo-no-Mikoto-slays-Yamata-no-Orochi-in-Izumo-By-Tsukioka-Yoshitoshi.png from the {{transliteration|ja|Nihon-ryakushi: Susanoo}} by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi]]

The ancient times were a period abundant in literature and folktales mentioning and explaining {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}}. Literature such as the {{transliteration|ja|Kojiki}}, the {{transliteration|ja|Nihon Shoki}}, and various {{transliteration|ja|Fudoki}} expositioned on legends from the ancient past, and mentions of {{transliteration|ja|oni}}, {{transliteration|ja|orochi}}, among other kinds of mysterious phenomena can already be seen in them.{{sfnp|Komatsu|2011|p=20}} In the Heian period, collections of stories about {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} and other supernatural phenomena were published in multiple volumes, starting with publications such as the {{transliteration|ja|Nihon Ryōiki}} and the {{transliteration|ja|Konjaku Monogatarishū}}, and in these publications, mentions of phenomena such as {{transliteration|ja|Hyakki Yagyō}} can be seen.{{Citation|chapter=Sonshō darani no genriki ni yorite oni no nan wo nogaruru koto |script-chapter=ja:尊勝陀羅尼の験力によりて鬼の難を遁るる事 |trans-chapter=Escaping the oni by the spiritual power of the Vijaya Dharani |title=Konjaku monogatarishū |script-title=ja:今昔物語集 |year= |at=Book 14, No. 42 |language=ja}}

The {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} that appear in this literature were passed on to later generations.{{sfnp|Komatsu|2011|p=78}} Despite the literature mentioning and explaining these {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}}, they were never given any visual depictions. In Buddhist paintings such as the Hell Scroll (Nara National Museum), which came from the later Heian period, there are visual expressions of the idea of {{transliteration|ja|oni}}, but actual visual depictions would only come later in the Middle Ages, from the Kamakura period and beyond.{{sfnp|Komatsu2011|p=21}}

Yamata no Orochi was originally a local god but turned into a {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} who was slain by Susanoo.{{sfnp|Komatsu|2015|p=46}} Yasaburo was originally a bandit whose vengeful spirit ({{transliteration|ja|onryō}}) turned into a poisonous snake upon death and plagued the water in a paddy, but eventually became deified as the "wisdom god of the well".{{sfnp|Komatsu|2015|p=213}} {{transliteration|ja|Kappa}} and {{transliteration|ja|inugami}} are sometimes treated as gods in one area and {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} in other areas. From these examples, it can be seen that among Japanese gods, there are some beings that can go from god to {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} and vice versa.{{sfnp|Miyata|2002|p=12}}{{sfnp|Komatsu|2015|p=200}}

File:Hyakki-Yagyo-Emaki Tsukumogami 1.jpg]]

Medieval Japan was a time period where publications such as {{transliteration|ja|emakimono}}, {{transliteration|ja|Otogi-zōshi}}, and other visual depictions of {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} started to appear. While there were religious publications such as the {{nihongo||寺社縁起|Jisha Engi}}, others, such as the {{transliteration|ja|Otogizōshi}}, were intended more for entertainment, starting the trend where {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} became more and more seen as subjects of entertainment. For examples, tales of {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} extermination could be said to be a result of emphasizing the superior status of human society over {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}}.{{sfnp|Komatsu|2011|pp=21–22}} Publications included:

• The {{transliteration|ja|Ooe-yama Shuten-doji Emaki}} (about an {{transliteration|ja|oni}}), the {{transliteration|ja|Zegaibou Emaki}} (about a {{transliteration|ja|tengu}}), the {{nihongo||俵藤太絵巻|Tawara no Tōda emaki}} (concerning serpent/dragon-folk oppressed by a giant centipede yōkai), the {{nihongo||土蜘蛛草紙|Tsuchigumo Zoshi}} (about {{transliteration|ja|tsuchigumo}}), and the {{transliteration|ja|Dojo-ji Engi Emaki}} (about a giant snake). These {{transliteration|ja|emaki}} were about {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} that come from even older times.
• The {{transliteration|ja|Kitano Tenjin Engi Emaki}}, in which Sugawara no Michizane was a lightning god who took on the form of an {{transliteration|ja|oni}}, and despite attacking people after doing this, he was still deified as a god in the end.{{sfnp|Komatsu|2011|pp=21–22}}
• The {{transliteration|ja|Junirui Emaki}}, the {{transliteration|ja|Tamamono Soshi}}, (both about Tamamo-no-Mae), and the {{transliteration|ja|Fujibukuro Soushi Emaki}} (about a monkey). These {{transliteration|ja|emaki}} told of {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} mutations of animals.
• The {{transliteration|ja|Tsukumogami Emaki}}, which told tales of thrown away none-too-precious objects that come to have a spirit residing in them planning evil deeds against humans, and ultimately get exorcised and sent to peace.
• The {{transliteration|ja|Hyakki Yagyō Emaki}}, depicting many different kinds of {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} all marching together

In this way, {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} that were mentioned only in writing were given a visual appearance in the Middle Ages. In the {{transliteration|ja|Otogizōshi}}, familiar tales such as Urashima Tarō and Issun-bōshi also appeared.

The next major change in {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} came after the period of warring states, in the Edo period.

• 1677: Publication of the {{transliteration|ja|Shokoku Hyakumonogatari}}, a collection of tales of various monsters.
• 1706: Publication of the {{transliteration|ja|Otogi Hyakumonogatari}}. In volumes such as {{transliteration|ja|Miyazu no Ayakashi}} (volume 1) and {{transliteration|ja|Unpin no Yōkai}} (volume 4), collections of tales that seem to come from China were adapted into a Japanese setting.{{Cite book|last=Tachikawa |first=Kiyoshi |author-link= |title=Hyakumonogatari kaidanshū |script-title=ja:百物語怪談集成 |year=1987|publisher=Kokusho Kankokai|pages=365–367}}
• 1712: Publication of the {{transliteration|ja|Wakan Sansai Zue}} by Terajima Ryōan, a collection of tales based on the Chinese {{transliteration|zh|Sancai Tuhui}}.
• 1716: In the specialized dictionary {{nihongo||世説故事苑|Sesetsu Kojien}}, there is an entry on {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}}, which stated, "Among the commoners in my society, there are many kinds of {{transliteration|ja|kaiji}} (mysterious phenomena), often mispronounced by commoners as {{transliteration|ja|'kechi.'}} Types include the cry of weasels, the howling of foxes, the bustling of mice, the rising of the chicken, the cry of the birds, the pooping of the birds on clothing, and sounds similar to voices that come from cauldrons and bottles. These types of things appear in the {{transliteration|ja|Shōseiroku}}, methods of exorcising them can be seen, so it should serve as a basis."{{cite web|title=Sesetsu kojien 3 |script-title=ja:世説故事苑 3巻 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=AWVw3Grzl5AC&pg=PA105 |access-date=2015-12-16| year = 1716 }}
• 1788: Publication of the {{transliteration|ja|Bakemono chakutocho}} by Masayoshi Kitao. This was a {{transliteration|ja|kibyoshi}} diagram book of {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}}, but it was prefaced with the statement "it can be said that the so-called {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} in our society is a representation of our feelings that arise from fear",{{Cite book|last=Kabat |first=Adam |author-mask=Kabat, Adam ed., tr. |title=Edo bakemono zōshi |script-title=ja:江戸化物草紙 |publisher=Shogakukan |date=February 1999 |page=29|isbn=4-09-362111-X}} and already in this era, while {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} were being researched, it indicated that there were people who questioned whether {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} really existed or not.

It was in this era that the technology of the printing press and publication was first started to be widely used, that a publishing culture developed, and was frequently a subject of {{transliteration|ja|kibyoshi}} and other publications.{{efn|Picture books classed as a kusazōshi included further subcategories named after the colors of their jackets. A kibyōshi (yellow) referred to those catering to adult audiences; there were also akabyōshi (red) and aobyōshi (blue).}}

As a result, {{transliteration|ja|kashi-hon}} shops that handled such books spread and became widely used, making the general public's impression of each {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} fixed, spreading throughout Japan. For example, before the Edo period, there were plenty of interpretations about what the {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} were that were classified as {{transliteration|ja|kappa}}, but because of books and publishing, the notion of {{transliteration|ja|kappa}} became anchored to what is now the modern notion of {{transliteration|ja|kappa}}.

Also, including other kinds of publications, other than {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} born from folk legend, there were also many invented {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} that were created through puns or word plays; the {{transliteration|ja|Gazu Hyakki Yagyō}} by Toriyama Sekien is one example. When the {{transliteration|ja|Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai}} became popular in the Edo period, it is thought that one reason for the appearance of new {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} was a demand for entertaining ghost stories about {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} no one has ever heard of before, resulting in some that were simply made up for the purpose of telling an entertaining story. The {{transliteration|ja|kasa-obake}} and the {{transliteration|ja|tōfu-kozō}} are known examples of these.

They are also frequently depicted in ukiyo-e, and there are artists that have drawn famous {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} like Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Yoshitoshi, Kawanabe Kyōsai, and Hokusai, and there are also {{transliteration|ja|Hyakki Yagyō}} books made by artists of the Kanō school.

In this period, toys and games like {{transliteration|ja|karuta}} and {{transliteration|ja|sugoroku}}, frequently used {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} as characters. Thus, with the development of a publishing culture, {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} depictions that were treasured in temples and shrines were able to become something more familiar to people, and it is thought that this is the reason that even though {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} were originally things to be feared, they have then become characters that people feel close to.{{Cite book|last=Yumoto |first=Kōichi |author-link=:ja:湯本豪一 |editor=Kōdansha Comic Create |title=DISCOVER yōkai: nihon yōkai daihyakka |script-title=ja:DISCOVER妖怪 日本妖怪大百科 |publisher=Kodansha |year=2008 |series=KODANSHA Official File Magazine |volume=10 |isbn=978-4-06-370040-4|pages=30–31|chapter=Asobi no naka no yōkai |script-chapter=ja:遊びのなかの妖怪}}{{clear|left}}

File:Yoshitoshi The Heavy Basket.jpg

• 1891: Publication of the {{transliteration|ja|Seiyuu Youkai Kidan}} by Shibue Tamotsu. It introduced folktales from Europe, such as the Grimm Tales.
• 1896: Publication of the {{transliteration|ja|Yōkaigaku Kogi}} by Inoue Enryō
• 1900: Performance of the kabuki play {{transliteration|ja|Yami no Ume Hyakumonogatari}} at the Kabuki-za in January. It was a performance in which appeared numerous {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} such as the {{transliteration|ja|Kasa ippon ashi}}, skeletons, {{transliteration|ja|yuki-onna}}, {{transliteration|ja|osakabe-hime}}, among others. Onoe Kikugorō V played the role of many of these, such as the {{transliteration|ja|osakabe-hime}}.
• 1914: Publication of the {{transliteration|ja|Shokubutsu Kaiko}} by Mitsutaro Shirai. Shirai expositioned on plant {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} from the point of view of a plant pathologist and herbalist.

With the Meiji Restoration, Western ideas and translated western publications began to make an impact, and western tales were particularly sought after. Things like {{transliteration|ja|binbōgami}}, {{interlanguage link|yakubyōgami|ja|疫病神|lt=yakubyōgami}}, and {{transliteration|ja|shinigami}} were talked about, and {{transliteration|ja|shinigami}} were even depicted in classical {{transliteration|ja|rakugo}}. Although the {{transliteration|ja|shinigami}} were misunderstood as a kind of Japanese {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} or {{transliteration|ja|kami}}, they actually became well known among the populace through a {{transliteration|ja|rakugo}} called {{transliteration|ja|Shinigami}} by San'yūtei Enchō, which were adoptions of European tales such as the Grimm fairy tale "Godfather Death" and the Italian opera {{lang|it|Crispino e la comare}} (1850). Also, in 1908, Kyōka Izumi and {{interlanguage link|Chikufū Tobari|ja|登張竹風}} jointedly translated Gerhart Hauptmann's play The Sunken Bell. Later works of Kyōka such as {{interlanguage link|Yasha ga Ike|ja|夜叉ヶ池 (戯曲)|lt=Yasha ga Ike}} were influenced by The Sunken Bell, and so it can be seen that folktales that come from the West became adapted into Japanese tales of {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}}.

Since {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} have been introduced in various kinds of media, they have become well known among people from all walks of life. The {{transliteration|ja|kamishibai}} from before the war, the manga industry, {{transliteration|ja|kashi-hon}} shops that continued to exist until around the 1970s, and television all contributed to the public knowledge and familiarity with {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}}. {{transliteration|ja|Yōkai}} play a role in attracting tourism revitalizing local mecca regions such as Tōno in Iwate Prefecture (where stories in Kunio Yanagita's {{transliteration|ja|Tono Monogatari}} were collected) or Tottori Prefecture (Shigeru Mizuki's birthplace).

In this way, {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} are spoken about in legends in various forms, but traditional oral storytelling by the elders and the older people is rare, and regionally unique situations and background in oral storytelling are not easily conveyed. For example, the classical {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} represented by {{transliteration|ja|tsukumogami}} can only be felt as something realistic by living close to nature, such as with {{transliteration|ja|tanuki}} (Japanese raccoon dogs), foxes and weasels. Furthermore, in the suburbs, and other regions, even when living in a primary-sector environment, there are tools that are no longer seen, such as the inkstone, the {{transliteration|ja|kama}} (a large cooking pot), or the {{transliteration|ja|tsurube}} (a bucket used for getting water from a well), and there exist {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} that are reminiscent of old lifestyles such as the {{transliteration|ja|azukiarai}} and the {{interlanguage link|dorotabō|ja|泥田坊|lt=dorotabō}}.

As a result, even for those born in the first decade of the Shōwa period (1925–1935), except for some who were evacuated to the countryside, they would feel that those things that become {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} are "not familiar" and "not very understandable". For example, in classical {{transliteration|ja|rakugo}}, even though people understand the words and what they refer to, they are not able to imagine it as something that could be realistic. Thus, the modernization of society has had a negative effect on the place of {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} in classical Japanese culture.{{opinion|date=March 2022}}

On the other hand, the {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} introduced through mass media are not limited to only those that come from classical sources like folklore, and just as in the Edo period, new fictional {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} continue to be invented, such as scary school stories and other urban legends like {{transliteration|ja|kuchisake-onna}} and {{transliteration|ja|Hanako-san}}, giving birth to new {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}}. From 1975 onwards, starting with the popularity of {{transliteration|ja|kuchisake-onna}}, these urban legends began to be referred to in mass media as "modern {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}}".{{Cite book|last=Yamaguchi |first=Bintarō |author-link=:ja:山口敏太郎 |title=Hontō ni iru nihon no 'gendai yōkai' zukan |script-title=ja:本当にいる日本の「現代妖怪」図鑑|year=2007|publisher=Kasakura |isbn=978-4-7730-0365-9 |page=9}} This terminology was also used in recent publications dealing with urban legends,{{Cite book|title=DISCOVER妖怪 日本妖怪大百科|volume=10 |page=2 |chapter=Toshi densetsu to yōkai |script-chapter=ja:都市伝説と妖怪}} and the researcher on {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}}, {{interlanguage link|Bintarō Yamaguchi|ja|山口敏太郎}}, used this especially frequently.

During the 1970s, many books were published that introduced {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} through encyclopedias, illustrated reference books, and dictionaries as a part of children's horror books, but along with the {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} that come from classics like folklore, {{transliteration|ja|Kaidan}}, and essays, it has been pointed out by modern research that there are some mixed in that do not come from classics, but were newly created. Some well-known examples of these are the {{transliteration|ja|gashadokuro}} and the {{transliteration|ja|jubokko}}. For example, Arifumi Sato is known to be a creator of modern {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}}, and Shigeru Mizuki, a manga artist of {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}}, in writings concerning research about {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}}, pointed out that newly created {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} do exist,{{Cite book|author=To gakkai [Academy of Outrageous Book] |title=Tondemo hon no sekai|script-title=ja:トンデモ本の世界 |year=2007 |publisher=Rakkosha |isbn=978-4-903063-14-0|pages=226–231}}{{Cite book|author=Yōkaiō (Yamaguchi Bintarō) Group |author-link=:ja:山口敏太郎 |title=Shōwa no kodomo: Natsukashi no yōkai zukan |script-title=ja:昭和の子供 懐しの妖怪図鑑 |year=2003 |publisher=Art Book hon no mori |series= |isbn=4-7747-0635-3|pages=16–19}} and Mizuki himself, through {{transliteration|ja|GeGeGe no Kitaro}}, created about 30 new {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}}.{{Cite book|last=Mizuki |first=Shigeru |author-link=Shigeru Mizuki |title=Yōkai nandemo nyūmon |script-title=ja:妖怪なんでも入門|year=1974 |publisher=Shogakukan |series= |isbn=4-09-220032-3|page=17}}

There has been much criticism that this mixing of classical {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} with newly created {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} is making light of tradition and legends. However, since there have already been those from the Edo period like Sekien Toriyama who created many new {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}}, there is also the opinion that it is unreasonable to criticize modern creations without doing the same for classical creations too. Furthermore, there is a favorable view that says that introducing various {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} characters through these books nurtured creativity and emotional development of young readers of the time.

Both the Chinese yaoguai and Japanese yokai include strange, supernatural beings with shapeshifting tendencies. In the Chinese version of the yaoguai, the emphasis is often on the first character 妖 yao, which connotes bewilderment and enchantment and supernatural affliction - for example, their ability to take on human form in order to seduce and to enthrall human beings. In the yokai, the emphasis appears to be on the 怪 guai, or on their monstrous and aberrant nature and anatomy. Japanese yokai in popular culture often includes elements of the cute, comical, the goofy, and the bizarre.

Some creatures appear in both Chinese and Japanese folklore as yaoguai and yokai, such as the scaly water shuihu (水虎), wilderness demons denoted as chimeiwangliang (魑魅魍魉), and nine-tailed fox demons (九尾狐).

Some, such as the nekomata (cat yokai) and tanuki (raccoon yokai), resemble Chinese yaoguai, which encompasses any number of shapeshifting animals and plants who have learnt to cultivate human form and other supernatural arts. The cat yokai, for example resembles the Chinese 仙狸 or "leopard cat immortal".

Yet others are uniquely Japanese, such as the ambivalent and occasionally cute kappa,{{Cite web |title=Japanese Yokai Meaning & List with Pictures of these Demons |url=https://japan-avenue.com/blogs/japan/yokai |access-date=2024-07-19 |website=Japan Avenue |language=en}} the haradashi - a goofy yokai with its belly on its face,{{Cite web |title=Haradashi – Yokai.com |url=https://yokai.com/haradashi/ |access-date=2024-07-19 |website=yokai.com}} and the mumashika, which are comical-looking yokai with horse heads and deer bodies.{{Cite web |title=Mumashika – Yokai.com |url=https://yokai.com/mumashika/ |access-date=2024-07-19 |website=yokai.com}}

{{Further|Category:Yōkai in popular culture}}

{{transliteration|ja|Yōkai}} are often referred to as Japanese spirits or East Asian ghosts, like the {{transliteration|ja|Hanako-san}} legend or the story of the "Slit-mouthed girl", both of which hail from Japanese legend. The term {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} can also be interpreted as something strange or unusual.

Lafcadio Hearn's collection of Japanese ghost stories entitled Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things includes stories of yūrei and yōkai such as Yuki-onna, and is one of the first Western publications of its kind.

Yōkai remain prevalent in modern works of fiction. Shigeru Mizuki, the manga creator of such series as GeGeGe no Kitaro and Kappa no Sanpei, keeps yōkai in the popular imagination. Other popular works focusing on yōkai include the Nurarihyon no Mago series, Yu Yu Hakusho, Inuyasha: A Feudal Fairy Tale, Yo-kai Watch and the 1960s Yokai Monsters film series, which was loosely remade in 2005 as Takashi Miike's The Great Yokai War and more recently Yukinobu Tatsu 's Dandadan. They often play major roles in Japanese fiction.

{{Portal|Japan}}Japanese supernatural beings

• Kappa - a type of yōkai
• Oni - a type of yōkai
• Tengu - a type of yōkai
• {{Annotated link|Yōsei}}, distinct from the yōkai
• {{Annotated link|Yūrei}}, distinct from the yōkai

Japanese museums on the supernatural

• Miyoshi Mononoke Museum
• Shodoshima Yokai Art Museum

Other supernatural beings from East Asian folklore

• {{Annotated link|Dokkaebi}}
• Ghosts in Chinese culture - Some Chinese ghosts are identical to the Japanese yūrei in character or nature
• {{Annotated link|Ryukyuan religion#Magical creatures|Kijimunaa}} (legendary beings from the Ryukyu Islands)
• Mogui - A class of Chinese demons from Buddhism
• Yaoguai - A class of Chinese supernatural beings with shapeshifting abilities and other supernatural powers.

Lists of supernatural creatures from East Asian folklore

• {{Annotated link|List of legendary creatures from Japan}}
• List of supernatural beings in Chinese folklore - Legendary creatures and entities in Chinese folklore, many of which also recur in Japanese lore

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist|30em|refs=

{{citation|last1=Kondō |first1=Mizuki |author1-link= |last2=Saeki |first2=Takahiro |title=Saikaku to Ukiyoe zōshi kenkyū: dai-2-gō furoku. Kaiibutsu sashie taizen |script-title=ja:西鶴と浮世草子研究 第二号付録 怪異物挿絵大全 |publisher=Kasama shoin |year=2007 |url= |page= |isbn=978-4-305-60202-2}}

{{citation|editor1-last=Kyogoku |editor1-first=Natsuhiko |editor1-link= |editor2-last=Tada |editor2-first=Katsumi |editor2-link= |title=Yōkaigahon kyōka hyakumonogatari |script-title=ja:妖怪画本 狂歌百物語 |publisher=Kokusho Kankokai |year=2008 |url= |pages=272–273|isbn=978-4-3360-5055-7}}

}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book|last=Foster |first=Michael Dylan |author-link=Michael Foster (folklorist) |title=Pandemonium and Parade: Japanese Monsters and the Culture of Yōkai |publisher=University of California Press |date=2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z5WQy5Q6Hj4C |page=|isbn=978-0-520-25361-2}}
• {{cite journal|last=Hirota |first=Ryūhei |author-link= |title=Traversing the Natural, Supernatural, and Paranormal: Yōkai in Postwar Japan |journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies |volume=48 |number=2, Religion and Identity in Japan since 1940 |date=2021|url=https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/journal/6/article/2314/pdf/download |pages=321–340|doi=10.18874/jjrs.48.2.2021.321-339 |jstor=27039930|s2cid=237709697 |doi-access=free }}
• {{Cite book|last=Komatsu |first=Kazuhiko |author-link=:ja:小松和彦|title=Yōkaigaku no kiso chishiki |script-title=ja:妖怪学の基礎知識 |year=2011 |publisher=Kadokawa gakugei shuppan |isbn=978-4-04-703487-7 |language=ja}}
• {{Cite book|last=Komatsu |first=Kazuhiko |author-link=:ja:小松和彦 |title=Yōkaigaku shinkō: Yōkai kara miru nihonjin no kokoro |script-title=ja:妖怪学新考 妖怪からみる日本人の心|year=2015|publisher=Kodansha |isbn=978-4-06-292307-1 |language=ja}}
• {{Cite book|last=Miyata |first=Noboru |author-link=:ja:宮田登 |title=|script-title=ja:妖怪の民俗学 |year=2002 |publisher=Chikuma shobo |isbn=4-480-08699-4 |language=ja}}

{{refend}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book |author-link=Rosalind Ballaster |last=Ballaster |first=Ros |year=2005 |title=Fables of the East |publisher=Oxford University Press |ref=none |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780199267354 |url-access=registration |isbn=0-19-926735-9}}
• {{cite journal |last=Fujimoto |first=N. |url=https://www2.uni-hamburg.de/oag/noag/noag2008_5.pdf |title=Yôkai und das Spiel mit Fiktion in der edozeitlichen Bildheftliteratur |language=de |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220219135025/https://www2.uni-hamburg.de/oag/noag/noag2008_5.pdf |archive-date=2022-02-19 |journal=Nachrichten der Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens |publisher=University of Hamburg |volume=78 |issue=183–184 |year=2008 |pages=93–104 |ref=none}}
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• {{cite book |last=Meyer |first=Matthew |year=2012 |title=The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons |publisher=Matthew Meyer |isbn=978-0-9852-1840-9 |ref=none |url=https://archive.org/details/the-night-parade-of-one-hundred-demons-a-field-guide-to-japanese-yokai-pdf-room}}
• {{cite book |last=Phillip |first=Neil |year=2000 |title=Annotated Myths & Legends |publisher=Covent Garden Books |ref=none |url=https://archive.org/details/annotatedmythsle0000phil |url-access=registration |isbn=0-7513-3097-3}}
• {{cite book |last=Tyler |first=Royall |year=1987 |title=Japanese Tales |series=Pantheon Fairy Tale & Folklore Library |publisher=Random House |isbn=0-394-52190-0 |ref=none |url=https://archive.org/details/japanesetales0000tyle}}
• {{Cite book |last=Williams |first=S. |trans-title=Silver Crossed Skies |title=妖怪の民俗学 |year=2018 |publisher=Frosty Snow Monk Publishing |isbn=978-4-480-08699-0 |language=ja |ref=none}}
• {{cite book |last1=Yoda |first1=Hiroko |last2=Alt |first2=Matt |year=2012 |title=Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide |publisher=Tuttle Publishing |isbn=978-4-8053-1219-3 |ref=none |url=https://archive.org/details/yokaiattackjapan0000yoda |url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book |last1=Yoda |first1=H. |last2=Alt |first2=M. |year=2016 |title=Japandemonium Illustrated: The Yokai Encyclopedias of Toriyama Sekien |publisher=Dover Publishing |isbn=978-0-4868-0035-6 |ref=none}}

{{refend}}

{{Commons category|Yōkai}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20101217155637/http://k-i-a.or.jp/kokusai/jigyou/english-lesson/ts-report/r-report.pdf Yōkai and Kaidan] (PDF; 1.1 MB)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090417015138/http://www.rekihaku.ac.jp/e-rekihaku/106/index.html The Ōishi Hyōroku Monogatari Picture Scroll]
• [https://db.nichibun.ac.jp/sp1/en/category/yokai.html Database of images of Strange Phenomena and Yōkai (Monstrous Beings)]
• [https://exchange.umma.umich.edu/resources/25752 Collection: Supernatural in Japanese Art], from University of Michigan Museum of Art

{{Japanese folklore long}}

{{Fantasy fiction}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yokai}}

Category:Japanese words and phrases