Shodoshima Yokai Art Museum
{{Short description|Museum in Shodoshima}}
The Shodoshima Yokai Art Museum,{{cite web |last1=Joslin |first1=Matthew |title=Ghost stories: What is a 'yokai' and why is it important, with artist Chubei Yagyu |url=https://www.japan.travel/en/uk/inspiration/what-is-a-yokai-chubei-yagyu/ |website=Japan Travel |access-date=17 March 2024}} also known as the Yokai Bijutsukan Art Museum is a small museum in Kagawa prefecture, which is focused on yōkai, supernatural entities in Japanese folklore.
Description
The museum, directed by Yagyu Chuebi, contains approximately nine hundred examples of Yokai. The museum is located on Shodoshima island, in the area known as the "maze district", in four wooden structures from the Meiji Era. The collection consists of works by several artists some of which have been acquired through the Yokai Art Contest annually over the past decade.
The origins of yokai folklore go back to the 11th century. The 18th century artist and scholar, Toriyama Sekien, brought attention to yokai folklore through his illustrated encyclopedia of monsters. Yokai have been described as the human imagination at work to process "fear, awe, and anxiety toward nature and unknown presences that writhe within the darkness."{{cite news |last1=Irsyad |first1=M. |title='Yokai Parade' exhibition in KL unleashes supernatural monsters from Japan |url=https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/culture/2023/11/24/039yokai-parade039-exhibition-in-kl-unleashes-supernatural-monsters-from-japan |access-date=17 March 2024 |publisher=The Star |date=24 November 2023}}
Yōkai are mischievous creatures, sometimes considered demonic, that shed light on mysterious or unexplained phenomena, for example, damaging winds or noises in the night that cannot be explained.{{cite news |last1=Rich |first1=Motoko |last2=Hida |first2=Hikari |title=A Japanese Island Where the Wild Things Are |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/16/world/asia/japan-shodoshima-yokai.html |access-date=17 March 2024 |publisher=The New York Times}} There are three basic types of yōkai, Obake who are usually depicted as shapeshifting monsters; Yurei, that are ghosts; and the more general Yōkai.{{cite web |title=Gathering of Japanese Monsters – the Yokai Art Museum in Shodoshima |url=http://takamatsulife.com/blog/2019/12/13/yokaimuseum_e/ |website=Life Takamatsu |access-date=17 March 2024}}
Gallery
File:Far right art detail, from- Yokai Marriage 2 (cropped).jpg|Far right art detail of scroll depicting Yokai betrothal, marriage, and home life, 16th century or 17th century
File:Kyosai, Yokai image.jpg|Yōkai artwork from "Kyōsai Kawanabe's Pictures of One Hundred Demons (1890), woodblock printed book (orihon, accordion-style); ink and color on paper.
File:Yokai without a head.jpg|Yokai without a head
See also
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
Xu, Wang. [https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201910/07/WS5d9a9c19a310cf3e3556eef0.html Painting the different sides of Setouchi], China Daily
External links
[https://yokaimuseum.on-the-trip.com/en.html Official website]
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