Yōkai

The concept of 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 yōkai.^[5] According to Japanese ideas of animism, spirit-like entities were believed to reside in all things, including natural phenomena and objects.^[6] Such spirits possessed emotions and personalities: peaceful spirits were known as nigi-mitama, who brought good fortune; violent spirits, known as ara-mitama, brought ill fortune, such as illness and natural disasters. Neither type of spirit was considered to be yōkai.

One's ancestors and particularly respected departed elders could also be deemed to be 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 nigi-mitama or propitiated as ara-mitama depending on the area.

Despite the existence of harmful spirits, rituals for converting ara-mitama into nigi-mitama were performed, aiming to quell maleficent spirits, prevent misfortune and alleviate the fear arising from phenomena and events that otherwise had no explanation.^[7][8] The ritual for converting ara-mitama into nigi-mitama was known as the chinkon (鎮魂, lit. 'the calming of the spirits' or 'requiem').^[9] Chinkon rituals for 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 yōkai.^[10][11]

Over time, phenomena and events thought to be supernatural became fewer and fewer, with the depictions of yōkai in picture scrolls and paintings beginning to standardize, evolving more into caricatures than fearsome spiritual entities. Elements of the tales and legends surrounding yōkai began to be depicted in public entertainment, beginning as early as the Middle Ages in Japan.^[12] During and following the Edo period, the mythology and lore of yōkai became more defined and formalized.^[13]

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  Chōchin-oiwa by Katsushika Hokusai
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  Kidōmaru by Utagawa Kuniyoshi
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  Nekomata from the Hyakkai Zukan by Sawaki Suushi
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  Tsuchigumo from the Shinkei Sanjurokkai Sen (新形三十六怪撰) by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
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  Gama Yōkai from the Saigama to Ukiyo Soushi Kenkyu Volume 2, special issue Kaii^[14] Tamababaki
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  Narikama from the Gazu Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro by Sekien Toriyama
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  Theatre Curtain with Yokai by Kawanabe Kyōsai (1880)

The folklorist Tsutomu Ema studied the literature and paintings depicting yōkai and henge (変化, lit. 'changed things/mutants'), dividing them into categories as presented in the Nihon Yōkai Henge Shi and the Obake no Rekishi:

• Categories based on a 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, yōkai are classified, similarly to the nymphs of Greek mythology, by their location or the phenomena associated with their manifestation. Yōkai are indexed in the book 綜合日本民俗語彙 ("A Complete Dictionary of Japanese Folklore", Sogo Nihon Minzoku Goi)^[15][a] as follows:

• Yama no ke (山の怪) (mountains)
• michi no ke (paths)
• ki no ke (trees)
• mizu no ke (water)
• umi no ke (the sea)
• yuki no ke (snow)
• oto no ke (sound)
• dōbutsu no ke (animals, either real or imaginary)

• 772 CE: in the Shoku Nihongi, there is the statement "Shinto purification is performed because yōkai appear very often in the imperial court", using the word 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 mononoke", as well as a statement by Murasaki Shikibu that "the mononoke have become quite dreadful", which are the first appearances of the word mononoke.
• 1370: In the Taiheiki, in the fifth volume, there is the statement, "Sagami no Nyudo was not at all frightened by yōkai."

 

The ancient times were a period abundant in literature and folktales mentioning and explaining yōkai. Literature such as the Kojiki, the Nihon Shoki, and various Fudoki expositioned on legends from the ancient past, and mentions of oni, orochi, among other kinds of mysterious phenomena can already be seen in them.^[16] In the Heian period, collections of stories about yōkai and other supernatural phenomena were published in multiple volumes, starting with publications such as the Nihon Ryōiki and the Konjaku Monogatarishū, and in these publications, mentions of phenomena such as Hyakki Yagyō can be seen.^[17]

The yōkai that appear in this literature were passed on to later generations.^[18] Despite the literature mentioning and explaining these 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 oni, but actual visual depictions would only come later in the Middle Ages, from the Kamakura period and beyond.^[19]

Yamata no Orochi was originally a local god but turned into a yōkai who was slain by Susanoo.^[20] Yasaburo was originally a bandit whose vengeful spirit (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".^[21] Kappa and inugami are sometimes treated as gods in one area and 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 yōkai and vice versa.^[22][23]

 

Medieval Japan was a time period where publications such as emakimono, Otogi-zōshi, and other visual depictions of yōkai started to appear. While there were religious publications such as the Jisha Engi (寺社縁起), others, such as the Otogizōshi, were intended more for entertainment, starting the trend where yōkai became more and more seen as subjects of entertainment. For examples, tales of yōkai extermination could be said to be a result of emphasizing the superior status of human society over yōkai.^[12] Publications included:

• The Ooe-yama Shuten-doji Emaki (about an oni), the Zegaibou Emaki (about a tengu), the Tawara no Tōda emaki (俵藤太絵巻) (concerning serpent/dragon-folk oppressed by a giant centipede yōkai), the Tsuchigumo Zoshi (土蜘蛛草紙) (about tsuchigumo), and the Dojo-ji Engi Emaki (about a giant snake). These emaki were about yōkai that come from even older times.
• The Kitano Tenjin Engi Emaki, in which Sugawara no Michizane was a lightning god who took on the form of an oni, and despite attacking people after doing this, he was still deified as a god in the end.^[12]
• The Junirui Emaki, the Tamamono Soshi, (both about Tamamo-no-Mae), and the Fujibukuro Soushi Emaki (about a monkey). These emaki told of yōkai mutations of animals.
• The 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 Hyakki Yagyō Emaki, depicting many different kinds of yōkai all marching together

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

The next major change in yōkai came after the period of warring states, in the Edo period.

• 1677: Publication of the Shokoku Hyakumonogatari, a collection of tales of various monsters.
• 1706: Publication of the Otogi Hyakumonogatari. In volumes such as Miyazu no Ayakashi (volume 1) and Unpin no Yōkai (volume 4), collections of tales that seem to come from China were adapted into a Japanese setting.^[24]
• 1712: Publication of the Wakan Sansai Zue by Terajima Ryōan, a collection of tales based on the Chinese Sancai Tuhui.
• 1716: In the specialized dictionary Sesetsu Kojien (世説故事苑), there is an entry on yōkai, which stated, "Among the commoners in my society, there are many kinds of kaiji (mysterious phenomena), often mispronounced by commoners as '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 Shōseiroku, methods of exorcising them can be seen, so it should serve as a basis."^[25]
• 1788: Publication of the Bakemono chakutocho by Masayoshi Kitao. This was a kibyoshi diagram book of yōkai, but it was prefaced with the statement "it can be said that the so-called yōkai in our society is a representation of our feelings that arise from fear",^[26] and already in this era, while yōkai were being researched, it indicated that there were people who questioned whether 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 kibyoshi and other publications.^[b]

As a result, kashi-hon shops that handled such books spread and became widely used, making the general public's impression of each yōkai fixed, spreading throughout Japan. For example, before the Edo period, there were plenty of interpretations about what the yōkai were that were classified as kappa, but because of books and publishing, the notion of kappa became anchored to what is now the modern notion of kappa.^[27]

Also, including other kinds of publications, other than yōkai born from folk legend, there were also many invented yōkai that were created through puns or word plays; the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by Toriyama Sekien is one example. When the Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai became popular in the Edo period, it is thought that one reason for the appearance of new yōkai was a demand for entertaining ghost stories about 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 kasa-obake and the tōfu-kozō are known examples of these.^[27]

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

In this period, toys and games like karuta and sugoroku, frequently used yōkai as characters. Thus, with the development of a publishing culture, 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 yōkai were originally things to be feared, they have then become characters that people feel close to.^[28]

 

• 1891: Publication of the Seiyuu Youkai Kidan by Shibue Tamotsu. It introduced folktales from Europe, such as the Grimm Tales.
• 1896: Publication of the Yōkaigaku Kogi by Inoue Enryō
• 1900: Performance of the kabuki play Yami no Ume Hyakumonogatari at the Kabuki-za in January. It was a performance in which appeared numerous yōkai such as the Kasa ippon ashi, skeletons, yuki-onna, osakabe-hime, among others. Onoe Kikugorō V played the role of many of these, such as the osakabe-hime.
• 1914: Publication of the Shokubutsu Kaiko by Mitsutaro Shirai. Shirai expositioned on plant 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 binbōgami, yakubyōgami [ja], and shinigami were talked about, and shinigami were even depicted in classical rakugo. Although the shinigami were misunderstood as a kind of Japanese yōkai or kami, they actually became well known among the populace through a rakugo called Shinigami by San'yūtei Enchō, which were adoptions of European tales such as the Grimm fairy tale "Godfather Death" and the Italian opera Crispino e la comare (1850). Also, in 1908, Kyōka Izumi and Chikufū Tobari [ja] jointedly translated Gerhart Hauptmann's play The Sunken Bell. Later works of Kyōka such as Yasha ga Ike [ja] 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 yōkai.

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

In this way, 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 yōkai represented by tsukumogami can only be felt as something realistic by living close to nature, such as with 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 kama (a large cooking pot), or the tsurube (a bucket used for getting water from a well), and there exist yōkai that are reminiscent of old lifestyles such as the azukiarai and the dorotabō [ja].

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 yōkai are "not familiar" and "not very understandable". For example, in classical 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 yōkai in classical Japanese culture.^[opinion]

On the other hand, the 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 yōkai continue to be invented, such as scary school stories and other urban legends like kuchisake-onna and Hanako-san, giving birth to new yōkai. From 1975 onwards, starting with the popularity of kuchisake-onna, these urban legends began to be referred to in mass media as "modern yōkai".^[29] This terminology was also used in recent publications dealing with urban legends,^[30] and the researcher on yōkai, Bintarō Yamaguchi [ja], used this especially frequently.^[29]

During the 1970s, many books were published that introduced yōkai through encyclopedias, illustrated reference books, and dictionaries as a part of children's horror books, but along with the yōkai that come from classics like folklore, 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 gashadokuro and the jubokko. For example, Arifumi Sato is known to be a creator of modern yōkai, and Shigeru Mizuki, a manga artist of yōkai, in writings concerning research about yōkai, pointed out that newly created yōkai do exist,^[31][32] and Mizuki himself, through GeGeGe no Kitaro, created about 30 new yōkai.^[33]

There has been much criticism that this mixing of classical yōkai with newly created yōkai is making light of tradition and legends.^[31][32] However, since there have already been those from the Edo period like Sekien Toriyama who created many new yōkai, there is also the opinion that it is unreasonable to criticize modern creations without doing the same for classical creations too.^[31] Furthermore, there is a favorable view that says that introducing various yōkai characters through these books nurtured creativity and emotional development of young readers of the time.^[32]

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,^[34] the haradashi - a goofy yokai with its belly on its face,^[35] and the mumashika, which are comical-looking yokai with horse heads and deer bodies.^[36]

Yōkai are often referred to as Japanese spirits or East Asian ghosts, like the Hanako-san legend or the story of the "Slit-mouthed girl", both of which hail from Japanese legend. The term 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.

Japanese supernatural beings

• Kappa - a type of yōkai
• Oni - a type of yōkai
• Tengu - a type of yōkai
• Yōsei – Spiritlike creature from Japanese folklore, distinct from the yōkai
• Yūrei – Figures in Japanese folklore similar to ghosts, distinct from the yōkai

Japanese museums on the supernatural

• Miyoshi Mononoke Museum
• Shodoshima Yokai Art Museum

Other supernatural beings from East Asian folklore

• Dokkaebi – Creatures from Korean folklore
• Ghosts in Chinese culture - Some Chinese ghosts are identical to the Japanese yūrei in character or nature
• Kijimunaa – Indigenous Ryukyuan belief system (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

• List of legendary creatures from Japan – Legendary creatures and entities in traditional Japanese mythology
• List of supernatural beings in Chinese folklore - Legendary creatures and entities in Chinese folklore, many of which also recur in Japanese lore

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yōkai.

• Yōkai and Kaidan (PDF; 1.1 MB)
• The Ōishi Hyōroku Monogatari Picture Scroll
• Database of images of Strange Phenomena and Yōkai (Monstrous Beings)
• Collection: Supernatural in Japanese Art, from University of Michigan Museum of Art