Information AboutYokai |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT YōKAI | |
| japanese legendary creatures | |
| demons | |
| yokai | |
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Some yōkai simply avoid human beings; they generally inhabit secluded areas far from human dwellings. Other yōkai, however, choose to live near human settlements out of some strange attraction to mankind; perhaps they are drawn by the warmth of human houses, or the oil that humans keep to feed their fires. Yōkai are traditionally associated with fire, the direction northeast, and the season of summer, when the spirit world is closest to the world of humans. Yokai and obake are often depicted in guises as much humorous as terrifying. Manga artist '' includes stories of Yūrei and yōkai such as Yuki-onna . TYPES OF YōKAI There are a wide variety of yōkai in Japanese mythology. In general, yōkai is a broad term, and can be used to encompass virtually all monsters and supernatural beings, even including creatures from Western mythology on occasion (e.g., the German Backbear is often included in Japanese mythology to the point that some mistakenly believe it originates from said myths). "Ghostly zoology" In Japan, there can be found a good number of animals that are thought to have magic of their own. Most of these are ''henge'' (変化), Shapeshifters , which often imitate humans, mostly women. Some of the better known animal yokai include the following:
Oni One of the most well-known aspects of Japanese folklore is the '' Oni '', which is a sort of mountain-dwelling ogre, usually depicted with red, blue, brown or black skin, two horns on its head, a wide mouth filled with fangs, and wearing nothing but a tigerskin loincloth. It often carries an iron club or a giant sword. Oni are mostly depicted as evil, but can occasionally be the embodiment of an ambivalent natural force. They are, like many Obake , associated with the direction northeast. Tsukumogami '' Tsukumogami '' (付喪神, hundred year old objects) are an entire class of yōkai and obake, comprising ordinary household items that have come to life on the anniversary of their one-hundredth birthday. This virtually unlimited classification includes '' Bakezouri '' (化け草履, straw sandals), '' Karakasa '' (唐傘, old umbrellas), '' Kameosa '' (瓶長, old sake jars), and ''Morinjin-okama'' (tea kettles). Human transformations There are a large number of yōkai which were originally ordinary human beings, transformed into something horrific and grotesque usually by some sort of extreme emotional state. The '' Futakuchi-onna '' (二口女, "two mouthed woman"), for example, grows an extra mouth on the back of her head, which is unknowingly fed by strands of her hair acting as tentacles of sorts. This is caused by a woman's extreme anxiety over her figure, and is only one example of extreme emotions causing supernatural changes in human beings. Other examples of human transformations or humanoid yōkai are the '' Rokuro-kubi '' (ろくろ首, humans able to elongate their necks during the night), the '' Ohaguro-bettari '' (a figure, usually female, that turns to reveal a face with only a blackened mouth), dorotabou (the risen corpse of a farmer, with eyeballs on its hands), among many others. Miscellaneous There are, of course, a countless number of yōkai that are too bizarre to fit into broad categories. These are usually some sort of perversion or transformation of creatures found in ordinary life, or are entirely new types of goblin-like creatures. Some examples are the '' Abura-sumashi '', an old, smug-faced and potato-headed goblin who drinks oil; the amikiri, a creature that exists for no other purpose than to cut mosquito netting; and the ushioni, a cow demon that is sometimes depicted with the body of a giant spider. YōKAI IN POPULAR CULTURE Various kinds of yōkai are encountered in folklore and folklore-inspired art and literature, particularly Manga and Japanese Horror . The man to whom most of the credit should go for keeping yōkai in the popular imagination (at least in Japan) is Shigeru Mizuki , the manga creator of such series as '' Ge Ge Ge No Kitaro '' and '' Sanpei No Kappa ''. With the exception of ''Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro'', however, Mizuki's works have yet to be translated into English . Aside from appearances in Anime and Manga , yōkai have appeared in a number of other media as well. Amongst these are:
In the English-speaking World , knowledge of ''yōkai'' is slowly, but surely, developing a dedicated following. Hawaiian Folklorist Glen Grant was known for his "Obake Files", a series of reports he developed about supernatural incidents in Hawaii; the grand bulk of these incidents and reports were of Japanese origin, though in retelling have been much modified from their original forms in Japanese folklore. However, it should be noted that he was not the first; in the 1950s , Mexican-American folklorist and author Alfred Avila wrote about "La Japonesa", a purported Nekomusume said to exist in the Los Angeles Suburb of El Monte . {Link without Title} SEE ALSO
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