Yōkai

Yōkai
are a class of supernatural entities and spirits in Japanese folklore. The word is composed of two kanji characters which both mean "suspicious, doubtful" and while it may be regarded as a loanword from the Chinese term yaoguai, the word yōkai has taken on multiple different meanings peculiar in Japanese context.
are also referred to as , or . Despite often being translated as such, are not literally demons in the Western sense of the word, but are instead spirits and entities, and they can be viewed as kami, although this comparison is more often applied to actively "antagonistic" . Their behavior can range from malevolent or mischievous to benevolent to humans.
often have animal like features (such as the , depicted as appearing similar to a turtle, and the , commonly depicted with wings), but may also appear humanoid in appearance, such as the . Some resemble inanimate objects (such as the ), while others have no discernible shape. are typically described as having spiritual or supernatural abilities, with shapeshifting being the most common trait associated with them. that shapeshift are known as or .
Japanese folklorists and historians explain as personifications of "supernatural or unaccountable phenomena to their informants". In the Edo period, many artists, such as Toriyama Sekien, invented new by taking inspiration from folk tales or purely from their own imagination. Today, several such (such as the ) are mistakenly thought to originate in more traditional folklore.
Concept
The concept of , 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 . According to Japanese ideas of animism, spirit-like entities were believed to reside in all things, including natural phenomena and objects. Such spirits possessed emotions and personalities: peaceful spirits were known as , who brought good fortune; violent spirits, known as , brought ill fortune, such as illness and natural disasters. Neither type of spirit was considered to be .
One's ancestors and particularly respected departed elders could also be deemed to be , accruing status as protective spirits who brought fortune to those who worshipped them. Animals, objects and natural features or phenomena were also venerated as or propitiated as depending on the area.
Despite the existence of harmful spirits, rituals for converting into were performed, aiming to quell maleficent spirits, prevent misfortune and alleviate the fear arising from phenomena and events that otherwise had no explanation. The ritual for converting into was known as the . rituals for that failed to achieve deification as benevolent spirits, whether through a lack of sufficient veneration or through losing worshippers and thus their divinity, became .
Over time, phenomena and events thought to be supernatural became fewer and fewer, with the depictions of in picture scrolls and paintings beginning to standardize, evolving more into caricatures than fearsome spiritual entities. Elements of the tales and legends surrounding began to be depicted in public entertainment, beginning as early as the Middle Ages in Japan.– During and following the Edo period, the mythology and lore of became more defined and formalized.
Types
The folklorist Tsutomu Ema studied the literature and paintings depicting and , dividing them into categories as presented in the and the :
Categories based on a '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, are classified, similarly to the nymphs of Greek mythology, by their location or the phenomena associated with their manifestation. are indexed in the book as follows:
(mountains)
(paths)
(trees)
(water)
(the sea)
(snow)
(sound)
(animals, either real or imaginary)
History
Ancient history
772 CE: in the , there is the statement "Shinto purification is performed because appear very often in the imperial court", using the word 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 ", as well as a statement by Murasaki Shikibu that "the have become quite dreadful", which are the first appearances of the word .
1370: In the , in the fifth volume, there is the statement, "Sagami no Nyudo was not at all frightened by ."
The ancient times were a period abundant in literature and folktales mentioning and explaining . Literature such as the , the , and various expositioned on legends from the ancient past, and mentions of among other kinds of mysterious phenomena can already be seen in them. In the Heian period, collections of stories about and other supernatural phenomena were published in multiple volumes, starting with publications such as the and the , and in these publications, mentions of phenomena such as can be seen.
The that appear in this literature were passed on to later generations. Despite the literature mentioning and explaining these , 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 , but actual visual depictions would only come later in the Middle Ages, from the Kamakura period and beyond.
Yamata no Orochi was originally a local god but turned into a who was slain by Susanoo. Yasaburo was originally a bandit whose vengeful spirit 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". and are sometimes treated as gods in one area and in other areas. From these examples, it can be seen that among Japanese gods, there are some beings that can go from god to and vice versa.
Post-classical history
Medieval Japan was a time period where publications such as and other visual depictions of started to appear. While there were religious publications such as the , others, such as the , were intended more for entertainment, starting the trend where became more and more seen as subjects of entertainment. For examples, tales of extermination could be said to be a result of emphasizing the superior status of human society over . Publications included:
The (about an ), the (about a ), the (concerning serpent/dragon-folk oppressed by a giant centipede yōkai), the (about ), and the (about a giant snake). These were about that come from even older times.
The , in which Sugawara no Michizane was a lightning god who took on the form of an , and despite attacking people after doing this, he was still deified as a god in the end.
The , the , (both about Tamamo-no-Mae), and the (about a monkey). These told of mutations of animals.
The , 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 , depicting many different kinds of all marching together
In this way, that were mentioned only in writing were given a visual appearance in the Middle Ages. In the , familiar tales such as Urashima Tarō and Issun-bōshi also appeared.
The next major change in came after the period of warring states, in the Edo period.
Modern history
Edo period
1677: Publication of the , a collection of tales of various monsters.
1706: Publication of the . In volumes such as (volume 1) and (volume 4), collections of tales that seem to come from China were adapted into a Japanese setting.
1712: Publication of the by Terajima Ryōan, a collection of tales based on the Chinese .
1716: In the specialized dictionary , there is an entry on , which stated, "Among the commoners in my society, there are many kinds of (mysterious phenomena), often mispronounced by commoners as 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 , methods of exorcising them can be seen, so it should serve as a basis."
1788: Publication of the by Masayoshi Kitao. This was a diagram book of , but it was prefaced with the statement "it can be said that the so-called in our society is a representation of our feelings that arise from fear", and already in this era, while were being researched, it indicated that there were people who questioned whether 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 and other publications.
As a result, shops that handled such books spread and became widely used, making the general public's impression of each fixed, spreading throughout all of Japan. For example, before the Edo period, there were plenty of interpretations about what the were that were classified as , but because of books and publishing, the notion of became anchored to what is now the modern notion of .
Also, including other kinds of publications, other than born from folk legend, there were also many invented that were created through puns or word plays; the by Toriyama Sekien is one example. When the became popular in the Edo period, it is thought that one reason for the appearance of new was a demand for entertaining ghost stories about no one has ever heard of before, resulting in some that were simply made up for the purpose of telling an entertaining story. The and the are known examples of these.
They are also frequently depicted in ukiyo-e, and there are artists that have drawn famous like Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Yoshitoshi, Kawanabe Kyōsai, and Hokusai, and there are also books made by artists of the Kanō school.
In this period, toys and games like and , frequently used as characters. Thus, with the development of a publishing culture, 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 were originally things to be feared, they have then become characters that people feel close to.
Meiji and Taishō periods
1891: Publication of the by Shibue Tamotsu. It introduced folktales from Europe, such as the Grimm Tales.
1896: Publication of the by Inoue Enryō
1900: Performance of the kabuki play at the Kabuki-za in January. It was a performance in which appeared numerous such as the , skeletons , among others. Onoe Kikugorō V played the role of many of these, such as the .
1914: Publication of the by Mitsutaro Shirai. Shirai expositioned on plant 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 and were talked about, and were even depicted in classical . Although the were misunderstood as a kind of Japanese or , they actually became well known among the populace through a called by San'yūtei Enchō, which were adoptions of European tales such as the Grimm fairy tale "Godfather Death" and the Italian opera (1850). Also, in 1908, Kyōka Izumi and jointedly translated Gerhart Hauptmann's play The Sunken Bell. Later works of Kyōka such as 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 .
Shōwa period
Since have been introduced in various kinds of media, they have become well known among the old, the young, men and women. The from before the war, and the manga industry, as well as the shops that continued to exist until around the 1970s, as well as television contributed to the public knowledge and familiarity with . play a role in attracting tourism revitalizing local mecca regions such as Tōno in Iwate Prefecture (where stories in Kunio Yanagita's were collected) or Tottori Prefecture (Shigeru Mizuki's birthplace).
In this way, 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 represented by can only be felt as something realistic by living close to nature, such as with (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 (a large cooking pot), or the (a bucket used for getting water from a well), and there exist that are reminiscent of old lifestyles such as the and the .
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 are "not familiar" and "not very understandable". For example, in classical , 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 in classical Japanese culture.
On the other hand, the 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 continue to be invented, such as scary school stories and other urban legends like and , giving birth to new . From 1975 onwards, starting with the popularity of , these urban legends began to be referred to in mass media as "modern ". This terminology was also used in recent publications dealing with urban legends, and the researcher on used this especially frequently.
During the 1970s, many books were published that introduced through encyclopedias, illustrated reference books, and dictionaries as a part of children's horror books, but along with the that come from classics like folklore 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 and the . For example, Arifumi Sato is known to be a creator of modern , and Shigeru Mizuki, a manga artist of , in writings concerning research about , pointed out that newly-created do exist, and Mizuki himself, through , created about 30 new .
There has been much criticism that this mixing of classical with newly created 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 , 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 characters through these books nurtured creativity and emotional development of young readers of the time.
In popular culture
are often referred to as Japanese spirits or East Asian ghosts, like the legend or the story of the "Slit-mouthed girl", both of which hail from Japanese legend. The term can also be interpreted as "something strange or unusual".
See also
(legendary beings from the Ryukyu Islands)
Explanatory notes
References
General and cited references
Further reading
Ballaster, R. (2005). Fables of the East, Oxford University Press.
Fujimoto, Nicole. "Yôkai und das Spiel mit Fiktion in der edozeitlichen Bildheftliteratur" (Archive). Nachrichten der Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens (NOAG), University of Hamburg. Volume 78, issues 183–184 (2008). pp. 93–104.
Hearn, L. (2005). Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, Tuttle Publishing.
Komatsu, Kazuhiko (2017). An Introduction to Yōkai Culture: Monsters, Ghosts, and Outsiders in Japanese History, Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture, .
Meyer, M. (2012). The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, .
Phillip, N. (2000). Annotated Myths & Legends, Covent Garden Books.
Tyler, R. (2002). Japanese Tales (Pantheon Fairy Tale & Folklore Library), Random House, .
Yoda, H. and Alt, M. (2012). Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide, Tuttle Publishing, .
Yoda, H. and Alt, M. (2016). Japandemonium Illustrated: The Yokai Encyclopedias of Toriyama Sekien, Dover Publishing, .
External links
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
Japanese words and phrases