Yaoguai

Yaoguai (Chinese: 妖怪; pinyin: yāoguài) represent a broad and diverse class of ambiguous creatures in Chinese folklore and mythology defined by the possession of supernatural powers and by having attributes that partake of the quality of the weird, the strange or the unnatural. They are especially associated with transformation and enchantment. They often dwell in remote areas or on the fringes of civilization where they produce all manner of unexplainable phenomena and mischief. They often have predatory or malevolent tendencies.
Yaoguai vary considerably from one another in appearance and powers, and depending on particular individual or type, as being capable of shapeshifting, creating illusions, hypnosis, controlling minds, causing disease, clairvoyance, and draining the life force of mortals.
While yaoguai are not evil in the sense Western demons are, they are usually weird and dangerous, tending to exert a baleful influence on mankind. In more superstitious times, confusion and bewilderment, strange and unexplainable disease, eerie sights and strange sounds, and cases of unexplained murders and missing persons were attributed to them, hence the folk saying: "出反常必有妖", which simply means "extraordinary occurrences are due to the yao [guai]".
Yaoguai are popular staples of modern Chinese fiction, appearing in books, movies and comics. The have also begun to appear in video games.
Japanese "yokai" is the Japanese transliteration or pronunciation of the Chinese term "yaoguai" and involves similarly strange creatures, with both languages using the same Chinese characters to describe them.
A popular translation for them in Western texts is simply "demon", but this label can be very misleading, demons in the religious sense are termed "mo" (魔) rather than "yao" (妖). Other translations include "fiend", "monster", "goblin", "evil spirit" or "bogeyman". These creatures blur the boundaries between the natural and the unnatural, the human and the non-human, and their appearance in tales is often related to political portents or as a reflection of the social and cosmopolitical order.
Yaoguai is often translated as "demon" in English, but unlike the European concept of demons, a term heavily laden with moral and theological implications, the yaoguai are simply a category of creatures with supernatural (or preternatural) abilities and may be amoral rather than immoral, capricious rather than inherently wicked. As described in literature, many of them are capable of falling in love with mortals, repenting, and of exhibiting the full range of human emotions, desires and values.
In the folkloric tradition, their existence derives partly from the general fear of the unknown or the unknowable. General anxiety over social and political undercurrents, as well as psychological escapism may have provided the impetus for the literary tradition. The popular imagining of the yaoguai may also have received further stimulus from the activities of suppressed fox-spirit cults and other heterodox religious sects in China, from which their association with sorcery derives, as well as from the beliefs of minority tribes.
See also: List of Supernatural Beings in Chinese Folklore, Chinese mythology
Gui (鬼), Guai (怪) , Yao (妖), Mo (魔) and Xie (邪)
Chinese texts and beliefs abound with descriptions of the strange and supernatural, and do not always use consistent terminology. The word "妖" yao itself carries strong connotations of supernatural power, usually of the kind that runs contrary to the prescribed order of nature or heaven, and "妖术" (lit. "yao technique") means sorcery.
In Chinese texts, specific yao 妖 are sometimes referred to as 鬼 (gui, spectre or ghost), 怪 (guai, strange monster), 魔 (mo, demon close to the Western sense) or 邪 (xie, spiritually deviant or morally corrupt being). Despite the overlapping connotations and senses and their somewhat interchangeable use, these words have different core meanings and commonly refer to creatures that are not yao 妖. The narrow sense of each word refers to different kinds of beings that can be distinguished, usually as follows:
A yao (妖, pinyin: yāo) is an eldritch and potentially predatory creature with uncanny properties, possessing supernatural powers such as shapeshifting. Dwelling in remote wildernesses or at the fringes of civilization, and occasionally intruding into human civilization. It tends towards malevolence and generally has a harmful influence on humankind. They can be of either gender, but femme fatales are prominent in the literature. In folklore, their characteristic attributes are strangeness or otherworldliness, seductiveness, and an association with erratic behavior, bewilderment, and with disaster or misfortune. Whatever could not be readily understood by the population and that frightened them was generally regarded as "妖".
《孔丛子·执节》“若中山之谷，妖怪之事，非所谓天祥也"
If (while one) in the midst of the mountain valleys, yaoguai (are found) acting, (then) this is not auspicious.
In their capricious tendencies and powers, they have some resemblance to the fae of Irish legend or the fairies of European lore. However, unlike the fae, the "妖" often possess the nature of a specific kind of animal or a plant (a vixen, a snake, a butterfly, or a tree or a flower), which may have been their original form. They are capable of assuming human, or near-human form, and of wielding either innate supernatural powers or abilities associated with Taoist cultivation.
The existence of these creatures or phenomena associated with them is generally an ill-omen and is described arising due to natural fluctuations in yin and yang, or to human activity which disrupts the moral or normative order.
Possession of supernatural power defines the yaoguai, distinguishing them from other monsters. Descriptions of the abilities of these beings vary considerably. Typical powers ascribed to them include shapeshifting, the manufacture of illusions, mind control, clairvoyance, the possession of human beings, and the control over natural forces.
For example, nine-tailed foxes are said to be clairvoyant beings able to poison others through sorcery and to take possession of others. In Yue Jun's tale "Hu Hao Hao", a fox spirit compels, through sorcery, a respectable couple to engage in a sexual threesome with it. Baigujing, a white skeleton essence, is described as an adept shapeshifter, taking on the forms of multiple people in an attempt to deceive her opponents. Others are capable of control over elemental forces, as when Bai Suzhen, a white snake fairy unleashes a supernatural flood against a temple.
Older references to the 妖 regard them as strange phenomena arising due to aberrations or anomalies in qi (the breath, energy or material force) pervading the natural world, or else from the passive absorption of universal energies of yin and yang over a long period of time. They may also have developed into their current state from engaging in the deliberate cultivation of supernatural power. Finally, they may also result due to disturbances to the moral and cosmic order.
According to the classic text the Zuo Zhuan, "when people abandon constancy then this causes the yao to emerge" ("人弃常则妖兴"). In traditional Chinese thought, natural phenomena and human wellbeing and flourishing are correlated to moral conduct. The operative principle can be moral or natural - either Heavenly retribution or the philosophical concept of gan-ying or stimulus-response (also known as "sympathetic resonance"). The latter is a broad connective principle according to which "like-begets-like", as when kindness begets kindness, thorns grow where armies are located, and where the musical analogy of resonating strings is often used.
Some yaoguai arise spontaneously in nature due to anomalous or aberrant qi or energy. Examples include:
In Wang Chong's 1st century text the Balanced Discussions, things such as animals, plants, and rocks are said to be endowed a human-like essence and capacities as a result of immense age ("物之老者，其精为人").
See also: Shenmo ("Gods and Demons") literature, Zhiguai ("Records of the Strange") Literature
Yaoguai are often the antagonists in both the Shen-Mo 神魔 (lit. "Gods and demons fiction") genre and the Zhi-Guai 志怪 (lit. Zhiguai xiaoshuo|"Strange tales") genre of literature.
In more superstitious times, they were also frequently believed to the culprits of strange occurrences and mysterious accidents, unexplained deaths and other ghastly phenomena.
Classical types in Chinese mythology, literature, and folklore include:
Specific characters from literature and folklore include:
In Taoist folklore, yaoguai come from "an imbalance in the" Tao and "any combination of [atypical] powers, including mind control, shapeshifting and the ability to create illusions."
Folkloric belief and literature are replete with tales of shapeshifting "daemons" with the power to assume human form, to afflict with poison and disease, to bewilder, and to enthrall and seduce. The original form of these shapeshifters can vary widely, and include the fox, the tiger, the wolf, and the snake, amongst others. These creatures are often denominated by appending the character 妖 to their essential nature or original form. Accordingly, a fox demon may be denominated a 狐妖, a tiger demon as 虎妖, so on and so forth.
Yaoguai are often depicted as injurious or predatory beings in Chinese folklore and literature who seek to consume or to drain the life force of living beings. The purpose in consuming human beings is often to obtain immortality or achieve godlike power, but sometimes is attributed to simple hunger. They may also cohabit with human beings, either as a prelude to consuming them, or in order to satisfy their lust.
Many employ sexual seduction as a tactic. Some belong to the "femme fatale" category of antagonists - assuming the form of beautiful women. Others masquerade as Taoist priests and or Buddhist monks in order to gain the trust of their victims. One example is the tale of the Painted Skin "demon" from Pu Song Ling, a green-skinned demon who wears a mask of human skin. Another example is Baigujing, the white-skeleton spirit, who adopts various disguises an attempt to consume the flesh of a holy man to obtain immortality. The Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord is a centipede who assumes the form of an elderly Taoist priest.
Yet others, like the wangliang, the tiger demon, and the wolf demon, are simply opportunistic ambush predators who rely on stealth and speed in order to satisfy their insatiable hunger. The Wangliang is an apparition that appears in the mountains and marshes that accosts travelers and that has a taste for human brains, relying on its stealthiness and speed to successfully kill its prey. The wolf demon and tiger demon are ravening beings roaming over wide areas to consume large numbers of people, assuming human form to evade detection.
In Chinese folklore, supernatural power and immortality can be attained by ordinary mortals and even animals through personal cultivation, often Taoist in nature. This cultivation usually involves some kind of meditative, spiritual, or hygienic practices, the consumption of certain foods, the absorption of certain natural energies, and mental and physical exercises. Through long perseverance in such practices, animals, plants and even inorganic matter such as rocks and musical instruments may gain supernatural power, immense wisdom, or human form through years of cultivation. The acquisition of sentience and supernatural power is called "成精 (Chengjing)". A few take their cultivation even further, achieving immortal "Xian" (仙) status.
This category or type of Yao often appears in classic stories such as Journey to the West, Legend of the White Snake, Investiture of the Gods and Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio. It is also alluded to in the works of the secular and naturalistic philosopher Wang Chong, who denied the existence of an afterlife and of ghosts, but claimed objects could acquire strange powers due to immense age.
In the Chinese classical novel Journey to the West, some gods were banished to the mortal world and became Yaoguai because they violated the laws of heaven. The most representative ones are Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing. In addition, in the Journey to the West in the heavenly court, some immortals decide to privately descend on their own accord. Many of them are waiters and mounts around the gods, such as the Golden and Silver Horned Kings of the Taishang Laojun, Yellow Robe Demon, which was originally Kui Mulang, Maitreya Bodhisattva's Yellow Brows Great King, Manjushri's Azure Lion and so on. These end up becoming yaoguai.
See also: Shenmo ("Gods and Demons") literature Investiture of the Gods
In the literary text Investiture of the Gods, the fox-sprite Daji is sent on a mission by the goddess Nuwa, to corrupt the last king of the Shang and to instigate the fall of his dynasty, as punishment for the latter composing a ribald poem. She is accompanied and aided by two other yaoguai - Pipa Jing, a magical instrument who has taken on the form of a maiden, and Jiutou Zhiji Jing, a nine-headed pheasant who has also acquired human form.
Journey to the West
In Journey to the West, many demons seek immortality through the abduction and consumption of a holy man (in this case, Tang Sanzang). This includes a baigujing, who was originally the exposed white skeleton of a maiden that upon absorbing the energies of the sun and moon over long course, transforms into a "yaojing" with shapeshifting powers.
Baigujing yearns to consume the flesh of a holy man in order to obtain immortality. Other "yao" were fallen pets or mounts of deities, who, having been expelled from heaven, proceed to make a nuisance of themselves on earth. The text also describes yaoguai kings (mówáng) that command a number of lesser demon minions.
Notably, Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, uses this term often to insult his adversaries. However, Wukong himself is also referred to as a demon not long after his birth by the narrator of Journey to the West and by his adversaries during his conflict with Heaven.
See also: Shenmo ("Gods and Demons") literature
Yaoguai are the antagonists in a genre of literature known as zhiguai literature. Although they were produced principally for entertainment, it is worth noting that the appearance of anomalies in this genre literature is often associated with sociopolitical portents and a reflection of the current state of the cosmopolitical order, and that themes of dissatisfaction with the human condition resonate in the texts and lives of authors.
Repressed sexuality is often a theme in such literature. In Yue Jun's collection "Hu Hao Hao", a couple is forced to engage in a threesome with a fox spirit against their will, and are powerless to resist the yaoguai. Yue Jun however, publicly disclaimed any didactic purpose in his writing, saying that these tales were not to be taken too seriously, implying they were written for the purposes of entertainment.
"Painted Skin"
Another theme is the ambivalent nature of beauty, which can mask great evil. This theme was the driving force behind Pu Song Ling's tale the "Painted Skin", as the author himself noted in a postscript:
"How foolish men are, to see nothing but beauty in what is clearly evil! And how benighted to dismiss as absurd what is clearly well-intended! It is folly such as this that obliges the lady Chen to steel herself to eat another man's phlegm, when her husband has fallen prey to lust. Heaven's Way has its inexorable justice, but some mortals remain foolish and never see the light!"
Yaoguai (妖怪) is a compound word consisting of two Chinese characters often translated as monster, fiend, bogeyman, or demon.
Analyzing the compound word into the two separate words:
While both of the words 妖 and 怪 signify and connote strangeness, but 妖 carries the additional connotation of seduction or supernatural enthrallment, whereas 怪 signifies a strange monster.
Terms like yaogui (妖鬼; yāoguǐ, 'strange ghost'), yaomo (妖魔; yāomó, 'daemon'), yaojing (妖精; yāojīng, often translated as "sprite" or "faerie"), and yaopo (妖婆; yaopo, "hag" or "witch") are either types of Yaoguai (妖怪) or related beings.
The Japanese term yokai is simply the Japanese transliteration or pronunciation of the 妖怪 yāoguài, and involves similarly strange creatures.
Classical usages of 妖 refer to preternatural phenomena and freakish occurrences where explanation fell outside the limited understanding of observers. These include:
There is also a classical saying: "when affairs go awry, there must have been a yāo (acting)" ("事出反必有妖").
In later terminology, yāo refers to natural objects (animals, plants or rocks) which have acquired sentience (lit. spiritual awareness), the ability to assume human or near-human forms, supernatural or magical powers, as well as the ability to cultivate so as to achieve immortality or transcendence.
The terms yao 妖, gui 鬼, mo 魔 and guai 怪 are sometimes used interchangeably in the same text for the same creature, since these tales focus on producing entertaining or thrilling narratives rather than linguistic precision. This is true even though the creature satisfies the classical definition of a Yao 妖.
However, in the strict sense, Yao (妖) are usually seen as distinct creatures from "ghosts and spectres" (鬼, pinyin: gui), "demons and devils" (魔, pinyin: mo), "monsters and aberrations" 怪 (pinyin: guai). The differences may be thus explained:
Narrowly speaking, "gui (鬼)" are the spirits of the deceased, whereas "mo 魔" are either demons in the religious sense, or fallen immortals that have succumbed to evil or who have elected to take a forbidden path for whatever reason. Meanwhile, "guai (怪)" on a standalone basis maintains a broad original meaning and can refer to any strange creature.
Ultimately the yaoguai (妖怪) are not demons in the religious or the traditional western sense; they are neither archfiends nor fallen angels, neither the inveterate foes of mankind's salvation nor are they hardened rebels against the divine principle. They are often capable of sympathy, love, repentance, and even remorse, and of forming families with human beings. Instead, the word 魔 is used to refer to demons when translating Buddhist or Christian or other religious texts.
Yaoguai feature liberally in modern popular culture, including cinema of the xianxia (lit. "immortal hero") genre and in comic books about cultivators.
Japanese adaptations