nntsuzu/KFTT huggingface dataset:
English: TV song programs were made separately for young people and middle-aged and elderly people, leading to the time when it was difficult to create hit songs that everyone of all ages knew.
Japanese: テレビの歌番組も中高年向けと若者向けが別々になり、年代を問わず誰もが知っている流行歌が生まれにくい時代となった。
English: Young people also became fascinated with karaoke and writing and marketing of Japanese pop songs for karaoke started too.
Japanese: 若者もカラオケに夢中になる様になり、日本のポップスもカラオケ向けの楽曲作りとマーケティングが始まる。
English: Enka music had been supported by only middle-aged and elderly people and it became harder for singers with powerful voices and outstanding vocal ability, such as Saburo KITAJIMA, and unique singers with distinctive quality of voice and vocalization, such as Shinichi MORI, to display their talents as people had valued easy songs for amateurs to sing in karaoke, and thus enka music had less TV exposure.
Japanese: 演歌が中高年のみの支持に限定されてきたことや、素人がカラオケで歌いやすいことが尊ばれ、北島三郎のように圧倒的な声量や歌唱力を誇る歌手や、森進一のように独特な声質と歌唱法をもつ個性的な歌手が実力を発揮しにくくなり、テレビへの露出が減少した。
English: Some mid-level singers, such as Natsuko GODAI, Fuyumi SAKAMOTO, Kaori KOZAI, and Ayako FUJI, debuted and created hits in such times, from the 1980s to the early 1990s.
Japanese: 1980年代から1990年代前半にかけて伍代夏子、坂本冬美、香西かおり、藤あや子など、この時期にデビューしヒットを出した中堅歌手も存在する。
English: Music moguls also proved themselves alive and well, such as Chiyoko SHIMAKURA with 'Jinsei Iroiro' (Various Lives) and Hibari MISORA with 'Kawa no Nagare no Yoni' (Like the Flow of the River).
Japanese: また島倉千代子の「人生いろいろ」、美空ひばり「川の流れのように」など大御所歌手も健在ぶりをアピールしている。
English: Ikuzo YOSHI, Yoko NAGAYAMA, and other singers who shifted from other genres to enka music, Takao HORIUCHI who switched from new music to enka music, and hit-making singers with their own style, such as Eunsook KYE who sang pops-like enka songs, had appeared and a new genre named 'new adult music' also emerged.
Japanese: 吉幾三や長山洋子など他ジャンルからの演歌転向者や、ニューミュージックから演歌に転向した堀内孝雄や、ポップス寄りの演歌を歌う桂銀淑のように独自のスタイルでヒットを出す歌手も現れ、「ニューアダルトミュージック」という新しいジャンル名も生まれた。
English: Major hits included 'Ame no Bojo' (Longing in the Rain), 'Omae to Futari' (Together with You), 'Osaka Shigure,' 'Michinoku Hitoritabi' (Solitary Journey to Michinoku), 'Okuhida Bojo' (Longing in Okuhida), 'Sazanka no Yado,' 'Kyodai Bune,' 'Hisame' (Chilly Rain), 'Musume Yo,' 'Kitasakaba,' 'Yagiri no Watashi (Takashi HOSOKAWA)' (Yagiri Ferry), 'Nagaragawa Enka' (Nagara-gawa River Song), 'Tsugunai' (Compensation), 'Toki no Nagare ni Mi wo Makase' (Yielding Myself to the Flow of Time), 'Suzume no Namida' (Tears of Sparrow), 'Yume Onna' (Dreaming Woman), 'Yuki Guni' (Snow Country), 'Sake Yo,' 'Yuki Tsubaki' (Snow Camellia), 'Inochi Kurenai' (Crimson Life of Passion), 'Koi Uta Tsuzuri' (Writing a Love Song), 'Murasaki Ujo'(Purple Rain), 'Kokoro Zake' (Sake of the Heart), 'Yozakura Oshichi' (Oshichi under the Cherry Blossoms in the Night), 'Higurashi' (An Evening Cicada), 'Chindo Monogatari' (A Story of Jindo).
Japanese: 主なヒット曲には「雨の慕情」「おまえとふたり」「大阪しぐれ」「みちのくひとり旅」「奥飛騨慕情」「さざんかの宿」「兄弟船」「氷雨」「娘よ」「北酒場」「矢切の渡し(細川たかし)」「長良川艶歌」「つぐない」「時の流れに身をまかせ」「すずめの涙」「夢おんな」「雪國」「酒よ」「雪椿」「命くれない」「恋歌綴り」「むらさき雨情」「こころ酒」「夜桜お七」「蜩」「珍島物語」など。
English: Years after the mid-1990s, however, saw severer deterioration of the enka genre, and it became unusual for new enka CDs to become hits and sell as many as hundreds of thousands of copies in the late 1990s.
Japanese: しかし1990年代も半ばを過ぎると演歌の衰退は激化し、1990年代末には演歌の新曲CDが数十万枚単位でヒットする例は極めて少なくなってしまった。
English: With the big success of 'Mago' by Itsuro OIZUMI and 'Hakone Hachiri no Hanjiro' by Kiyoshi HIKAWA in 2000, enka music enjoyed a big boom for the first time in years, altough it did not last long.
Japanese: 2000年に大泉逸郎の「孫」や氷川きよしの「箱根八里の半次郎」が大ヒットし、一時的ではあったが、久しぶりの大ブームが起こった。
English: This success, however, could not change the previous evaluation for songs themselves significantly, as 'Mago' became a hit among middle-aged and elderly people of similar age with Oizumi or older and Kiyoshi HIKAWA, who was popular even among teens and 20s, attracted young people with his outstanding looks for an enka singer.
Japanese: ただし「孫」は大泉と同年代かそれ以上の中高年層の間でのヒットであり、10代、20代にも人気を博した氷川きよしの場合は演歌歌手としては規格外のルックスにより若者受けした部分が大きく、歌そのものへの評価は以前とそれほど変わらなかった。
English: At the same time, enka singers are increasingly releasing songs with pops in mind, such as 'Himawari' (Sunflower) (became a hit in 2002; produced by Masaharu FUKUYAMA) by Kiyoshi MAEKAWA.
Japanese: 一方で前川清の「ひまわり」（2002年ヒット；福山雅治プロデュース）のように演歌歌手がポップスを意識した楽曲を発表するような動きも増えている。
English: Therefore, many songs have come to extend beyond traditional enka genre boundaries, and the name of the genre is changing from enka to enka kayo kyoku.
Japanese: そのため、これまでのジャンルとしての演歌の枠に納まらない楽曲も多くなり、ジャンル名としての呼び名が演歌から演歌・歌謡曲と呼ぶようにもなりつつある。
English: There were once only a single or a few high-profile new enka singers who debuted each year, but the number is increasing to four to five.
Japanese: 一時期1人、または2～3人だった大型新人演歌歌手のデビューも毎年4～5人まで増えている。
English: In addition, as the overall sales of J-POP, which had ranked high, slowed down, more enka songs are making it high up in the ranking on the whole.
Japanese: また、ランキング上位を占めていたJ-POP全体の売り上げが停滞するにつれ、相対的にランキングでも上位に顔を出すことが多くなっている。
English: JERO whose debut song 'Umiyuki' (Ocean Snow) became a hit in 2008 attracted attention as a first black enka singer and his enka singing in a Japanese hip-hop 2008-style fashion attracts interest and becomes a hit.
Japanese: また、2008年にデビュー曲「海雪」がヒットしたジェロは初の黒人演歌歌手として注目され、日本のヒップホップ2008年スタイルのファッションでの演歌歌唱も話題となりヒットとなっている。
English: Chadha who was once an Indian enka singer came to Japan again to resume his music career, inspired by JERO's success.
Japanese: ジェロの活躍ぶりに感化され、かつてインド人演歌歌手として活躍していたチャダも再来日し、音楽活動を再開した。
English: It is undeniable that the genre is now strongly recognized as the one for only old generations in their 50s to 60s, and younger generation fans are far outnumbered.
Japanese: 現在、50～60代以上の高年齢層限定のジャンルという認識が強いのは否めず、若い世代のファンが圧倒的に少ない。
English: Hachiro KASUGA, Michiya MIHASHI, Haruo MINAMI, Hideo MURATA and other male singers who had both individualities and abilities and laid the foundations for new enka genre, and Hibari MISORA who was known as the queen of enka (also known as the 'queen of popular song world') have already passed away, and highly accomplished singers who followed, such as Saburo KITAJIMA, Hiroshi ITSUKI and Shinichi MORI, cannot show their abilities to the full.
Japanese: 個性と実力を兼ね備え、演歌という新ジャンルの土台を築いた、春日八郎・三橋美智也・三波春夫・村田英雄らの男性歌手や、演歌の女王と称された美空ひばり（「歌謡界の女王」とも呼ばれる）等がすでに亡くなっており、その後に続いた北島三郎や五木ひろし、森進一などの大御所歌手も実力を発揮し切れていない状況である。
English: Enka music on the whole continues to slump without creating any big hits after "Mago" by Itsuro OIZUMI and "Hakone Hachiri no Hanjiro" by Kiyoshi HIKAWA.
Japanese: 大泉逸郎『孫』、氷川きよし『箱根八里の半次郎』以来大ヒットはなく、全体的な低迷が続いている。
English: In addition, generations born after the war have listened to western rock music, Japanese folk music, new music, and idol music since the 1960s, and many of them continue to listen to rock and folk songs, without shifting to the enka music, even after hitting middle age.
Japanese: また、1960年代以降に洋楽のロックや日本製のフォークやニューミュージック、アイドル歌謡などを聴いていた戦後生まれの世代が中年層になっても演歌に移行せず、ロック・フォークなどを聴き続けている者が多い。
English: Enka music is relatively well known among people in their 30s to 50s and those in the prime of manhood, who spent their boyhood, puberty and adolescence when there was a karaoke boom, due in part to the influence of their parents.
Japanese: カラオケブームの時期に少年、思春期から青年期を過ごした30代～50代の中、壮年層の中では親の影響も手伝い比較的認知度は高い。
English: They know of the enka music, but they are more likely to avoid listening to and singing it.
Japanese: しかし、認知はしているが、聴く或いは唄う対象にはされず、敬遠される傾向が強い。
English: Many young people in their teens and 20s do not even know major hit songs and singers exist.
Japanese: 10代、20代の若者の中には代表的なヒット曲や、歌手の存在自体をも認知していない者も少なくない。
English: But it is also true that there are some enthusiastic fans who enjoy the enka music as a hobby and entertainment.
Japanese: ただし、一部ではあるが趣味、余興として激烈なファンが存在することも事実である。
English: (The most typical of such fans is Yutaka OE who came into the spotlight in a TV program, was apprenticed to Saburo KITAJIMA, and made his professional debut.)
Japanese: （テレビ番組に出演し話題を呼び、北島三郎のもとに弟子入りし、プロデビューを果たした大江裕はこの典型といえる。)
English: In an event held in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2007 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Japanese immigration, enka songs, instead of J-pop songs, were performed as Japanese music.
Japanese: 2007年、ブラジルのサンパウロにて行われた、日本人の移民100周年を記念したイベントでは日本の音楽としてJポップ等ではなく演歌が流された。
English: That is one example of how deeply rooted the image that "Japanese music always means enka" is in foreign countries.
Japanese: 海外では『日本の歌といえば演歌』というイメージが強い一例とも言えよう。
English: Other examples of acceptance of enka music in other countries include the fact that the national anthem and pops of Ethiopia, Africa, are very similar to Japanese enka songs in terms of yona nuki scale and singing style.
Japanese: そのほかの演歌の他国における受容を見てみると、アフリカのエチオピアにおける国歌やポップスがヨナ抜き音階や歌唱法などの点で日本の演歌に酷似しているという事実があげられる。
English: This is because Ethiopian soldiers who stopped in Japan during the Korean War were impressed by the enka music, studied its characteristics, and introduced these characteristics into their own music.
Japanese: これは朝鮮戦争時に日本にやってきたエチオピア兵が演歌に感動してその特徴を研究し、それを自らの音楽に取り入れたためである。
English: Takashi HOSOKAWA, Harumi MIYAKO, and other Japanese enka singers are also accepted widely in Ethiopia.
Japanese: エチオピアでは細川たかし、都はるみなどの日本の演歌歌手も広く受け入れられている。
English: These examples imply that the enka music is not just for Japanese people any longer and is spreading worldwide.
Japanese: これらの例は、演歌がすでに日本だけのものではなく、また、グローバルな広がりを持った歌であるという傍証となる事実だろう。
English: In the Republic of Korea, one of the popular music genres (after the Showa period when the genre turned to the one called "minjung gayo") called trot has been greatly influenced by Japanese enka.
Japanese: 大韓民国にも日本の演歌の影響を強く受けたトロットと呼ばれる（昭和に入って民衆歌謡に変節して以降の）大衆歌謡分野が存在する。
English: The word 'yonga,' the Korean reading of 'enka,' was often used to refer to trot until the Chung-hee PARK administration after the war, but as subsequent anti-Japanese manner movements did not allow the use of the Japanese-derived word enka (yonga), the name trot came to be used exclusively.
Japanese: 戦後朴正煕政権時代までは、トロットを指す言葉として「演歌」の韓国語読みである「ヨンガ」が用いられることも少なくなかったが、後の倭色追放運動によって日本語由来である演歌（ヨンガ）という呼称は使えなくなり、もっぱらトロットと呼ばれるようになった。
English: Because many enka songs deal with sadness and sorrow of parting, heartbreak, etc., they are usually written in minor keys.
Japanese: 演歌のテーマは、別れや失恋など、悲しさや遣瀬なさといったものが多いため、ほとんどが短調である。
English: Yokai (specter), in folk beliefs handed down in Japan, is an unusual being with supernatural powers that can cause bizarre and abnormal phenomena that are beyond human understanding.
Japanese: 妖怪（ようかい）は、日本で伝承される民間信仰において、人間の理解を超える奇怪で異常な現象や、あるいはそれらを起こす、不可思議な力を持つ非日常的な存在のこと。
English: As seen in settlements and houses in Japan, fear caused by vague boundaries with nature, and life that coexists with nature, such as outskirts of country and sacred shrine forests, turned into reverence and appreciation.
Japanese: 日本の集落や家屋にみられる、自然との境界の曖昧さによる畏怖や、里山や鎮守の森のように自然と共にある生活が畏敬や感謝になった。
English: Yokai was realized as beings that brought about such fear, haps and mishaps.
Japanese: 妖怪は、これらの恐怖や禍福をもたらす存在として具現化されたものである。
English: As typified by the word 'kamusabi' (to behave like a god), the view that things that are old or aged are sacred and god-like just for being old and aged, overlaps with the interpretation that yokai (Tsukumogami - god of great age and experience) is an aged object or something that lived for a long time that has become possessed.
Japanese: 「神さび」という言葉に代表されるように、古いものや老いたものは、それだけで神聖であり神々しいとされてきた価値観も、妖怪（九十九神）が古い物や長く生きた物の憑き物という解釈と重なる。
English: Currently, the existence of yokai is not verified, and it is considered to be a superstition or a byproduct of magical thinking dating from the period when science was underdeveloped.
Japanese: そして、現在では妖怪の存在の実証はされておらず、科学が未発達だった時代の呪術的思考の産物や迷信とされる。
English: It includes nature worship and animism, which believe that deities (Shintoism), lives and spirits exist in the universe.
Japanese: 森羅万象に神(神道)や命や魂が宿るという自然崇拝・精霊崇拝（アニミズム）を内包している。
English: Traces of them can often be found in current Shrine Shintoism, and they coexist with folk beliefs as ancient Shintoism.
Japanese: 現在の神社神道にもその名残は多くあり、古神道としての民間信仰と共に息づいている。
English: However, it is noted separately as tokoyo (written as "常夜"meaning eternal night) and tokoyo (wrtten as "常世" meaning eternal world), and it has 'two aspects.'
Japanese: しかし、常夜と常世という表記に別れ、それぞれ「2つの様相」を持っている。
English: Tokoyo (eternal world) is the utopia or paradise, and it is the world that gives rise to wealth, knowledge and ageless and eternal life, and it is a world without night.
Japanese: 常世は理想郷や天国とされ、富や知恵や不老長寿を齎す夜のない世界である。
English: This type of world view has existed until the recent years, and omagatoki (twilight hour) and ushimitsudoki (the dead of night, around 3:00 A.M. to 3:30 A.M.) were considered to mark the border of tokoyo (eternal night).
Japanese: このような世界観は近年まであり、逢魔時（おうまがとき）や丑三つ時（うしみつどき）には常夜との端境である。
English: They have aspects of Araburukami (violent god) and Nagirukami (peaceful god) that can give rise to evil and good, respectively, and they are expressed, respectively, as Aramitama (violent spirit) and Nigimitama (peaceful spirit).
Japanese: 荒ぶる神（あらぶるかみ）と和ぎる神（なぎるかみ）という禍福をそれぞれもたらす時があり、荒御魂（あらみたま）と和御魂（にぎみたま）ともそれぞれ表現される。
English: These gods that came from Tokoyo (eternal night), Araburukami and their temporary images or the objects that represent these divine spirits were also described as so-called yokai.
Japanese: これら、常夜から来た神や、荒ぶる神やその仮の姿や、またはその依り代が、いわゆる妖怪とも表現された。
English: Among them, Tengu-jinja shrines, Kappa-jinja shrines, Shirohebi-jinja shrines (white snake shrines), Binbogami (deity that brings poverty) and Takarabune (treasure boat) (Shichifukujin) (Seven Deities of Good Fortune) that were not organized into Shrine Shintoism can be said to have their origins in the deities of ancient Shintoism (Japanese folk religion).
Japanese: その中で、神社神道の体系に組み込まれなかった各地に残る天狗神社・河童神社・白蛇神社や貧乏神・宝船（七福神）などは、古神道（日本の民間信仰）の神々が起源であるともいえる。
English: Furthermore, there are kujirazuka (whale tumulus), doguzuka (tool tumulus) and hochozuka (knife tumulus) that came about from appreciation for food and tools, and there are mokozuka (tumulus for Mongolian warriors) and katanazuka (sword tumulus) as memorials to those who died with bitter disappointment.
Japanese: また、食べ物や道具に対する感謝から、鯨塚や道具塚・包丁塚や、無念をもって亡くなった者に対する慰霊として、蒙古塚や刀塚などがある。
English: These tumuli were built to enshrine the spirits so that 'the spirits that live there do not become Araburukami.'
Japanese: それらも「そこに宿る魂が、荒ぶる神にならぬように」と塚を建立し祀っている。
English: However, they are disconnected from the current shrine Shintoism, and the act and the intention at the root of such tumuli are the same as those for yokai.
Japanese: しかし、現在の神社神道とは切り離されたものであり、その根底にある行為や思いは妖怪に対するものと同じである。
English: Tsukumogami is a god that lives in something that had a long life (animals and plants) or in a tool (container) that was used for a long time, and if people remembered it fondly or cared for it, then it would bring about happiness, but if not, then it would become an Araburukami to bring about misfortune.
Japanese: 九十九神（つくもがみ）とは、長く生きたもの（動植物）や古くなるまで使われた道具（器物）に神が宿り、人が大事に思ったり慈しみを持って接すれば幸（さち）をもたらし、そうでなければ荒ぶる神となって禍をもたらすといわれる神である。
English: Ancient Japan was considered to be a multi-ethnic nation, and various ethnic groups flowed into Japan from various regions from ancient times.
Japanese: 古代の日本は多民族国家といわれ、古くから様々な地域から民族の流入があった。
English: Cultures from these ethnic groups were incorporated, and exchanges with ethnic groups such as Emishi and Ebisu took place in relatively early years.
Japanese: それらの文化を内包した経緯もあり、また蝦夷や夷といった民族とも比較的新しい時代に交わった。
English: Furthermore, culture from the continent was adopted, and it is considered that various forms of yokai were created with passage of time in peoples' lives until the modern day (periodization).
Japanese: そして、大陸からの文化の吸収もあり、現代(時代区分)に至るまで、時代と共に様々な妖怪が人々の生活の中から生み出されてきたと考えられる。
English: Tsutomu EMA, a scholar of the Japanese manners and customs, categorized the origin (yorishiro) of yokai into five groups of people, animals and plants for the living creatures, and tools (man-made tools) and natural things for non-living things, and gave examples.
Japanese: 風俗史学者の江馬務は、生物としての人・動物・植物と、生物以外の器物（人工の道具など）・自然物その妖怪の由来（依り代）となる物を5つに分類し類例とした。
English: For those that are not Tsukumogami in folk religion, their yorishiro are not well-understood.
Japanese: 民間信仰の内、九十九神ではない、若しくは依り代となるものがよく解らない。
English: Sachi (happiness) in the old days was also written as 弓矢 (bow and arrow), and 'chi' in ikazuchi (thunder), mizuchi (mythical aquatic creature having a snake-like body with four legs and a horn) and inochi (life) all are considered to denote tamashii (spirit, soul) or spiritual power.
Japanese: -幸（さち）も古くは弓矢とも表記し、雷（いかづち）・蛟（みずち）・命（いのち）の「チ」は全て、魂（たましい）や霊威を表すといわれている。
English: Shikigami is a yokai (kijin, demon) that is called upon from the sacred realm and used by onmyoji, a sacred ritual performer, in order to monitor people's evil and good deeds.
Japanese: 式神とは陰陽師といわれる神職が、人の悪行や善行を監視するために、神域から呼び出し使役した妖怪（鬼神）である。
English: Ushino koku mairi (paying a visit to a shrine at two o'clock in the morning to put a curse on someone) was an ancient magical ritual to break through the boundary that marks the sacred realm, to call upon a yokai and to use it in order to bring about misfortune upon someone against whom one has a grudge.
Japanese: 丑の刻参りも古くは神域の結界を破り、妖怪を呼び出し使役し、恨む相手に禍をもたらす呪術であった。
English: Spirits of dead people such as hitodama (will-o'-the-wisps), yurei (ghost), evil spirits and onryo (vengeful spirits) leave the carnal body and take on some kind of shape.
Japanese: -人魂・幽霊・悪霊・怨霊などの死者の魂が、肉体を離れ形を成すというものがある。
English: Also, people could be overtaken by strong emotions such as wraiths and yasha (demons), and there are 'kitsunetsuki' (possessed by a fox spirit), who are people possessed by yokai.
Japanese: また、生霊や夜叉など強い思いに自身が取り込まれた人や「狐憑き」などといわれる妖怪が憑依した人などがある。
English: Kudan is a Chinese yokai, but it already made its appearance in books during the Edo period.
Japanese: -件（クダン）は中国の妖怪であるが、江戸時代にはすでに書物に登場している。
English: Ekiki (demon that spreads contagious diseases) was introduced during the Heian period, and it became the Japanese yokai, Yakubyogami (deity that spreads contagious illnesses).
Japanese: 疫鬼は、平安時代につたわり、日本の妖怪である疫病神（やくびょうがみ）になったといわれる。
English: In the current Chinese book, "Junshiden," it is stated, 'The specter (yokai) was in the Imperial Court for a long time. The King asked Tui the reason. He answered that there was a big anxiety and he recommended to empty the Imperial room,' and the word yokai is used to imply 'a bizarre phenomenon that's beyond human understanding.'
Japanese: -今の中国の書物『循史伝』に「久之宮中数有妖恠（妖怪）王以問遂遂以為有大憂宮室将空」という記述があり、「人知を超えた奇怪な現象」という意味で、妖怪という言葉が使われている。
English: In "Shoku Nihongi" (Chronicle of Japan Continued), there is a description that 'Shinto purification is held because yokai appears very often in the Imperial Court,' and the word yokai is used in a similar manner, not to refer to some object, but to describe an unnatural phenomenon.
Japanese: -『続日本紀』に「大祓、宮中にしきりに、妖怪あるためなり」という記述があり、同様になにかの物を指すのではなく、怪奇現象を表す言葉として妖怪を用いている。
English: In "Makura no Soshi" (The Pillow Book), Seishonagon wrote, 'It is a very vindictive mononoke,' and Murasakishikibu also left a statement, 'The mononoke became too terrible.'
Japanese: -清少納言は『枕草子』のなかで「いと執念き御もののけに侍るめり」と記し、紫式部も「御もののけのいみじうこはきなりけり」という記述を残している。
English: In the fifth volume of "Taiheiki" (The Record of the Great Peace) there is a description, 'Sagami no Nyudo was not frightened by the yokai at all.'
Japanese: -『太平記』の第5巻には「相模入道かかる妖怪にも驚かず」という記述がある。
English: It says in the prologue, 'it can be said that the so-called yokai in our society is a representation of our feelings that arise from fear.'
Japanese: その序文には「世にいふようくわいはおくびょうよりおこるわが心をむかふへあらわしてみるといえども…」とある。
English: It shows that during this period, there were already people who studied yokai yet questioned their actual existence.
Japanese: これはこの時代からすでに、妖怪を研究しながらも、その妖怪の実在性を疑問視していた人がいたことを示している。
English: With the development of printing and publishing technology during this period, yokai was frequently used as a theme of picture books.
Japanese: この時代の印刷・出版技術の発展とともに、出版文化が発達していき、黄表紙などによって盛んに題材として妖怪が用いられた。
English: By the spread and use of 'rental bookstores' that dealt with such books, the appearance of each yokai became established among the general public, and that spread throughout Japan.
Japanese: そしてそれらの書籍を扱う「貸本屋」の普及や利用により、庶民の中で各々の妖怪の様相が固定し、それが日本全国に広がっていった。
English: For example, for yokai that belong to the kappa group, there were many forms and interpretations throughout Japan.
Japanese: たとえば河童に類する妖怪は江戸時代以前には、日本全国に多くの様相や解釈があった。
English: However, because books were published, the current form of the so-called kappa became established.
Japanese: しかし、書籍の出版によって、それが現在のいわゆる河童に固定されていった。
English: Furthermore, including other publications, there exist many forms of yokai that were created during this period through puns and word plays aside from those that have been handed down among the general public.
Japanese: またその他の刊行物を含め、民間で伝承されたものとは別に、駄洒落や言葉遊びなどによって、この時代に創作された妖怪も数多く存在する。
English: One example is "Gazu Hyakki Yagyo" (The Illustrated Night Procession of One Hundred Demons) by Sekien TORIYAMA, which can be considered a modern-day yokai encyclopedia.
Japanese: 現在でいえば妖怪辞典のような位置づけであろう鳥山石燕の『画図百鬼夜行』はその一例である。
English: Famous painters who drew yokai include Kuniyoshi UTAGAWA, Yoshitoshi TSUKIOKA, Kyosai KAWANABE and Hokusai KATSUSHIKA.
Japanese: 有名な妖怪を描いた絵師に歌川国芳、月岡芳年、河鍋暁斎、葛飾北斎などがいる。
English: However, it is known to have spread among the people through creative rakugo "Shinigami (rakugo)" (Death (rakugo)) by Encho SANYUTEI during the Meiji period, which was composed using the translated book of either "Godfather Death" in the fairy tales by the Grimm brothers or the Italian opera (musical) "Crispino".
Japanese: しかし、三遊亭円朝が明治時代にグリム童話の『死神』か、イタリアのオペラ（歌劇）の『靴直クリピスノ』の翻訳本を参考にした創作落語の『死神(落語)』で、巷に広まったことが知られている。
English: As misinterpreted Japanese yokai and also as 'western yokai' in the modern history, they have a comparable history in Japan.
Japanese: 誤解からの日本の妖怪としてや、また近代史における「西洋の妖怪」として、日本でも相応の歴史がある。
English: In the meantime, classical Japanese culture was denounced, and there were examples of book burning of written traditions of song and dance.
Japanese: その一方で日本の古典文化は排斥され、唄や踊りの伝承書が焚書された例もある。
English: Scientific thinking was deemed supreme, and yokai, along with other superstitions, had tended to be denounced.
Japanese: そして科学的考察が至上とされ、妖怪もその他の迷信の類ともに、排斥される傾向にあった。
English: However, from the end of the Edo period until the Showa and Heisei periods, it cannot be denied that publications of books by folklorists of the time and the prestige placed by folklore played a role in preventing the disappearance of yokai as an ethnic culture of Japan.
Japanese: しかし、江戸末期から昭和や平成に至るまで、その時代時代の民俗学者の著書の発行と民俗学による権威付けが、妖怪という日本の民族文化の衰退の歯止めとして、一役買ったことは否めないであろう。
English: From the recent past to now, yokai have been introduced through various forms of mass media, and therefore they are known among young and old alike.
Japanese: 近年から現在に至るまで、妖怪は様々な媒体（マスメディア）で紹介されてきたため、老若男女が知るものとなっている。
English: Pre-war picture-story shows and post-war promotion of comic book industry, rental bookstores that were in existence until about 1970 as well as the spread of television broadcasting had something to do with their recognition, and in a way, their familiarization.
Japanese: 戦前の紙芝居や戦後の漫画産業の振興や昭和40年代（1970年前後）まで続いた貸本屋、テレビ放送の普及などもその認知やある意味での親近感につながっている。
English: Nowadays, yokai is used as a source of tourism in order to revitalize local regions, as exemplified by Tono, Iwate Prefecture, that is depicted in Tono Monogatari (Strange tales of the Tono region in Iwate Prefecture) as well as by Tottori Prefecture, which is Shigeru MIZUKI's home town.
Japanese: そして現在では、遠野物語にえがかれた岩手県の遠野や、水木しげるの出身地でもある鳥取県などに代表されるように、妖怪は観光資源としてや地域活性にも役立てられている。
English: In Kyoto, there is a store called Yokaido, which is a renovated machiya (traditional Kyoto-style house), and the owner gives a guided yokai tour of Kyoto.
Japanese: 京都には町家を改装した妖怪堂という店があり、店主が京都の妖怪案内をするというようなものまである。
English: Traditional yokai represented by Tsukumogami can be conceptualized as something that's realistic only by having nature nearby, such as tanuki (raccoon), fox and Japanese mink.
Japanese: 九十九神に代表される古典的な妖怪は、自然が身近にあって始めて現実的なものとして捉えることのできる狸（たぬき）や狐（きつね）や鼬（いたち）であったりする。