This is my vision for the Yumoto Kōichi Memorial Japan Yōkai Museum (Miyoshi Mononoke Museum). If the woman answers “red,” Aka Manto tears the flesh from her back to make it appear she is wearing a red cloak. Yōkai (ghost, phantom, strange apparition) are a class of supernatural monsters in Japanese folklore. Written by Kazuhiko Komatsu, Japan’s premier yōkai scholar, the book is an invitation to the tradition of yōkai studies itself. Collecting such things enabled me to see the bigger picture of Japan’s yōkai culture; the way that yōkai had gone from being something frightening to becoming something familiar. As Yumoto san was preparing for the opening of the new yōkai museum, we talked to him about his life’s work and why yōkai continue to hold such a strong appeal. You could not be signed in, please check and try again. A very interesting little book on the background and popularity of the yokai. During the course of his research, he has built up a collection of over 5,000 yōkai objects and pieces of art. At the heart of this connection is the idea that any object might possess an animating spirit. The only way to escape is to give a noncommittal answer, such as “you look OK.” Barring that, you can distract her with certain Japanese candies. There’s no need to fear this demon, though. They were originally depicted as birdlike, with wings and beaks, though now the beak is often replaced with a comically large nose. These examples were written to highlight the bravery and heroism of Minamoto no Raikō, so they’re not really about the yōkai as such. The book covers the defin I found this book by typing in “yokai” in the NLB’s search bar, because I can’t keep track of all the books coming out and I … --------. Even as yōkai were becoming more familiar, they still retained, in parallel if you like, the ability to inspire fear. They are Shuten dōji, Tamamo no Mae, and Sutoku Tennō. Hardcover | Uji no hashihime (Woman at Uji Bridge)In another tale of a woman scorned, Uji no hashihime prayed to a deity to turn her into an oni so she could kill her husband, the woman he fell in love with, and all of their relatives. More aptly this is a primer on the study of yokai vs yokai themselves. Mizuki Shigeru. Translated by Alexander O. Smith and Elye J. Alexander. Take the kappa (literally, “river-child”), an exceedingly common water sprite, found in legends throughout Japan. The book covers the defin I found this book by typing in “yokai” in the NLB’s search bar, because I can’t keep track of all the books coming out and I … Ghostly yūrei. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. The Japanese House: The Basic Elements of Traditional Japanese Residential Architecture. More a coffee table book that focuses on Japanese supernatural subjects, and then somewhat selectively. The concept of yōkai, and the word itself, is broader than the English-language monster or spirit. Yamauba crones. But the widespread use of woodblock printing meant that all kinds of pictures and printed stories could be enjoyed by anyone. We may not be conscious of it, but this contradictory approach to yōkai, horrifying on the one hand but cute on the other, continues to this day. Kitaro. Hopefully this very brief outline shows how yōkai (and the discourses surrounding them) are still alive, always changing, and also profoundly linked to the concerns of people living at any historical moment. The Yumoto Kōichi Collection Part 1: Night Parade of One Hundred Demons. --------. Among many tales, there is one of a yamauba who offers shelter to a young woman about to give birth while secretly planning to eat her baby, and another of a yamauba who goes to village homes to eat children while their mothers are away. But if the children say yes again, she will cut their mouths to make them look like her. If she answers “blue,” then he strangles her to death. Each chapter explores a different facet of yōkai culture, from iconic creatures like fierce oni and haughty avian tengu to more abstract concepts like outsiders and boundaries. Finally, perhaps the primary driving factor behind yōkai then and now is simply the power of human creativity. They were completely accepted by the people of the Edo Period as companions or friends. I look forward to reading other such books. Written by Japan's p. Since ancient times, the Japanese have lived with superstitions of strange presences and phenomena known as "yōkai," creating a culture by turns infused with unease, fear, and divinity. Located in Hiroshima Prefecture, the city of Miyoshi was the setting of a series of hauntings that formed the basis of a well-known ghost story from the Edo Period. A majority of the book is references to the authors own work in a clear attempt to garnish sales/build their own credentials vs to inspire genuine additional reading. Komatsu is a scholar of folklore and anthropology who has written extensively on yōkai and has also been instrumental in encouraging their study across disciplines. He examines the popular Yokai legends from an historical, anthropological, and sociological viewpoint, presenting various theories as to how and why various popular Yokai creatures came about. This book is a history and summary of academic theories of the strange in Japan. Tsukimono spirit possessions. Following in the footsteps of Inoue and Yanagita, more and more scholars have taken a serious interest in the subject. This is a continuation of that same multi-faceted yōkai culture that existed in the Edo Period. By looking at the fantastic beasts of Japan (and, for that matter, any culture) we can learn a lot about the people who create them, tell stories about them, play with them, and send them out into the world. Or when a tree falls in the woods for no apparent reason, it is not unreasonable to imagine it was felled for a particular purpose by a particular force/thing. Unfortunately, if you encounter Aka Manto, there may be no escaping: Some versions of the story say if you don’t answer or if you pick a different color, he will immediately drag you to hell. In theory, it can indicate any unexplainable phenomenon, such as eerie sounds in the night or fireballs flitting around a graveyard. This isn't a collection of stories, and in fact if you have no familiarity with yokai or yurai stories you might be a bit lost. Many legends say the tengu were hypocritical priests who must now live the rest of their lives as mountain goblins as punishment. We have seen them for years in Pokémon, and more recently (since 2015 in the US) they have insinuated themselves into our lives through Yo-kai Watch, an explosively popular franchise of video games, manga, anime, and all sorts of merchandise called. The oldest picture scroll featuring yōkai is said to be the Hyakki Yagyō (Night Parade of One Hundred Demons), painted in the Muromachi Period (1336 – 1573). Why do they remain so popular? Additional Sources: Japanese Ghosts & Demons: Art of the Supernatural; Japanese Demon Lore: Oni, from Ancient Times to the Present; “How the Demon at Agi Bridge in Omi Province Ate Somebody,” from The Demon at Agi Bridge and Other Japanese Tales. Oakland: University of California Press, 2015. The king asked Tui for the reason. Former curatorial director of the Kawasaki City Museum, Yumoto Sensei lectures at universities on topics related to yōkai, and engages in the supervision of special exhibitions. Yōkai may have had their roots in the local folk beliefs of rural communities in the Edo period and earlier, but now they were becoming popular culture characters—television stars—known by children (and their parents) throughout the nation. The variety and abundance of bakemono 化物, or yōkai 妖怪 (supernatural creatures and phenomena), in Japanese culture is astounding. Please complete the following to receive notification when new materials are added to the website. I imagine most people probably think of yōkai as being frightening or creepy, but there are actually a lot of yōkai that are unique, cute and even entertaining. ISBN 978-4-916055-80-4 To see what your friends thought of this book, An Introduction to Yōkai Culture: Monsters, Ghosts, and Outsiders in Japanese History. Locals made offerings to the tengu to avoid their mischief, and there are still festivals in Japan dedicated to them today. 1947) and his students and colleagues. One of these is what we might call encyclopedic: with so many yōkai of all different sizes and shapes and behaviors, it is not surprising that scholars included them in books of natural history, and compendia of knowledge such as the Wakansansaizue (c.1712). It begins with a section on the J-horror genre, which are composed of Japanese horror films that entered the global market during the late 1990s. It notes that while these J-horror characters became popular internationally, the more traditional yôkai continued to be nostalgic icons of the hometown or furusato. Enryakuji – The Cradle of Japan’s Buddhist Culture. Terrified by her monstrous form, Anchin sought refuge in a temple, where monks hid him beneath a bell. Similarly, there is a yōkai called the zashiki-warashi most commonly associated with the Tōhoku region. It's a small, well-made book with some illustrations, but certainly not a "coffee table book," as one reviewer here said, and if what you want is a coffee table book with yokai illustrations this is definitely not what you're looking for. All Rights Reserved. Since ancient times, the Japanese have lived with superstitions of strange presences and phenomena known as "yōkai," creating a culture by turns infused with unease, fear, and divinity. Written by leading scholar in field, head of Nichibunken. And with the name, an appropriate image also comes into focus: in this case, a somewhat crazed and awkward figure of a man obsessed with scrubbing beans. The writer, Komatsu Kazuhiko, takes his work very seriously and he says as much in the introduction. Yōkai usually have a spiritual supernatural power, with shapeshifting being one of the most common. An introduction to the subject - with a clear focus on the academic study of the it, and how it has developed over the years. California Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Without us being aware of it, yōkai culture, in all its various aspects, has been with us all along. Another good example is the kappa mentioned above. If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian. In the early twentieth century, scholarly attitudes changed again and this time yōkai came to be studied within a burgeoning academic discipline known as minzokugaku, or folklore studies.
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