Where is youkai

The illustrations accompanying each yokai are based on written descriptions or on Edo-period illustrations painted on scrolls hundreds of years ago.

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This website is kept alive by the support of my backers on Patreon. Ghosts, goblins, fairies, and whatever else you can think of fall into this category. And the broadness of this category is what makes it so much fun. Yokai can be anything from long-nosed demigods with the power to destroy entire villages to aquatic lizard men with a thing for buttholes and cucumbers.

That's what this series is all about: diving deep into the history and lore of yokai, uncovering the stories that made the creatures we know today. Our in-depth articles make learning about yokai easy.

So get reading. The kappa is a green, turtle-like humanoid , with webbed hands and feet and a carapace on its back. Atop its head is a dish-like indentation filled with water, which the kappa balances carefully.

It is weakened if the content of the dish is spilled. The boundary between kappa ad other kinds of creatures is blurred. But as is the case with most Japanese yokai, its name is suggestive. Lying between the periphery of the known and unknown, a yokai is named after the impressions it leaves or after its reported characteristics.

Since the kappa is child-sized and lingers around rivers, its name is a mere combination of the words child and river. This 19th century netsuke carves out the fundamental features of the Kappa.

Its scaled, short arms and its sharp long claws were once widely feared, but now, the aged kappa is viewed with a certain humor and mockery over its child-like physique. If the realm of contemporary Japanese horror could be encapsulated by a single yokai , then that yokai would be the yurei ghost.

A yurei often resembles her former self, her living self, but in death is pale-skinned, arms dangling uselessly by her side. A yurei is depicted in a white kimono , a burial gown used in Edo period funeral rituals. Her long, black hair is let down as tradition demands before a burial ceremony. When renowned woodblock artist, Utagawa Toyokuni I, illustrated this picture in to accompany the Tale of Horror from the Yotsuya Station on the Tokaido Road, he masterfully provided us with what has become the definitive depiction of a yurei.

Oni, 19th Century, the Met Museum. The word oni has a long history. The descriptions of oni have changed dramatically over time , to the extent that scholars find it difficult to assess what constitutes as a typical depiction of the creature. In this nineteenth century painting, the yokai is portrayed as a large, ogre-like beast with a frightening face. Yet here, in a sculpture from a slightly earlier time, we see a more intricate oni.

They retain their ogre-like features, and though they are pictured with horns and fangs, they have become far more anthropomorphic. Their facial expressions are no longer as brutish and they seem almost gimmicky with their over-pronounced noses and their bushy brows. Ijin are people from what is called Ikai, a world that is beyond our own. They are outsiders that have crossed the boundary that stands between two separate worlds , often to complete a task.

While there are many types of ijin, some pleasant and others malicious, most are said to be harmless. These types range from religious figures, to craftsmen, to beggars and pilgrims.

The Daikokuten in this early, twentieth century painting, is an example of a benevolent ijin. He is often described as the Japanese equivalent of the Hindu deity Mahakala, and as a god of wealth. The painting above shows a typical expression of the Daikokuten, with his beaming smile and exaggerated, gigantic ears.

He holds a golden mallet, which grants the child good fortune. The yokai world is vast, and although it is becoming more popular than ever, it is easy to get lost in the repackaging of Japanese yokai culture to charm modern audiences. Today there is remarkable progress in the realm of yokai scholarship in Japan, so there has never been a better time to explore the history of the inexplicable and find out for yourself what really is a yokai!

What is a Yokai? View fullsize. What Does Yokai Mean? Hyakki Yako by Kawanabe Kyosai, 19th Century. Where Do Yokai Come From?