YOKAI: Tales From The Unknown
All throughout history, folklore has existed in society as a means to cultivate understanding, pass on common values and derive meaning from our existence. In extreme circumstances, the anxieties and fears of a group of people can manifest themselves in such tales, giving birth to monsters, demons and other such horrors. Japanese society is no different, with their own versions of terror inducing tales.
In Japan, the term yōkai is the collective name used to describe supernatural beings, ghosts and unexplained phenomena. In ancient times, people attributed negative and mysterious events to the actions of such yōkai. Over time, these yōkai slowly evolved into a host of different creatures, beings, shapes and objects infused with evil forces.
The origins of yōkai is equally diverse. For some, yōkai have roots in Chinese mythology and ancient Buddhist texts while others were more local and native to Japan. These stories were initially passed down through the tradition of oral storytelling or setsuwa in Japanese, but eventually found form in writing and thus were committed to collective folklore.
Tengu Mask
Like other forms of horror and folklore from around the world, these tales have a root in our anxieties and fears of the world. Our inability to understand the complexities and nature of death give birth to supernatural beings. It has often been a source of comfort to give a more concrete form to such abstract feelings and ideas.
GANJI @bangxganji
Kappa, GANJI @bangxganji
While initially, yōkai represented darkness in the world, during the Edo period of Japan, the public’s notion of them changed, becoming more light-hearted. Interest in yōkai boomed, artists and writers were going wild, creating more and more peculiar types. The limits of their imagination was the only thing holding them back from creating increasingly bizarre creatures such as the rokurokubi, a human like yōkai whose neck seems to stretch endlessly or the kappa; an amphibious imp-like demon known for luring people into water before drowning them.
The creation of such beings became a form of recreation and this is no better illustrated than in the cultural events known as hyaku-monogatari or “100 stories” in English. At such an event, people would gather together and tell each other stories of yōkai. For each story that was told, a lantern was extinguished. After the 100th and final lantern was extinguished, the surrounding area was plunged into a darkness, from which a yōkai would appear.
The rape of a rokurokubi yokai by Utagawa Kunitora (act. 1804-1844)
This craze and increased fascination for yōkai is further illustrated by Toriyama Sekien’s 1776 book The Illustrated Night Parade of a Hundred Demons or Gazu Hyakki Yagyō. This book is a supernatural bestiary, displaying images of ghosts, spirits from the literature and folklore of Japan, based on the idiom, hyakki yagyō, which roughly translates to a feeling of pandemonium in English emphasising the sheer volume of the horde of incredible creatures available.
The art of Gazu Hyakki Yagyō is heavily influenced by the 1737 scroll-painting of Hyakkai Zukan by the artist Sawaki Sūshi who laid down the foundations for a lot of the archetypal imagery that would come to define how we perceive yōkai in the modern day. It is quite possible that without his depictions, many of the details of these folk monsters would have been lost to today’s generations.
Kawanabe Kyōsai (1831–1889, The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons (Hyakki Yagyō)
Hyakki Yagyō (百鬼夜行, "Night Parade of One Hundred Demons", Kawanabe Kyōsai
Interest in Yokai has resurged in recents years and one of the greatest examples of this, can be seen in the 1998 horror film by Hideo Nakata, Ring. The character of Sadako, draped in white with a mask of jet black hair concealing her identity, is heavily influenced by the concepts of yurei; a type of yōkai analogous to the western conception of ghosts.
According to traditional Japanese beliefs, if a person dies in a violent manner such as murder or suicide, powerful emotions such as sorrow, jealousy and hatred can manifest and corrupt the soul or reikon, transforming the person into a vengeful spirit. This yurei then can’t be laid to rest, until the emotional conflict that transformed them is in turn resolved.
Ring (1999)
Ring (1999)
The story of Sadako from Ring is very similar to that of Banchō Sarayashiki (The Dish Mansion at Banchō), a ghost story of broken trust and broken promises, all of which lead to a tragic ending. It tells the tale of a beautiful servant named Okiku who works for her master, the samurai Aoyama Tessan. Aoyama madly in love with her, often spends his time confessing his feelings to her and proposing marriage. After being refused one too many times, he tricks her into believing that she has lost one of the family heirlooms; offering to forgive her wrongdoing in exchange for marriage, he is once again rejected, causing him to snap and murder Okiku by throwing her down a well. However her spirit, warped by vengeful emotions returns from the dead to haunt her former master….
Okiku, Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
It’s clear that while we move to a more secular society, driven by advancements in technology and science, our fascination with the supernatural and the limits of human experience remains stronger than ever. Concepts of the soul and life after death, continue to influence the work of artists and writers more than ever and it seems that this rich lineage of yokai; demons, ghosts and spirits will continue to endure as long as we have the imaginative strength to conjure them.
6 Types of Yōkai
Obake (お化け) / Bakemono (化け物)
Obake and Bakemono are a type of yōkai (supernatural creatures) from Japanese folklore. The term translates to “an object that changes”, referencing the act of shapeshifting.
A Bakemono’s original form may be an animal like a fox or a raccoon, but they can disguise themselves as human or even terrifying and supernatural forms.
Kitsune (Fox) Ghost Apparition
2. Tengu (天狗)
A legendary creature often referred to as either a type of yōkai or a Shinto kami (Japanese Gods). Traditionally depicted as a bird of prey, more recently the tengu has taken the form of an old man with an elongated nose replacing the bird’s beak.
In Buddhism, tengu was seen as harbingers of war, foreshadowing the coming violence, however, they evolved into a slightly more benevolent creature; protectors of the mountains and forests, yet still dangerous spirits.
3. Kappa (河童)
Kappa is an amphibious yōkai, resembling an imp or demon in western mythology. It takes the form of a green creature with a turtle-like shell on its back. Atop its head lies an indent, often referred to as a “dish”, which holds water, the source of its power. If this water is lost or lessened the kappa is severely weakened.
Known for their love of cucumbers and penchant for sumo wrestling, kappas are also known for luring humans into the water before assaulting them and removing a mythical organ called a Shirikodama from the victim’s anus.
Matthew Meyer Illustration
4. Tsukomogami (付喪神)
A term that has generated some confusion, due to the wide variety of terms that it has come to refer to. Typically the term has been understood as a “tool” that has come to acquire a “spirit” or “kami”. This object has to have existed for at least 100 years and subsequently become alive and self-aware.
The Lantern Ghost, Iwa- Hokusai
5. Rokurokubi (轆轤首)
A Yōkai was reportedly created in order to scare people and prevent them from walking the streets late at night. Usually taking the appearance of a woman, rokurokubi differ only in that their necks are unnaturally long and able to stretch. Other forms of the rokurokubi, known as Nukekubi are able to detach their heads completely, allowing them to float freely.
6. Yūrei (幽霊)
Yūrei are spirits who are unable to move on from the physical world to a peaceful afterlife. If a person dies in a particularly violent manner, like murder or suicide, resulting in a strong emotional attachment to the world, a person’s spirit is unable to move on to the afterlife. The yūrei exist on the physical plane until their emotional conflict is resolved.
