Yokai Japanese Folklore Art

Seiken s collection was special in that it cataloged each yōkai with an image and story that he created or originated from traditional japanese folklore and chinese literature.

Yokai japanese folklore art. Within these pages you ll find an ever growing collection of yokai and legends from all parts of japan and all periods of japanese history. See more ideas about japan japanese folklore japanese yokai. In japan mythical amabie emerges from 19th century folklore to fight covid 19. Coronavirus live updates the sea monster from folklore has emerged in art food and fashion as a symbol of hope.

Yurei by horiyoshi iii. Yōkai often possess animal features yet others appear mostly human like kuchisake onna. The word is a combination of the characters 妖 yō attractive bewitching calamity and 怪 kai mystery wonder. In japan the creatures and strange phenomena of folklore have been known historically by a variety of terms including mononoke bakemonoand obake but most commonly today they are called yōkai a word that has become a catchall for everything spooky from creepy monster to ghostly spirit to mysterious phenomenon.

Seiken is credited with drawing over 200 yōkai and creating a method of compiling yōkai as a physical art form to be shared verbally. Many different english words have been used as translations. Suspicious they can also be called ayakashi mononoke or mamono. Yōkai are a class of supernatural monsters spirits and demons in japanese folklore.

Some of them have never appeared in english before while others will be intimately familiar to fans of japanese folklore. Yōkai range diversely from the malevolent to the mischievous or occasionally bring good fortune to those who encounter them. An enenra 煙々羅 lit. Lightweight fabric smoke sometimes enraenra 煙羅煙羅 is a yokai that is composed of smoke from toriyama sekien s konjaku hyakki shui ca.

Yokai 妖怪 are strange and supernatural creatures from japanese folklore. Ghosts demons of japan december 8 2019 january 16 2022 vivid in japanese art and imagination are creatures that are at once ghastly and comical. Japanese mythology japanese folklore japanese yokai japanese legends japanese monster japanese painting mononoke japanese prints japan art the kaibutsu ehon illustrated book of monsters features woodblock prints of yōkai or creatures from japanese folklore. Yôkai is a catchall word that generally refers to demons ghosts shapeshifters and strange and supernatural beings.