Strange Japanese Yokai: A Guide to Weird and Wonderful Monsters, Demons and Spirits

by Kenji Murakami, Zack Davisson (Translator)

Since time immemorial, Japan has been inhabited by supernatural creatures, spirits, monsters and demons…Here's your chance to meet them up close and personal!

Strange Japanese Yokai assembles an extraordinary collection of mysterious creatures in every possible shape and size, each with their own unique back story. Some are well-known, others obscure. The one thing they share in common is that they are creepy and weird!

The 122 different Yokai described in this book


Yokai expert Kenji Murakami identifies each Yokai, explains the history, where they commonly appear, and their strange powers. The book is illustrated with hundreds of full-color drawings showcasing the fascinating features of these strange creatures. Every monster here, no matter how disgusting, is part of the rich cultural legacy of Japan.

*Recommended for readers ages 14 & up*

Genres: Nonfiction, Japan, Mythology, Folklore, Graphic Novels, Asian Literature, Art

197 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 23, 2023

Reviews

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice, quick, and interesting read. I've always been fascinated with yokai as it relates to Japanese culture, and folklore along with their customs and traditions so this was a great read. Other than the consistent editing mistakes, small enough to easily ignore, I loved this book and will be returning to it later on.

[Aravena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun and colorful tome about supernatural Japanese creatures/spirits known as yokai.

Presented with eye-catchingly quirky illustration, Strange Japanese Yokai should be of interest for those who enjoy the many appearances and references of youkai in various Japanese media (I’m personally a big fan of the manga/anime series Natsume Yuujinchou), or mythology enthusiast in general. Interestingly, while yokai may have dangerous image due to the many stories about them harming humans, the book seems hellbent on poking fun at them and presenting them as… mostly pathetic, really. Sometimes I got the impression as if it was written with children audience in mind, making the case yokai isn’t that scary at all. They’re just silly little creatures who do things like asking you to eat something from its butt—wait, what?



….or stroking YOUR butt when you’re taking a dump…



Amusingly gross behavior aside, the narrative and profile of each yokai provides some insight on Japanese history and culture. The yokai in this book are categorized into, among others, the ‘superstars’ (the most famous ones such as oni, kappa, and tengu), the gross ones, the mischievous ones, the ones who can be killed in the most ridiculous ways, the weird ones… well, all of them are weird, I guess.

As when you’re studying myth and folklore from any culture, it’s always interesting to trace and identify the point of origin. In the case of yokai, there can be various explanations for some of them: newspapers print out ‘fake news’ about yokai like arie (a seamonster youkai whose appearance predict a coming plague) to increase circulation; abura bozu or a mystical light yokai was just a reflection of light on the raincoat of a monk who’s trying to light a stone lantern; and story of weirdos like a lad who used to hide in a bush and show his naked butts to random passersby, or a lady who loves to lick her husband incessantly, as they somehow become yokai through words of mouth. There’s of course many more without a clear origin or explanation on how they came to be, which makes them intriguing in their own ways.



Among my favorites:

-Zashiki Warashi: spirit of cute/creepy small children that bring good fortune to the households they haunt, but would bring the household to ruin once they leave;
-Okonjoro: among the many stories of mischievous youkai, I like the rare one that does good, such as this magical fox yokai that assists in temple and help people in needs;
-Domo Komo: two-headed yokai that origins from a folklore about two doctors who compete by cutting each other’s heads and trying to reattach their own head in a race.. it ended as well as you might’ve expected;
-Kaki Otoko: the story about this persimmon tree youkai who came to a woman wanting to eat persimmon and told her to eat it from its butt is just too hilarious lol.

While the content can be redundant at times, it’s fun to reacquaint myself with some familiar yokai and get to know a lot of new ones. Need to remember to be careful when using squat toilet in Japan…

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Certainly strange indeed but I had had this on my list to read in part to understand more about the folklore of Japanese culture, particularly because I advise for our Japanese Culture Club at school. Then, I read a YA fiction book Find Him Where You Left Him Dead that includes games needing to be played to save one of their friends in an alternate time (like a Jumanji game) that features yokai.

It's a collection of sketches of the range of folklore monsters, demons, spirits (and those that aren't) and the stories that surround their myth, pulled heavily from several older texts like the heavily referenced scrolls during the Endo period. But there are plenty of bright, visuals of what these demons might look like. Broken up into various chapters based on type like "Yokai Prophets" it features Hitogai that looks like a woman emerging from a conch shell and prophesied good harvests or averting disasters.

One of my favorites was about Shigama Nyobo whose body melted (and shigama is another word for icicle)-- a man lamented having a beautiful thin wife, a woman appeared, but she never took a bath. He forced her into a bath and she disappeared as she would have when spring came as well in the northern frozen region of Japan where the story comes from. Or, Sekito Migaki who has an affinity for cleaning graves. Or Odori Bozu who is basically a dancing monk (though it's never stated why he dances). Or Zashiki Warashi, who are small children that haunt houses. Or the old lady who throws babies.

[Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Silly but still informative, Murakami Kenji’s catalog of scary but mostly ridiculous monstrous entities from across Japan, Strange Japanese Yokai, is a fun, casual introduction to the diversity of yokai stories. Celebrating the weirdness and humor of even the most disturbing of strange creatures, the book consists of brief entries written in a light-hearted fashion describing various monsters, from the standard "heavy hitters" like the kitsune, kappa, and tengu to the more obscure like the zashiki warashi, hitotsume kozo, mikoshi nyudo, and domo komo. Arranged rather arbitrarily by categories including "disgusting" yokai, "yokai weaknesses," and "yokai profits," including data listing their origins and various fun facts, the work occasionally feels a bit repetitive.

As a whole, Murakami provides a useful guide to the many creatures that pop up in these tales, even if the work rarely goes into much depth on the cultural meanings behind them. Along with its amusing asides and colorful and endearing manga-style illustrations, the book is particularly appropriate for preteens interested in the weird stuff. Most useful was Murakmi’s extensive list of references detailing the origins of each entry, though most are not available in English.

I discuss other works recently published in English on Japanese folklore at Harris’ Tome Corner- Narrating the Strange: Kaidan of Yokai and Yurei in Japanese Folklore.

[Philip McCarty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a fun catalogue of yokai that don't get a lot of attention usually and I have never heard of. Descriptions were short and sweet, and I enjoyed reading a couple before bed every night. Here are a couple of highlights from it:

Akadenchu: a tanuki who just wants a piggy back ride
Kaki Otoko: a mysterious figure who has a butt that tastes like persimmons
Ringo no Sei: an apple spirit that poops apple flavor
Zarazara Zattara: a rolling pumpkin yokai that comes into cabins, says don't worry, and just sits there
Neko Musume: a woman yokai that licks your face and feet
Bake Otafuku: a yokai made up by merchants to sell more goods
Konaki Baba: Babies that look like old women, but when boiled turn into pumpkins
Tanukibi: a horse and man who are on fire, the man who saw them asked for a light for his cigarette and got one, the end.

So there was pretty much no analysis and not a lot of depth to these accounts, but they made for good little bits of folklore and stories.

[Timothy Grubbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fine volume on mythological Japanese creatures…

Strange Japanese Yokai: A Guide to Weird and Wonderful Monsters, Demons and Spirits by Kenji Murakami takes a more cartoonish less horrifying perspective on Japan’s folklore…despite many of these being literal ghosts, demons, and devils…

This organizes data a bit different than the other book.

Entires can range from 1 to more pages. The art depicting the creatures is far less horrifying and almost cartoonish.

Each entry includes important literature references where the creature in question is heavily featured. They also include specific regions they are native to (if it’s not Japan as a whole). Their timeline or era (whether from ancient to present) is also covered.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book as a prize for winning a short story contest. The book was really good! I enjoyed reading about all these strange and spooky yokai, from the well-known ones like kappa to yokai that were just invented to sell newspapers. A lot of them were more modern than I thought, and all of them have very good stories and beautiful watercolor illustrations.

However, the translation seemed shoddy at times, with several spelling mistakes and lots of odd word choices. Especially towards the end of the book, the formatting got screwed up. Most of the imperfections in this book are nitpicks, and this book is great! I learned a lot about weird and spooky Japanese monsters.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a hilarious little dive into Japanese demons and spirits! I loved the illustrations. They absolutely make the book. I couldn't wait to ask my Japanese tutor which ones she knew and whether the tales about these youkai were true and how much so. Some of the translations felt a bit rough, especially as someone well acquainted with Japanese ... I could just feel the literalness of "Surprising!" and so on. This one was also light on content, even for a young adult audience.

Thank you to Edelweiss+ and Tuttle Publishing for the advance copy.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️ 3.5 It’s a fun intro to those who are unfamiliar with yokai. I was definitely craving more details in the stories and their relationship to the area of origin and time period. But given how many yokai there are and the audience, I don’t think that’s possible for a book of this type. I’d recommend this to my nephews who already show some interest in Japanese culture.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

The yokai are very interesting to read about, but the art is just too goofy. The yokai look too similar to each other, and the ones that are supposed to be menacing just can't quite get there in this art style.

[Nia · Rating 4 out of 5]

| Favorite Quote | Yokai behavior is often incomprehensible. It is sometimes even comedic. Why they act like that is a mystery only the Yokai themselves know.

| My Review | A cute and fun read about the wild and wacky world of Japanese Yokai. I had so much fun reading this!

[Artemis Graf · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting introduction to yokai, though it is a bit repetitive at points.

[Panda Mother Supreme · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a gift from a student. Absolutely awesome. Something I will keep forever, I learn so much.

[Circe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Missing a kasa-obake entry but otherwise great

[Berslon Pank · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lot of these entries are repetitive and thin. It was fun, but I wish it had a little more about each yokai.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy read if you want to learn (lol) more about Japanese Yokais. I cannot help but differentiate and compare the kind of ghosts that we have (double lol) in Malaysia vs Japan.

[Fido · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here's your chance to meet them up close and personal!

[Jbondandrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very funny book. I enjoy reading about other cultures folklore, myths and and legends. This was a very light-hearted approach.