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Something Wicked from Japan: Ghosts, Demons & Yokai in Ukiyo-e Masterpieces
Japanese folklore is a goldmine of terrifying supernatural Yokai monsters, demons, phantoms. A large number of Ukiyo-e woodblock printings created in Edo period (1603-1868) depict these monstrous beings in the illustrations of popular folk tales and horror stories. This book contains 70 Yurei (ghosts), Oni (demons), Kaijin (sorcerers) and Yokai (supernatural monsters) with a basic introduction to each creature's story in J/E bilingual text. These phantoms and monsters are described vividly in 120 Ukiyo-e art pieces, all created by great masters such as Hokusai, Hiroshige, Kuniyoshi and so on, giving readers a clear and terrifying image of what such supernatural figures might look like. These images have been passed down through the years, and many art genres in Japan today, including manga and games, are heavily influenced by them. This is the best reference book for Japanese art lovers, folk culture lovers, as well as Japanese pop-culture lovers. It also offers fresh ideas for those searching for new inspirations for tattoo art and design.
240 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
July 24, 2022
This small volume collects the most important and lesser-known woodcuts of the ukiyo-e style.
Many myths are told including really creepy stories, which are written in Japanese and translated to English underneath.
The art is amazing and overall it's a delight little read. I read it in about 20 minutes, so bear this in mind if you plan to purchase.
Many myths are told including really creepy stories, which are written in Japanese and translated to English underneath.
The art is amazing and overall it's a delight little read. I read it in about 20 minutes, so bear this in mind if you plan to purchase.
June 30, 2019
This was such a delightful book. All of you who like paintings of the supernatural and are interested in the Japanese concept of things that go bump in the night, will enjoy this collection of traditional Japanese art about, well, ghosts, demons and yokai (supernatural monsters).
The book is not coffee table size, more 8' by 10', but all the paintings are in color and have both full and detailed views. Also, each painting is accompanied by an explanation of the story depicted and the Kabuki actor who is painted in as the character.
The subject matter is scary, exciting, and suspenseful. The paintings are dramatic with rich color and highly expressive postures and facial expressions.
Something Wicked will intrigue and spark your interest the stories behind these paintings and perhaps have you looking for books on Japanese folk lore.
The book is not coffee table size, more 8' by 10', but all the paintings are in color and have both full and detailed views. Also, each painting is accompanied by an explanation of the story depicted and the Kabuki actor who is painted in as the character.
The subject matter is scary, exciting, and suspenseful. The paintings are dramatic with rich color and highly expressive postures and facial expressions.
Something Wicked will intrigue and spark your interest the stories behind these paintings and perhaps have you looking for books on Japanese folk lore.
August 15, 2017
A somewhat random book choice I encountered at the library. I was interested in it primarily for the monsters, but unfortunately a large chunk-- maybe the first third or so of the book-- is about ghosts. I think ghost stories are kind of boring, and they all feel the same more or less. And I had read Yurei Attack!: The Japanese Ghost Survival Guide so there was even less novel about them. There were a few interesting parts to this, like the ukiyo-e with foldable flaps too reveal ghostly transformations, or even to mimic the fast costume changes of kabuki plays that were the more immediate inspiration of the prints. And that is something else I realized in reading this, that the prints are in most cases less an attempt at presenting a ghost or monster as it would have appeared, and more an attempt to depict it as it would appear in theater, already interpreted into a specific context. Nothing too strange there, but since I don't really get the aesthetics of kabuki it is less engaging than I would hope.
But after skimming through the ghosts and stuff, I found sections on sorcerers (new Japanese word for me: youjutsushi) and monsters as I had hoped. There were actually some novelties for me, like a mountain shark and a demonic flying squirrel/bat thing that I need to look into more, as well as tales of bandit sorcerers learning magic from toads and spiders. I just wish the English captions were better done. As I have seen with other books like this (primarily Japanese, but published with English translations) they tend to be a bit terse, don't fully match the original Japanese text, and in some cases seem to be wrong, like a block of text that is exactly repeated in the section on toad sages; the second instance made more sense since it was text describing a scene in an image, and the first instance of the text lacked the accompanying image. I also would have liked a more coherent explanation of the story behind many of the images; too often they were very brief and the information appeared to be spread across several different captions, much of which was repetitive, but would contain just a tiny bit more detail.
But after skimming through the ghosts and stuff, I found sections on sorcerers (new Japanese word for me: youjutsushi) and monsters as I had hoped. There were actually some novelties for me, like a mountain shark and a demonic flying squirrel/bat thing that I need to look into more, as well as tales of bandit sorcerers learning magic from toads and spiders. I just wish the English captions were better done. As I have seen with other books like this (primarily Japanese, but published with English translations) they tend to be a bit terse, don't fully match the original Japanese text, and in some cases seem to be wrong, like a block of text that is exactly repeated in the section on toad sages; the second instance made more sense since it was text describing a scene in an image, and the first instance of the text lacked the accompanying image. I also would have liked a more coherent explanation of the story behind many of the images; too often they were very brief and the information appeared to be spread across several different captions, much of which was repetitive, but would contain just a tiny bit more detail.
January 4, 2019
An interesting book about the ukiyo-e (woodcut prints and paintings of a certain period) focussing on demons and ghosts of Japanese culture.
Exciting to see Hokusai prints in here and learn pieces of Japanese legends and folklore.
The four stars, instead of five, is because the book is beautifully printed, except many pictures cross the pages meaning the fold obscures part of the picture. Furthermore, this is only a taster of the legends, which are not fully told, leaving me lost at times.
Exciting to see Hokusai prints in here and learn pieces of Japanese legends and folklore.
The four stars, instead of five, is because the book is beautifully printed, except many pictures cross the pages meaning the fold obscures part of the picture. Furthermore, this is only a taster of the legends, which are not fully told, leaving me lost at times.
November 8, 2021
A delightful book that offers a fairly comprehensive overview of the supernatural world in ukiyo-e. I was very happy with the book offering both a plate of the entire print and a detailed view of particularly noteworthy segments of the picture. The descriptions of each print do a good job of explaining the mythology, and historical and cultural relevance, but I'd have enjoyed it if it was further detailed.
February 3, 2021
As a beginner dipping into Japanese mythology, I really enjoyed this collection. The artwork was beautiful and captured each story so vividly, I could see the tales play out like little movies. The collection of stories were easy to read and opened my eyes into Japanese lore.
Great reference book.
Great reference book.
September 4, 2020
There are some pages in here that are really neat for Naruto fans; artwork of sages with toads and nine tailed fox demons and the like. I do wish it was a bit more descriptive.
April 13, 2025
Excellent collection of macabre ukiyo-e art, arranged thematically by type of creature depicted.
The captions are concise while still capturing the thrust of the stories and legends portrayed. (I was surprised to learn how many of the ghoulish pieces were the equivalent of political cartoons, with monsters and ghouls parodying various Japanese officials.)
The book is an ideal size, physically: large enough to do the artworks justice but not so large that it’s awkward to handle. It’s impressive as a coffee table book while also fitting nicely on a bookshelf.
The two-page spreads of multipanel pieces occasionally present a viewing challenge (particularly when the focal point of the image is in the centre of the middle panel) but this is unavoidable when showcasing works of the size and scale as the ones here. I did appreciate how the book includes close-ups of certain images in addition to the full panels, enabling one to appreciate the minute details.
The captions are concise while still capturing the thrust of the stories and legends portrayed. (I was surprised to learn how many of the ghoulish pieces were the equivalent of political cartoons, with monsters and ghouls parodying various Japanese officials.)
The book is an ideal size, physically: large enough to do the artworks justice but not so large that it’s awkward to handle. It’s impressive as a coffee table book while also fitting nicely on a bookshelf.
The two-page spreads of multipanel pieces occasionally present a viewing challenge (particularly when the focal point of the image is in the centre of the middle panel) but this is unavoidable when showcasing works of the size and scale as the ones here. I did appreciate how the book includes close-ups of certain images in addition to the full panels, enabling one to appreciate the minute details.
June 23, 2018
As a foreigner who barely knows Japanese mythology, I have found this book amazing. Its pages are full of ukiyo-e pieces, each one with a description about the creatures who are portrayed. Sometimes, there are different pieces related to the same creatures because of the amount of authors who followed the ukiyo-e style. Although the descriptions can result too plain, I think they are more suitable than long explanations to this type of book. Otherwise, people who feel clueless about this subject can give up reading easily. This is the reason why I believe that Something Wicked of Japan is a great introduction to Japanese mythology and ukiyo-e. Maybe, if the reader already knows about both subjects, this book could result a bit annoying for them, but they should have a look at it anyway. It is always impressive to see how these authors were able to copy this style, reaching the point that it's difficult to guess who is the author of each piece due to the similarities between the different copies of a same picture.
June 22, 2023
Outstanding, intricate art, telling intriguing, tragic, cruel, haunting, chilling, some outright scary visual stories.
From ghosts to three-eyed goblins, from Tsuchigumo the Earth Spider to magical toads or monsters born from Kabuki plays, from murderous demonic hags to the ogre Ibaraki-doji who, in the shape of a white-haired old woman flies away carrying its severed arm that he managed to retrieve, from the vengeful spirits of the Taira clan, who were defeated and drowned at the battle of Dan-no-ura (this is from the first story collected by Lafcadio Hearn in his Kwaidan: Japanese Ghost Stories, to the monstrous centipede of Mount Mikami - this book is a supernatural delight!
From ghosts to three-eyed goblins, from Tsuchigumo the Earth Spider to magical toads or monsters born from Kabuki plays, from murderous demonic hags to the ogre Ibaraki-doji who, in the shape of a white-haired old woman flies away carrying its severed arm that he managed to retrieve, from the vengeful spirits of the Taira clan, who were defeated and drowned at the battle of Dan-no-ura (this is from the first story collected by Lafcadio Hearn in his Kwaidan: Japanese Ghost Stories, to the monstrous centipede of Mount Mikami - this book is a supernatural delight!
July 29, 2017
An excellent collection of creepy ukiyo-e paintings and prints. First, I loved learning about some of these creepy folktales and monsters, but I also really enjoyed the artwork. I think I'll be reading more about ukiyo-e in the future. The one thing that really stood out to me about this collection was that some of the scenes had been done several times, and sometimes, it was almost impossible to tell them apart, except for small details, like an extra item in the background or different features on a character's face. More than anything, I'm impressed by the artists' ability to make such a close and nearly perfect copy.
September 13, 2019
Un fascinante recorrido visual per el imaginario fantástico japonés de fantasmas, demonios y yokais en distintas representaciones de los mismos en ukiyo-e de renombrados artistas japoneses. Contiene pequeñas descripciones para poner en antecedentes el contexto de la representación gráfica.
Un libro eminentemente visual pero muy atractivo. Fascinante la imaginación japonesa en varias obras en su mayor parte del s. XVIII y XIX.
En breve se edita la edición en castellano por parte de Satori, editorial que siempre nos deleita con buenas obras en su catálogo.
Un libro eminentemente visual pero muy atractivo. Fascinante la imaginación japonesa en varias obras en su mayor parte del s. XVIII y XIX.
En breve se edita la edición en castellano por parte de Satori, editorial que siempre nos deleita con buenas obras en su catálogo.
December 12, 2019
Not much to say about this book other than to say it is a delightful visual romp through Japanese ukiyo-e monsters, demons and all sorts, with basic textual information accompanying each image.
As such, perhaps a little more depth of explanation and background may have turned this from an impressive visual book to a greater understanding of Japanese folklore/horror.
But there are other books out there that will do a better job of that. Best to sit back and enjoy the spooks!
As such, perhaps a little more depth of explanation and background may have turned this from an impressive visual book to a greater understanding of Japanese folklore/horror.
But there are other books out there that will do a better job of that. Best to sit back and enjoy the spooks!
March 21, 2024
Nice overview in typical museums exhibits booklet style (limited context). Often focuses on the same character/scene via different artists' cumulative reinterpretations, which gives a nice vertical-tasting-style sense of that story. Anyone who voraciously consumed their library's collection of "Tales of a [Korean/Chinese/Swedish/etc.] Grandmother" will appreciate how similar most ghost stories are, and also delight in the subtle differences that come through in the art.
December 28, 2021
Illustrations are amazing and I'm glad there is a brief description about the related folktale to go with it. My favourite is the Tale of Sailor Tokuzo.
Unfortunately the English translations don't always include the date the painting was made, it is in the Japanese part. Because of this I felt like I was missing out a little.
Unfortunately the English translations don't always include the date the painting was made, it is in the Japanese part. Because of this I felt like I was missing out a little.
January 24, 2022
A beautiful book, the images are gorgeous, every painting has a description of what is represented and the legend and characters it contains, I would have given it 5 stars if there was also an explanation regarding the art style and artistic choices, like for example why often men had eyes going into different directions.
December 13, 2019
The book was a present from someone who knows I like monsters and ghost stories. I loved the design and that the text is both in English and Japanese.
The only small issue for me was the binding, it messes up the double-side printed pictures.
The only small issue for me was the binding, it messes up the double-side printed pictures.
November 6, 2024
Incredible art book packed with Japanese prints of all kinds of supernatural creatures: ogres, demons, spirits, goblins, trickster foxes, giant carp, a huge skeleton. Very high quality reproductions; wonderful stuff all round.
January 1, 2020
Really beautiful artwork and stories.
February 26, 2020
Very informative for anyone with an interest in yokai folklore and ukiyo-e paintings. Also, beautiful illustrations.
April 6, 2020
Collection of mesmerising, endlessly beautiful and fascinating Japanese artworks on the topic of folklore horror stories. Bliss for the eyes.
May 6, 2020
Beautiful book! The design is superb, I learned a lot.
December 31, 2020
A fantastic collection of Japanese artwork dealing with the spirits, demons and other supernatural creatures which populate the rich folklore of Japan
November 15, 2021
breathless.
November 17, 2022
fascinating
November 20, 2023
A really nice combination of art history and mythology
May 16, 2024
pięknie zebrane japońskie przerażające drzeworyty z zapisanymi obok krótkimi streszczeniami historii i mitów, które obrazują
June 25, 2024
The artwork is just *chef's kiss*
May 22, 2025
AMAZING! Terrifying illustrations to stories from Japanese folklore and theater.
October 15, 2025
fun little art book of japanese ghosts
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews