INTRODUCTION

• A fox called a kitsune suddenly transforms into an enchanting, kimono-wearing woman.
• A giant red-skinned, ogreish oni stomps onto your path, raises its spiked iron club, and roars.
• The amabie, a bird-beaked sea creature, bobs off the coast, warning people of an upcoming pandemic.

These are only a few of the innumerable wonderfully weird and wildly entertaining mythical creatures that have been inhabiting Japan for more than two thousand years. First written about in the ancient chronicles the Kojiki (C.E. 712) and Nihon Shoki (C.E. 720), these tales have been passed down from generation to generation, adapted, embellished, and added to through written records, oral storytelling, artwork, poetry, and plays. Some stories were even reported as true happenings in early news periodicals called kawaraban.

Given Japan’s long history and its people’s rich imaginations, it’s no wonder this small island nation is home to so many gods (kami), spirits, monsters, folk heroes, and villains—as well as all manner of uniquely Japanese supernatural beasties called yōkai. For the most part, all of these otherworldly beings stayed safely inside Japan’s borders until the Internet became widely available and they spread worldwide. Multilayered beasties that range from the heroic to the savage and from the silly to the seductive and every combination in between left Japan to frighten, mystify, and charm people all over the world. Today, you can find them in popular comics, manga, anime, movies, and games.

The dozens of entries in The Book of Japanese Folklore will introduce you to a good many of these characters and give you some insight into who they are, what they do, where they came from, and what their place is in Japanese history and culture. You’ll learn the various ways they’ve evolved over time, some of their more interesting quirks, any well-known story they’re involved in, and where you might have bumped into them in recent times.

Whether you’re familiar with any of these characters or are meeting them all for the first time, you’re sure to be entertained, enlightened, and surprised by these uncanny individuals and their stories. Get ready to meet quirky animals, wise elders, and peculiar shape-shifters—you’ll never see the world quite the same way again!