Significantly expanded and updated—a lively excursion into Japanese folklore and its increasing influence within global popular culture.
Monsters, spirits, fantastic beings, and supernatural creatures haunt the folklore and popular culture of Japan. Broadly labeled
yōkai,
they appear in many forms, from
tengu
mountain goblins and
kappa
water sprites, to shape-shifting
kitsune
foxes and long-tongued ceiling-lickers. Popular today in anime, manga, film, and video games, many yōkai originated in local legends, folktales, and regional ghost stories.
The Book of Yōkai
invites readers to examine how people create, transmit, and collect folklore, and how they make sense of the mysteries in the world around them.
Revised and expanded, this second edition features fifty new illustrations, including an all-new yōkai gallery of stunning color images tracing the visual history of yōkai across centuries. In clear and accessible language, Michael Dylan Foster unpacks the cultural and historical contexts of yōkai, interpreting their varied meanings and introducing people who have pursued them through the ages.