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Water sprites, mountain goblins, shape-shifting animals, and the monsters known as yôkai have long haunted the Japanese cultural landscape. This history of the strange and mysterious in Japan seeks out these creatures in folklore, encyclopedias, literature, art, science, games, manga, magazines, and movies, exploring their meanings in the Japanese cultural imagination and offering an abundance of valuable and, until now, understudied material. Michael Dylan Foster tracks yôkai over three centuries, from their appearance in seventeenth-century natural histories to their starring role in twentieth-century popular media. Focusing on the intertwining of belief and commodification, fear and pleasure, horror and humor, he illuminates different conceptions of the "natural" and the "ordinary" and sheds light on broader social and historical paradigms-and ultimately on the construction of Japan as a nation.

Animals, Mythical --- Supernatural. --- Spirits. --- Invisible world --- Supernatural --- Fear of spirits --- Religion --- Miracles --- Creatures, Fabled --- Fabled creatures --- Fabulous animals --- Fabulous creatures --- Fantastic animals --- Fictitious animals --- Imaginary animals --- Legendary animals --- Mythical animals --- Zoological mythology --- Animals --- Dragons --- Mythology --- Japan --- al-Yābān --- Giappone --- Government of Japan --- Iapōnia --- I︠A︡ponii︠a︡ --- Japam --- Japani --- Japão --- Japon --- Japonia --- Japonsko --- Japonya --- Jih-pen --- Mư̄ang Yīpun --- Nihon --- Nihon-koku --- Nihonkoku --- Nippon --- Nippon-koku --- Nipponkoku --- Prathēt Yīpun --- Riben --- State of Japan --- Yābān --- Yapan --- Yīpun --- Zhāpān --- Япония --- اليابان --- يابان --- 日本 --- 日本国 --- Spirits --- J1723.80 --- J1723 --- J4120 --- J4150 --- J5620 --- Japan: Religion in general -- demonology --- Japan: Religion in general -- primitive religions -- general popular beliefs and folk religion --- Japan: Sociology and anthropology -- social psychology and social-cultural phemomena --- Japan: Sociology and anthropology -- customs, folklore and culture --- Japan: Literature -- folk tales, fairy tales, mukashibanashi, ghost stories --- Japan: Sociology and anthropology -- social psychology and social-cultural phenomena --- Jepun --- Yapon --- Yapon Ulus --- I︠A︡pon --- Япон --- I︠A︡pon Uls --- Япон Улс --- ayakashi. --- belief. --- commodification. --- demons. --- east asian cultural studies. --- horror. --- human electricity. --- humor. --- japan. --- japanese cultural imagination. --- japanese culture. --- japanese folklore. --- kanji. --- kokkuri. --- malevolent. --- mamono. --- minzokugaku. --- mischievous. --- mizuki shigeru. --- modernity. --- mononoke. --- monsters. --- mountain goblins. --- natural history. --- shape shifting animals. --- spirits. --- spooky stories. --- supernatural monsters. --- toriyama sekien. --- water sprites. --- yokai.