The Book of Yōkai: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore

The Book of Yōkai: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore is a smart, appealing, and accessible book. As author Michael Dylan Foster notes, yōkai are notoriously difficult to define. He calls them mysterious creatures. They are fantastic beings associated with Japanese folklore and a kind of living force (5). In the past twenty years or so the popularity of yōkai has exploded outside of Japan, gaining visibility not only through such media as manga and anime, but also video games, films, the internet, and other forms of popular culture. Foster, who has been studying yōkai his entire career, has crafted a book that is at once academic and appealing to interested general readers. In addition to the scholarly essays and yōkai codex, the book contains an impressive seventy-two illustrations, an explanation of names and dates important to Japanese culture that might be unfamiliar to outsiders, an index, an alphabetized list of yōkai that can be found in the codex, and substantial scholarly notes to the chapters that include explanations of concepts and refer readers to additional materials.The book is divided into three parts. Part I, “Yōkai Culture,” contains three chapters. The first, “Introducing Yōkai,” includes a discussion of Foster’s own interest in the topic, a section on folklore, and a history of different words associated with mysterious phenomena prior to the term “yōkai”; further, this essay suggests that yōkai phenomena can be broadly classified into one of three categories: event, presence, or object. Chapter 2, “Shape-Shifting History,” covers not only the history of yōkai scholarship but also a history of their representation and interpretation in general, including references to monsters and mysterious creatures in ancient texts, legendary and historical figures renowned for quelling yōkai, performances in which scary stories were told; picture scrolls, yōkai encyclopedias (56), and important modern interpretations such as those by the manga artist Mizuiki Shigueru (perhaps best known for his manga GeGeGe no Kitarō). The third chapter, “Yōkai Practice, Yōkai Theory,” introduces concepts useful for thinking about the creatures, such as what Fosters calls the “yōkai culture network,” as well as different kinds of keywords and concepts.Part II is the Yōkai Codex, which Foster characterizes as somewhat similar to a medieval bestiary. This is the most accessible part of the book for a general audience. Yōkai are notoriously difficult to categorize, but the groupings that the author creates are useful, centering as they do on where yōkai are found: wilds, water, countryside, village and city, and home. Each entry provides an overview of a yōkai, including its characteristics, history, legends, beliefs, contemporary manifestations (for example, some yōkai are associated with festivals), and contemporary references in popular culture and mass media. Importantly, nearly every entry contains at least one image or illustration. The mukade, for example, is a real creature that is also a yōkai. The author includes his own photograph of this type of centipede (which makes me shudder every.single.time.). One notable inclusion in this expanded second edition is the amabie, a mer-creature that was revived in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic. The amabie dates to 1846. It is said to ward off disease, and sharing its image protects the person who shared the image. During COVID-19, images of the amabie circulated globally as users shared variations on Instagram and Twitter. It became so popular that the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare appropriated the amabie as an icon in its fight against the virus. Foster also adds a discussion of the Momo Challenge. The Momo Challenge was an internet hoax in which the image of “Momo” was supposed to appear on children’s social media and convince them to harm themselves or others. The image was of a sculpture of an ubume, an incarnation of a woman who has died during childbirth, which appeared on a subreddit page and somehow acquired the name “Momo.”Part III, “Yōkai Gallery,” constitutes an entirely new section for this second edition, focusing on historical images of yōkai. Foster writes that yōkai have a strong visual component, so that they are not only “told” in stories and legends but also have a long and important illustrated history. This section focuses on that visual history, particularly on images from the Edo period (1603–1868), in order to “explore[] what it means to see yōkai” (xx). This relationship between yōkai and seeing constitutes a perspective from which Foster theorizes yōkai: The creatures frequently have eyes and therefore seem more alive; but these are beings that humans usually cannot see but attempt to see anyway. Part III, then, is not just a picture gallery but provides a more in-depth understanding of the ongoing human fascination with these mysterious beings. It includes examples of illustrated scrolls, woodblock prints, games, votive slips, and postcards, and so offers a view on both ancient and contemporary practices.I have used the first edition of this book in my “Introduction to Folklore” class at Utah State University for years, and particularly from a practical standpoint as a teacher, I welcome this second edition. We spend three weeks on the topic of yōkai, using Foster’s book as a guide, and students repeatedly state that this section is their favorite part of the entire class. Because a good portion of the book is a codex, students can easily browse, find yōkai they already know, such as oni (demon or ogre), kappa (scaly, green creature associated with water), and kitsune (fox), and discover new yōkai, an experience that is an endless source of delight and amusement: they love the sunakake-babā (sand-throwing granny), the azuki-arai (bean washer), the akaname (scum licker), and the others. The inclusion of the amabie and Momo Challenge in this second edition is particularly useful, as these topics often emerge in class discussion. The new section on illustrations expands the possibilities of what yōkai might look like beyond what is accessible on the Internet, and students may be surprised to learn that many of the newly included scroll images come from a particularly well-preserved and ancient scroll located at Brigham Young University in Utah. One would not expect to find yōkai in Utah, but that is what is surprising about both Utah and yōkai: they are unpredictable and emerge in odd, unexpected places. This well-researched, beautifully illustrated, and highly accessible book will be useful for scholars of Japan and the supernatural, and for the general public.