yokai
Japan could be said to be a country of yokai (ghosts). Often called goblins in English, yokai are much more varied than that poor translation suggests. These folklore beasties, like European fairies, can be scary, weird and benign. We often think of them in the summer when scary Obon season comes, but they’re present for all seasons, including the fall harvest season and winter’s dead cold. In this article, we’ll be talking about the Japanese yokai of spring. Spring yokai tends towards natural phenomena, like plants and animals. After all, spring is when the natural world comes alive again aft...
GaijinPot
Some of the scariest Japanese urban legends, like those in this bone-chilling list, are intertwined with reality. Whether from cautionary tales, mysterious occurrences or eerie happenings, these legends possess a disturbing semblance of truth. More than just Japanese ghosts and monsters, urban legends’ creepiness, strangeness and unnerving plausibility leave an indelible mark of fear on those who dare to delve into their depths. 1. The Cow HeadThe legend of Gozu, the Cow Head, instills fear in all who dare to hear its complete tale. The story is believed to bring dire consequences to those who...
GaijinPot
When you hear the word yokai(strange apparition), the first thing that might pop into your head is a turtle-looking kappa or the shapeshifting kitsune fox. Many of the creatures, ghosts and ghoulies you’ve heard of in Japan can fall under the umbrella term yokai. In Japanese (妖怪), yokai refers to something strange, mysterious or unexplained. Before contact with China, the Japanese yokai were formless and obtuse, much like Japanese gods, demons and assorted deities. However, yokai grew popular during the Edo period when Toriyama Sekien wrote his book Night Procession of One Hundred Demons, whic...
GaijinPot
Every summer, Japan is bombarded with films and stories about ghosts and yokai (goblins). After all, summer is the time of Obon, a festival when the world of the dead is closer to that of the living. However, it’s not the only haunted season. We first told you about yuki-onna, a snow demon who steals the breath of travelers lost in the snow. In A Survival Guide to Japan’s Winter Monsters, there are plenty more yokai and yurei (ghosts) that embody the spirit of winter. Here are five of them. 1. The avalanche riderNiigata Prefecture is on the Sea of Japan coast and gets covered in snow yearly. W...
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There are plenty of horrifying yokai (ghosts) out there that would guarantee a terrifying Halloween. Take the jorogumo, a terrifying eight-legged, spider-lady monster, for example. However, these days Japan has been moving towards making Halloween a happy event. This is good news for parents because children can have a creative Halloween without getting too frightened (hopefully). This Halloween, why not look for some inspiration from Japanese legends? Here are some ghoulies from Japan’s mystical past that are cute enough for kids but creepy enough for Halloween. 1. Dancing cat yokaiFew ghosts...
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What is it about the harvest season that is so horrifying? Perhaps it is the importance that the season used to have or how it heralds the end of the productive season and the beginning of the barren season. Still, harvest is associated with some of the most terrifying monsters ever. Think of the terrors of Children of the Corn or Blair Witch Project in America. Harvest horrors in Japan tend to be very different from other countries. Gaijinpot goes in search of the horrors of the harvest featuring some yokai (creatures from Japanese folklore) you probably haven’t heard of. 1. AmabieNowadays wh...
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