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Praise for the First Edition of The Book of Yōkai:
"Foster creates engagingly rich portraits of yōkai. . . . Kijin’s illustrations draw on Japanese artistic traditions to depict each creature’s personality and visual quirks, making this field guide a delight for researchers, enthusiasts and the uninitiated alike. . . . Seen this way, even the most horrific yōkai seems beautiful."―Times Literary Supplement
"Foster . . . analyses and catalogues hundreds of yōkai and tells many stories . . . enhanced by witty illustrations by Shinonome Kijin. . . . A fascinating and charming compendium."―Literary Review
"An interesting cultural text highly recommended to Japanophiles or aficionados of the otherworldly."―Foreword Reviews
"Highly recommend. . . . A fascinating read."―Reference Reviews
"Michael Dylan Foster draws the reader into a haunting tale of the uncanny from the first page."―Journal of Religion in Japan
"The Book of Yōkai is a fascinating and enormously informative study. . . . Foster's narrative is smooth and often humorous. The book is easy to read, and at the same time immensely informative on the complicated and varied ways yōkai have existed throughout Japanese history."―Western Folklore
"Readers will be fascinated (as well as teased) by the kaleidoscope of creatures, malignant and benign."―International Institute for Asian Studies
List of contents
Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface and Acknowledgments
Names, Dates, Places
PART I. YOKAI CULTURE
1. Introducing Yōkai
Yōkai, Folklore, and This Book
The Language of Yōkai
Event Becomes Object
Questioning Yōkai
2. Shape-Shifting History
Heroes of Myth and Legend
Weird Tales and Weird Tastes
Modern Disciplines
Postwar Animation and the Yōkai Boom
3. Yōkai Practice / Yōkai Theory
Yōkai Culture Network
Zones of Uncertainty
PART II. YOKAI CODEX
4. The Order of Yōkai
5. Wilds
6. Water
7. Countryside
8. Village and City
9. Home
PART III. YOKAI GALLERY
10. Seeing Yōkai
11. Illustrating Yōkai
12. A Completely Incomplete Yōkai Exhibition
Epilogue: Monsterful
Notes
Bibliography
Alphabetized List of Yōkai in the Codex
Index
About the author
Michael Dylan Foster is Professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Davis. He is author of many works on Japanese folklore, including Pandemonium and Parade: Japanese Monsters and the Culture of Yōkai.
Summary
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.
