妖怪yokai
Quick definition:Yokai are supernatural creatures, spirits and monsters from Japanese folklore, ranging from frightening demons to mischievous tricksters and harmless household oddities, and they appear throughout anime and manga.
Meaning
Yokai, also spelled youkai, is the broad Japanese word for strange and supernatural beings. The group includes shape-shifting animals, spirits of old objects, river creatures, long-necked women, one-eyed umbrellas and countless local spirits. Some are dangerous, some are playful, and many are simply odd, which makes the category much wider than the English word monster.
Traditional yokai were used to explain mysterious events, warn children away from danger or give a face to the fears of a particular place. Collections of illustrated yokai were popular in the Edo period, and artists drew them in great detail. Later writers and manga artists made them better known still.
Modern series use yokai as villains, mascots, friends and gentle companions. Some stories feature a character who befriends yokai, while others pit exorcists against them. Familiar examples include the cat-like bakeneko, the fox-like kitsune, the horned oni and the water-dwelling kappa.
Origin:Yokai is written with characters meaning bewitching and mysterious, and it was used in early Japanese writing for strange phenomena. Over the centuries it became the general label for folkloric creatures. Its popularity in anime and manga grew from illustrated books of monsters made in the Edo period and from twentieth-century manga artists who turned yokai into fan favourites.
Example:In Natsume's Book of Friends, a teenage boy who can see spirits inherits a book of names that his grandmother once used to bind yokai to her will. He gradually returns the names and befriends many of the creatures. The series shows yokai as lonely, funny and sometimes dangerous beings.
Did you know?Many yokai are said to be objects that have lived long enough to come alive. The tsukumogami, for example, are tools such as umbrellas or lanterns that gain spirits after a hundred years, a belief that explains why old household items turn up as creatures in stories.
