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- Tengu. Tengu is a legendary yokai that you’d likely have come across whilst exploring Japan. This popular folklore creature is often printed on arts and crafts and is featured in many cultural performances.
- Oni. Arguably one of the most famous yokai in Japan, the Oni is an ogre who is strong, fearsome, and mischievous. They are known to bring bad luck and disaster with them wherever they go.
- Umi-bozu. This sea creature is usually described as having a huge dark head that just appears out of the water. It’s said that when it appears, it will break through any boat that is nearby and kill its passengers.
- Yurei. Yurei are the most typical-looking ghost creatures within the yokai category. They are often depicted as floating white corpses, dressed in a draping kimono, with long black hair.
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The following is a list of Akuma , Yūrei , Yōkai (spirits), Kami and other legendary creatures that are notable in Japanese folklore and mythology
- Amabie. Amabie, 2003, Kyoto University.
- Tatsu. Tatsu (Dragon) by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 19th Century, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
- Kirin. Kirin by Kikuoka Mitsuyuki, 18th Century, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
- Ningyo. Ningyo (Mermaid) by Tadayoshi, 19th Century, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
An oni (鬼 （ おに ）) (/ oʊ n i / OH-nee) is a kind of yōkai, demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. They are believed to live in caves or deep in the mountains. [2]
- Kiyohime
- Yuki-Onna
- Shuten-dōji
- Yamauba
- Hashihime
- Tengu
- Oiwa
- Demon at Agi Bridge
- Kuchisake-Onna
- Aka Manto
Kiyohime was a young woman scorned by her lover, a monk named Anchin, who grew cold and lost interest in her. Realizing he had left her, Kiyohime followed him to a river and transformed into a serpent while swimming after his boat. Terrified by her monstrous form, Anchin sought refuge in a temple, where monks hid him beneath a bell. Not to be evade...
There are many variations of this popular tale. Her name is a portmanteau of the Japanese yuki (meaning “snow”) and onna for woman, and she is also known as the “Snow Woman.” She is usually described as having white skin, a white kimono, and long black hair, and appears during snowfall and glides without feet over the snow like a ghost. She feeds o...
Considered one of the most distinctive oni in Japanese folklore, Shuten-dōji is described as more than 50 feet tall with a red body, five-horned head, and 15 eyes. There’s no need to fear this demon, though. In a legend from the medieval period, warriors Minamoto no Raikō and Fujiwara no Hōshō infiltrated Shuten-dōji’s lair disguised as yamabushi (...
Also originating in the medieval period are the yamauba, which are similar to the yōkai (which can be used to refer to a whole class of supernatural beings from Japanese folklore). The yamauba are generally considered to be old women who were marginalized by society and forced to live in the mountains, and who also have a penchant for eating human ...
In another tale of a woman scorned, Hashihime (also known as the Maiden of the Bridge) prayed to a deity to turn her into an oni so she could kill her husband, the woman he fell in love with, and all of their relatives. To accomplish this, she bathed in the Uji Riverfor 21 days, divided her hair into five horns, painted her body red with vermilion,...
In Japanese folklore, the tengu (which translates to “heavenly dogs”) are essentially impish mountain goblins that play tricks on people. Featured in countless folktales, they were considered purely evil until about the 14th century. They were originally depicted as birdlike, with wings and beaks, though now the beak is often replaced with a comica...
In a revenge story made popular by the famous kabuki drama Yotsuya Kaidan, Oiwa was married to a rōnin(a masterless, wandering samurai) named Iemon; he wanted to marry a rich local’s granddaughter who had fallen in love with him, and, in order to end their marriage, Oiwa was sent a poisoned cream. Though the poison failed to kill her, she became ho...
This story, which was originally a setsuwa (a spoken-word narrative), begins as so many horror stories do: With an overly-confident man who boasted to his friends that he didn’t fear to cross Agi Bridge or the demon rumored to reside there. As oni are known for their ability to shape-shift, the demon at Agi Bridgeappeared to the man as an abandoned...
In an urban legend from 1978 that swept through Japan, Kuchisake-onna wears a surgical mask and asks children if they think she is beautiful. If they say yes, she takes off the mask to reveal her mouth slit from ear to ear, which also gave rise to her nickname, the Slit-Mouthed Woman (the name Kuchisake-onna also comes from the Japanese kuchi, mean...
With a demon for just about everything, why shouldn’t the Japanese have a few for their bathrooms? Aka Manto, one of the more popular demons, hides in women’s bathrooms. In one version of the story, Aka Manto asks women if they would like a red cape or a blue cape (or conversely, if they’d like red paper or blue paper as they’re going to wipe). If ...
- Victoria Derosa
Some creatures appear in both Chinese and Japanese folklore as yaoguai or yokai. Such as the scaly water shuihu (水虎), the wilderness demons denoted as chimeiwangliang (魑魅魍魉), and the nine-tailed fox demons (九尾狐).
The Yokai are the demons and spirits of Japanese myth, and they’re popular figures in anime and manga. Discover 15 of the most famous Yokai with this guide.
