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List of legendary creatures from Japan
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| Part of the series on Japanese Mythology & Folklore |
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Mythic Texts and Folktales: |
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Divinities |
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Legendary Creatures & Spirits |
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Legendary Figures |
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Mythical & Sacred Locations |
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Sacred Objects |
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Shintō & Buddhism |
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Folklorists |
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The following is a list of yōkai, obake, yūrei and other legendary creatures which are notable in Japanese folklore, mythology, literature and art.
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| 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
[edit] A
- Abumi-guchi - a furry creature formed from the stirrup of a mounted military commander.
- Abura-akago - an infant ghost who licks the oil out of andon lamps.
- Abura-bō - a spook fire from Shiga Prefecture, in which the shape of a monk can often be seen.
- Abura-sumashi - a spirit who lives on a mountain pass in Kumamoto Prefecture.
- Akabeko - a red cow involved in the construction of Enzō-ji in Yanaizu, Fukushima.
- Akamataa - a snake spirit from Okinawa.
- Akaname - the spirit who licks the bathroom.
- Akanbei - a humanoid yokai who always has one drooping eye.
- Akashita - a creature that looms in a black cloud over a floodgate.
- Akateko - a red hand dangling out of a tree.
- Akki - another name for a wicked oni.
- Akkorokamui - an Ainu monster resembling a fish or octopus.
- Akuma - an evil spirit.
- Akurojin-no-hi - a ghostly fire from Mie Prefecture.
- Amaburakosagi - ritual disciplinary demon from Shikoku.
- Amamehagi - ritual disciplinary demon from Hokuriku.
- Amanojaku - a small demon that instigates people into wickedness.
- Amanozako - a monstrous goddess mentioned in the Kujiki.
- Amazake-babaa - an old woman who asks for sweet sake and brings disease.
- Amefurikozō - a little boy spirit who plays in the rain.
- Amemasu - an Ainu creature resembling a fish or whale.
- Ameonna - a female rain spirit.
- Amikiri - the net-cutting spirit.
- Amorōnagu - a tennyo from the island of Amami Ōshima.
- Anmo - ritual disciplinary demon from Iwate Prefecture.
- Aoandon - the spirit of the blue paper lantern.
- Aobōzu - the blue monk who kidnaps children.
- Aonyōbō - a female ghost who lurks in an abandoned imperial palace.
- Aosaginohi - a luminescent heron.
- Asobibi - a spook fire from Kōchi Prefecture.
- Arikura-no-baba - an old woman with magical powers.
- Ashiaraiyashiki(足洗邸) - the story of a huge demon that demands that its leg be washed.
- Ashimagari - a spook which entangles the legs of travelers.
- Ashinagatenaga - a pair of characters, one with long legs and the other with long arms.
- Ato-oi-kozō - an invisible spirit that follows people.
- Ayakashi - another name for the ikuchi.
- Ayakashi-no-ayashibi - a spook fire from Ishikawa Prefecture.
- Azukiarai - a spirit that makes the sound of azuki beans being washed.
- Azukibabaa - azukiarai's more vicious cousin, a bean-grinding hag who devours people.
- Azukitogi - another name for azukiarai.
[edit] B
- Betobeto-san - an invisible spirit that follows people at night, making the sound of footsteps.
- Bake-kujira - a ghost whale.
- Bakeneko - a shapeshifting cat.
- Bakezōri - a sandal spirit.
- Baku - an auspicious beast who can devour nightmares.
- Basan - a large fire-breathing chicken monster.
- Binbōgami - the spirit of poverty.
- Biwa-bokuboku - the spirit of a biwa lute.
- Bunbuku Chagama - a famous story about a tanuki in the form of a teakettle.
- Buruburu - a spirit that causes the shivers.
- Byakko - the white tiger of the west.
[edit] C
- Cho Hakkai - Zhu Bajie, the pig spirit from Journey to the West.
- Chōchinobake - a haunted paper lantern.
- Chōkōzetsu - a man with a large tongue sticking out of his mouth, like a Chōchinobake.
[edit] D
- Daidarabotchi - a giant responsible for creating many geographical features in Japan.
- Daitengu - the most powerful tengu, each of whom lives on a separate mountain.
- Datsue-ba - an old woman seated in the underworld who steals clothes from the souls of the dead.
- Dodomeki - the ghost of a pickpocket, her arms are covered in eyes.
- Doji - a spirit with white wings, accounted in European mythology as being like an angel.
- Dorotabō - the ghost of an old man whose rice fields were neglected and sold.
- Dozaemon - a yokai who resembles a kappa.
[edit] E
- Enenra - a monster made of smoke.
- Enkō - the kappa of Shikoku and western Honshū.
- Eritate-goromo - the tengu Sōjōbō's enchanted clothes.
[edit] F
- Fūjin - the god of wind.
- Funayūrei - ghosts of people dead at sea.
- Futakuchi-onna - the two-mouthed woman.
[edit] G
- Gagoze - a demon who attacked young priests at Gangō-ji temple.
- Gaki - the hungry ghosts of Buddhism.
- Gangi-kozō - a fish-eating water-monster.
- Garappa - a kind of kappa from Kyūshū.
- Gashadokuro - a giant skeleton, the spirit of the unburied dead.
- Genbu - the black tortoise of the north.
- Goryō - vengeful spirits of the dead.
- Gotokuneko - a cat Yōkai who can breath fire from a cut shoot of bamboo. His name means "Cat of Five Virtues".
- Guhin - another name for the tengu.
- Gyūki - another name for the ushi-oni, the ox demon.
[edit] H
- Hakutaku - the wise Bai Ze beast of China, who reported on the attributes of demons.
- Hakuzōsu - a fox who disguised himself as a trapper's uncle.
- Hannya - a noh mask representing a jealous female demon.
- Harionago - a female monster with deadly barbed hair.
- Hayatarō - the dog that killed the sarugami.
- Heikegani - crabs with human-faced shells, the spirits of the warriors killed in the Battle of Dan-no-ura.
- Hibagon - the Japanese Bigfoot.
- Hiderigami - the god of drought.
- Hihi - a baboon monster.
- Hitodama - a fireball-ghost that appears when someone dies.
- Hitotsume-kozō - a one-eyed boy.
- Hoji - the wicked spirit of Tamamo-no-Mae.
- Hōkō - a dog-like tree spirit from China.
- Hone-onna - a skeleton woman.
- Hō-ō - the legendary Fenghuang bird of China.
- Hotoke - a deceased person.
- Hyakki Yakō - the demons' night parade.
- Hyakume - a creature with a hundred eyes.
- Hyōsube - a kind of hair-covered kappa.
- Hyōtan-kozō - a gourd spirit.
[edit] I
- Ibaraki-dōji - the oni of the Rashomon gate, Shuten-dōji's accomplice.
- Ichimoku-nyūdō - a one-eyed kappa from Sado Island.
- Ikazuchi-no-Kami - a thunder god.
- Ikiryō - essentially a living ghost, as it is a living person's soul outside of their body.
- Ikuchi - a sea-serpent that travels over boats in an arc while dripping oil.
- Inugami - a dog-spirit created, worshipped and employed by a family via sorcery.
- Ippon-datara - a one-legged spirit of the mountains.
- Isonade - a fish-like sea monster with a barb-covered tail.
- Itsumaden - a monstrous bird that appeared over the capital in the Taiheiki.
- Ittan-momen - a cloth-like monster that attempts to smother people by wrapping itself around their faces.
- Iwana-bōzu - a char that appeared as a Buddhist monk.
[edit] J
- Jakotsu-babaa - an old woman who guards a snake mound.
- Jatai - an obi that has transformed into a snake.
- Jibakurei 地縛霊, 自縛霊 - a ghost that is bound to a certain place.
- Jikininki - ghosts that eat human corpses.
- Jinmenju - a tree with human-faced fruits.
- Jinmenken - a human-faced dog appearing in recent urban legends.
- Jishin-namazu - the giant catfish that causes earthquakes and tsunami, blamed during the Ansei quake & tsunami. Here and Here
- Jorōgumo - a spider woman.
- Jubokko - a vampire tree.
- Jyūbi-ōkami - a purple wolf with ten tails.
[edit] K
- Kage-onna - the shadow of a woman cast on the paper doors of a haunted house.
- Kahaku 河伯 - another name for a kappa.
- Kamaitachi - the slashing sickle-weasel that haunts the mountains.
- Kamikiri - the hair-cutting spirit.
- Kameosa - a bottle that never runs dry.
- Kanbari-nyūdō - a bathroom spirit.
- Kanedama - the spirit of money.
- Kappa - a famous water monster with a water-filled head and a love of cucumbers.
- Karasu-tengu - a tengu with a bird's bill.
- Kasa-obake - a paper umbrella monster.
- Kasha - a cat-like demon that descends from the sky and carries away corpses.
- Kashanbo - kappa who climb into the mountains for the winter.
- Katawa-guruma - a woman riding on a flaming wheel.
- Katsura-otoko - a handsome man from the moon.
- Kawa-akago - an infant monster that lurks near rivers and drowns people.
- Kawa-uso - a supernatural river otter.
- Kawa-zaru - a smelly, cowardly kappa-like creature.
- Keneō - an old man seated in the underworld who weighs the clothes given to him by Datsue-ba.
- Kerakera-onna - a giant cackling woman who appears in the sky.
- Kesaran-pasaran - a mysterious white fluffy creature.
- Keukegen - a creature made of hair.
- Kibagurui - a nasty creature with sharp teeth, and can pull his entire body together to form a giant floating, fanged mouth.
- Kijimunaa - a tree sprite from Okinawa.
- Kijo - a witch or ogress.
- Kirin - the Qilin of China, part dragon and part hoofed mammal, sometimes called the "Chinese unicorn".
- Kitsune - a supernatural fox.
- Kitsune-Tsuki - fox possession.
- Kiyohime - a woman who transformed into a serpent-demon out of the rage of unrequited love.
- Kodama - a spirit that lives in a tree.
- Kokakuchō - the ubume bird.
- Koma-inu - another name for the shishi, the pair of lion-dogs that guard the entrances of temples.
- Konaki-jijī - an infant spirit that cries until it is picked up, then increases its weight and crushes its victim.
- Konoha-tengu - a bird-like tengu.
- Koropokkuru - a little person from Ainu folklore.
- Kosode-no-te - a short-sleeved kimono with its own hands.
- Kubikajiri - a ghost that eats heads.
- Kuchisake-onna - the slit-mouthed woman.
- Kuda-gitsune - a small fox-like animal used in sorcery.
- Kudan - a human-faced calf that predicts a calamity and then dies.
- Kurabokko - the guardian spirit of a warehouse.
- Kurage-no-hinotama - a jellyfish that floats through the air as a fireball.
- Kyōkotsu - the ghost of a corpse discarded in a well.
- Kyūbi-no-kitsune - a fox with nine tails.
- Kyūketsuki - a Japanese vampire.
[edit] L
[edit] M
- Maikubi - the quarreling heads of three dead miscreants.
- Makura-gaeshi - the pillow-moving spirit.
- Mekurabe - the multiplying skulls that menaced Taira no Kiyomori in his courtyard.
- Miage-nyūdō - a spirit that grows as fast as you can look up at it.
- Mikoshi-nyūdō - another name for miage-nyūdō.
- Mizuchi - a dangerous water-dragon.
- Mokumokuren - a swarm of eyes that appear on a paper sliding door in an old building.
- Momonjii - an old-man who is waiting for you at every fork in the road.
- Morinji-no-kama - another name for Bunbuku Chagama, the tanuki teakettle.
- Mōryō - a long-eared, corpse-eating spirit.
- Mujina - a shapeshifting badger.
- Mukujara - a massive, faceless creature covered in hair.
- Myōbu - a title sometimes given to a fox.
[edit] N
- Namahage - ritual disciplinary demon from the Oga Peninsula.
- Namazu - a giant catfish that causes earthquakes.
- Nando-baba - an old-woman spirit who hides under the floor in abandoned storerooms.
- Narikama - a kettle spirit whose ringing sound is a good omen.
- Nebutori - a spook-disease that causes a woman to grow immensely fat and lethargic.
- Nekomata - a bakeneko with a split tail.
- Nekomusume - a cat in the form of a girl.
- Nikusui - a monster that appears as a young woman and sucks all of the flesh off of its victim's body.
- Ningyo - a fish person or "mermaid".
- Nobusuma - a supernatural wall, or a monstrous flying squirrel.
- Noppera-bō - a faceless ghost.
- Notari-bō - a very small humanoid yōkai.
- Nowake-baba - an old crone that can blow strong gusts of wind.
- Nozuchi - Another name for the tsuchinoko serpent.
- Nue - a monkey-headed, raccoon dog-bodied, tiger-legged, snake-tailed monster which plagued the emperor with nightmares in the Heike Monogatari.
- Nukekubi - a vicious human-like monster whose head detaches from its body, often confused with the rokurokubi.
- Nuppefuhofu - an animated lump of decaying human flesh.
- Nure-onna - a female snake-like monster who appears on the shore.
- Nuribotoke - an animated corpse with blackened flesh and dangling eyeballs.
- Nurikabe - a ghostly wall that traps a traveler at night.
- Nurarihyon - a strange character who sneaks into houses on busy evenings.
- Nyoijizai - a skeletal-looking spirit that does as they please. Able to stretch their arms great lengths.
- Nyūbachibō - a mortar spirit.
[edit] O
- Obariyon - a spook that rides piggyback on a human victim and becomes unbearably heavy.
- Oboro-guruma - a ghostly oxcart with the face of its driver.
- Ohaguro-bettari - a female spook lacking all facial features save for a large, black-toothed smile.
- Oiwa - the ghost of a woman with a distorted face who was murdered by her husband.
- Okiku - the plate-counting ghost of a servant girl.
- Ōkamuro - a giant face that appears at the door.
- Ōkubi - the face of a huge woman which appears in the sky.
- Okuri-inu - a dog or wolf that follows travelers at night, similar to the Black dog or Barghest of English folklore.
- Ōmukade - a giant human-eating centipede that lives in the mountains.
- Oni - the classic Japanese demon, an ogre-like creature which often has horns.
- Onibi - a spook fire.
- Onikuma - a monster bear.
- Onmoraki - a bird-demon created from the spirits of freshly-dead corpses.
- Onryō - a vengeful ghost.
- Otoroshi - a hairy creature that perches on the gates to shrines and temples.
[edit] P
[edit] Q
[edit] R
- Raijin - the god of thunder.
- Raijū - a beast that falls to earth in a lightning bolt.
- Rokurobei - a male Rokurokubi.
- Rokurokubi - a person, usually female, whose neck can stretch indefinitely.
- Ryū - the Japanese dragon.
[edit] S
- Sakabashira - a haunted pillar, installed upside-down.
- Sagari - a horse's head that dangles from trees on Kyūshū.
- Sa Gojō - the water-monster Sha Wujing from Journey to the West, often interpreted in Japan as a kappa.
- Samebito - a shark-man from the undersea Dragon Palace.
- Sarugami - a wicked monkey spirit which was defeated by a dog.
- Satori - an ape-like creature that can read minds.
- Sazae-oni - a turban snail that turns into a woman.
- Seiryū - the azure dragon of the east.
- Seko - a kind of kappa, that can be heard making merry at night.
- Senpoku-Kanpoku - a human-faced frog that guides the souls of the newly deceased to the graveyard.
- Sesshō-seki - the poisonous "killing stones" which Tamamo-no-Mae transformed into.
- Setotaishō - a warrior composed of discarded earthenware.
- Shachihoko - a tiger-headed fish whose image is often used in architecture.
- Shibaten - a kind of kappa from Shikoku.
- Shikigami - a spirit summoned to do the bidding of an Onmyōji.
- Shiki-ōji - another name for a shikigami.
- Shikome - wild women sent by Izanami to harm Izanagi.
- Shin 蜃 - a giant clam that creates mirages.
- Shinigami - the "god of death", the Japanese Grim Reaper.
- Shirime - (尻目) an apparition in the shape of a man having an eye in the place of his anus.
- Shiro-bōzu - a white, faceless spirit.
- Shiro-uneri - an old, rotten dishcloth appearing in the form of a dragon.
- Shiryō - the spirit of a dead person.
- Shisa - the Okinawan version of the shishi.
- Shishi - the paired lion-dogs that guard the entrances of temples.
- Shōjō - red-haired sea-sprites who love alcohol.
- Shōkera - a creature that peers in through skylights.
- Shōki - the fabled demon-queller Zhong Kui.
- Shu no Bon - a red-faced ghoul that surprises people.
- Shuten-dōji - an infamous princess-kidnapping, bloodthirsty oni.
- Sodehiki-kozō - an invisible spirit that pulls on sleeves.
- Sōjōbō - the famous daitengu of Mount Kurama.
- Sōgenbi - the fiery ghost of an oil-stealing monk.
- Son Gokū - the monkey king Sun Wukong from Journey to the West.
- Soragami - a ritual disciplinary demon in the form of a tengu.
- Soraki-gaeshi - the sound of trees being cut down, when later none seem to have been cut.
- Sorobanbōzu - a ghost with an abacus.
- Sōtangitsune - a famous fox from Kyoto.
- Sunakake-baba - the sand-throwing hag.
- Sunekosuri - a small dog- or cat-like creature that rubs against a person's legs at night
- Suppon-no-yūrei - a ghost with a face like a soft-shelled turtle.
- Suzaku - the vermilion bird of the south.
[edit] T
- Taimatsumaru - a tengu surrounded in demon fire.
- Taka-onna - a female spirit that can stretch itself to peer into the second story of a building.
- Tamamo-no-Mae - a wicked nine-tailed fox who appeared as a courtesan.
- Tankororin - an unharvested persimmon which becomes a monster.
- Tantanbō - a massive stone head with glowing eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth. His saliva can turn anything into stone.
- Tanuki - a shapeshifting raccoon dog.
- Tatami-tataki - a poltergeist that hits the tatami mats at night.
- Tengu - the infamous bird-man demon of the mountains.
- Tenjōname - the ceiling-licking spirit.
- Tennin - a heavenly being.
- Te-no-me - the ghost of a blind man, with his eyes on his hands.
- Tesso - the ghost of the priest Raigō, who transformed into a swarm of rats.
- Tōfu-kozō - a spirit child carrying a block of tofu.
- Toire no Hanako-san - a ghost who lurks in grade school restroom stalls.
- Tōtetsu - the Taotie monster of China.
- Tsurara-onna - an icicle woman.
- Tsuchigumo - a giant spider that was defeated by Minamoto no Raikō.
- Tsuchikorobi - a tumbling monster that rolls over travelers.
- Tsuchinoko - a legendary serpentine monster, now a cryptid resembling a fat snake.
- Tsukumogami - inanimate objects that come to life after a hundred years.
- Tsurube-otoshi - a monster that drops out of the tops of trees.
[edit] U
- Ubume - the spirit of a woman who died in childbirth.
- Uma-no-ashi - a horse's leg that dangles from a tree and kicks passersby.
- Umibōzu - a giant monster appearing on the surface of the sea.
- Umi-nyōbō - a female sea monster who steals fish.
- Ungaikyō - a mirror monster that can display assorted wonders in its surface.
- Ushi-oni - a name given to an assortment of ox-headed monsters.
- Uwan - a spirit named for the sound it shouts when surprising people.
[edit] V
[edit] W
- Wani - a water monster comparable to an alligator or crocodile. A related word has been applied to the Indo-Pacific or Saltwater crocodile.
- Wanyūdō - a flaming wheel with a man's head in the center, that sucks out the soul of anyone who sees it.
[edit] X
[edit] Y
- Yagyō-san - a demon who rides through the night on a headless horse.
- Yakubyō-gami - spirits who bring plagues and other unfortunate events.
- Yadōkai - monks who have turned to mischief.
- Yamaarashi - a supernatural porcupine.
- Yama-biko - a creature that creates echoes.
- Yama-bito - the wild people who live in the mountains.
- Yama-chichi - a mountain spirit resembling a monkey.
- Yama-inu - the fearsome mountain dog.
- Yama-jijii - an humanoid with a head like a large rock, with one eyeball and a constant smile. Often lives in the trees in the mountains.
- Yama-otoko - the giant mountain man.
- Yama-oroshi - a radish-grater spirit, a pun on a word for "mountain storm".
- Yamata no Orochi - the eight-headed serpent slain by the god Susanoo.
- Yama-uba - the mountain hag.
- Yama-waro - a hairy, one-eyed spirit, sometimes considered a kappa who has gone into the mountains for the winter.
- Yanari - poltergeists that cause strange noises.
- Yatagarasu - the three-legged crow of Amaterasu.
- Yato-no-kami - deadly snake-gods which infested a field.
- Yobuko - Mountain dwelling spirit.
- Yomotsu-shikome - the hags of the underworld.
- Yōsei - the Japanese word for "fairy".
- Yosuzume - a mysterious bird that sings at night, sometimes indicating that the okuri-inu is near.
- Yukinko - a child-like snow-spirit.
- Yuki-onna - the snow woman.
[edit] Z
- Zashiki-warashi - a protective child-like house spirit.
- Zennyo Ryūō - a rain-making dragon.
- Zunbera-bō - another name for the noppera-bō.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Photo Dictionary of Japanese Buddhist and Shinto Deities
- Japanese Wikipedia's List of Yōkai
- The Obakemono Project
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