百物語怪談会 Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai

Translated from Mizuki Shigeru’s Yokai Daihyakka

How are Yokai born?

It is said that the vast majority of Yokai are born from the emotions of human, especially the powerful emotions of fear, yearning or hate.

But there are other ways for a Yokai to come into being:

1. From the violence of natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, windstorms or volcanic eruptions.

2.  From the fear of dying accompanying disease and dire poverty.

3. From fear of animals, especially the terror humans feel at the prospect of being eaten by some beast.

4. From plants with lifespans that outstrip humans, like cedar and pine trees.  It was thought that these trees would live forever, and there was a desire of humans to believe in something that had power over death, something indestructible.

5. From human belief in superstitions and stories, or the teachings of religions.  There are things that scientific knowledge cannot explain, and it is there that Yokai are born.

Further Reading:

For more information about yokai and their meaning, check out:

What Does Yokai Mean in English?

A Brief History of Yokai

Secrets of the Yokai – Types of Yokai

Translated from Mizuki Shigeru’s Yokai Daihyakka

What is the difference between Yokai and Obake?

Generally speaking, yokai and obake are two words that mean the same thing.   If a distinction must be made, it could be said that obake are those creatures which somehow change from one form to another (the Japanese word bakeru which forms the root of obake means to change for the worse, or adopt a disguise).

Examples are transforming kitsune (foxes) or of the dead people whose lingering grudges cause them to appear as yurei, or a myriad of other shape-changers.

What kinds of Yokai are there?

If you wanted to organize yokai by large categories,  it could be said that there are Yurei (spirits of the dead) Kaiju (monsters), Henge (shape-changers) and Choshizen (supernatural phenomena).

A chart would look like this:

 Yokai

How many kinds of Yokai are there in Japan?

As a rule, it is said that there are about a thousand different species of yokai.  But if you limit it to those that have appeared in pictures or those about which we have some information, then it is really roughly four hundred different species.

But there are many yokai of other countries.  Nobody knows the number of worldwide yokai.

What is the largest Yokai of them all?

 That is the Onyudo.  The body of the Onyudo is as large as Mt. Fuji.  However, it is said that even if angered the Onyudo would never cause harm to humans.

Further Reading:

For more Types of Yokai, check out:

6 Types of Japanese Yokai From Showa

When Food Attacks – 6 Types of Food Yokai From Japan

10 Famous Japanese Ghost Stories

What’s the Difference Between Yurei and Yokai?

A Brief History of Yokai