Hi Melinda! Thanks for supporting my Patreon, and thanks for your comments!

There’s definitely a lot of really cool cross-cultural similarities among various folklores. I’ve always been fascinated by the similarities, whether they are coincidental or actually share the same roots. Folklore has always been one of my passions, so being able to write and illustrate books and my blog on the topic is truly a dream come true!

Success! Glad to hear that you were able to quit your day job and enter the yokai world as their first PR employee! I’m sure they are delighted (as much as they can be) that you are making them into celebrities.

I was reading some of The Hour tonight, and I recall my college classes of nearly 50 years ago, especially the Ballads and Folklore of my English Lit major.

You wrote about the worlds of men and yokai being very close together at certain times and in certain places. I was amazed by the similarities in Japanese and European folklore themes.

At least in English folklore and ballads, liminality is seen as dangerous proximity by the human and spirit worlds, expressed in places like crossroads, the sea shore, bridges, plains/mountains conjunctions, earth’s surface versus caves or other entrances to the underworld. Especially dangerous are any beings encountered in the the liminal places or in the twilight or deep night, just like Japanese foklore.

We encounter these liminal places in songs and ballads. If you have ever heard the old
ballad, Scarborough Fair, done by Simon and Garfunkel, you hear about some liminal places; the sea strand for one, but also another standard feature of the “quest” ballads, the hero who seeks the hand of a woman in marriage. in order to win her, he must complete one or more “impossible” tasks and bring back a token that speaks of his success.

Although S&G were singing Scarborough Fair as an anti-war song, you can hear the tasks: buying an acre of land “between the salt water and the sea strand”, making a shirt without seams or needle work, and reaping with a sickle leather.

I haven’t been aware of this sort of thing in Japanese folklore, but I will reading more carefully now.

Also, I joined up as a patron on your new venture.

I have been enjoying your artwork very much, it never fails to lift my spirits whenever I see them,

Thanks for reading my thoughts!

Melinda Shoop
Yakima WA