The latest book I worked on, デジタル時代の妖怪学 (Yokai Studies in the Digital Age: The Business of Making the Invisible Visible), published by Kasama Shoin, is coming out this month!
This book started out as a talk on yokai studies in the digital age at Teikyō University a couple of years ago. I contributed illustrations (including the cover illustration), as well as one section of the book. The rest of it is co-authored by several yokai scholars including:
Watanabe Mizuki
Associate Professor, Department of Tourism Policy, Faculty of Regional Policy, Takasaki University of Economics
Kagawa Masanobu
Curator, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of History
Hirota Ryuhei
Assistant Professor, Department of Japanese Literature, Faculty of Letters, Daito Bunka University
Matsumoto Kentaro
Professor, Department of English, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Dokkyo University
Takemura Masaharu
Professor, Liberal Arts Department, Kagurazaka Campus, Institute for Liberal Arts Education, Tokyo University of Science
Unlike my previous book with Kasama, this is a Japanese-language-only book, so the audience probably does not align too closely with readers of my blog. It’s an academic work, rather than a purely entertainment-focused one, but it is still quite entertaining and interesting. The book itself is gorgeous, and the design is really cool. Kasama Shoin really puts out great-looking stuff!
You can pre-order the book from Kasama Shoin’s website, or from Amazon and other booksellers.
The Legend of Nayragona: The 400km Serpent of Yakushima
Setting: Yakushima Island, 1601.
The Appearance:
Deep within the ancient cedar forests of Yakushima lives Nayragona. From the waist up, she is a woman of breathtaking beauty, with pale skin and delicate hands. But from the waist down, she is a monstrous serpent, stretching an impossible 400 kilometers in length—long enough to coil around the entire island multiple times.
The Hunt:
She moves silently through the misty rivers and over the giant tree canopy. When she spots a human, she reaches down with her beautiful, human hands and grabs them by the head, lifting them high into the trees. She does not talk; she only hungers.
The Feast:
Nayragona is thirsty for blood. She drains her victims completely, consuming their life force until she is satisfied. Once the feast is over, she carelessly tosses the dry, empty corpse onto the forest floor and slithers back into the shadows of the 1601 wilderness.
Thanks for reading.