Today’s yokai was a special request via Facebook: kosenjōbi.

There are lots and lots of fireball-type yokai. Collectively, they are called hinotama. Taking a step back futher, there is a special word in Japanese for supernatural fires: kaika. While researching for this book, part of what I covered was the etymology of the words used to describe evil spirits in Japan. (It also may be partially because I am a word geek and etymology draws me like a moth to a flame) As you might guess, there are countless words!

I’m reminded of the story about how Eskimos and Inuit peoples have dozens and dozens of words for snow because they are surrounded by it. I can only imagine that the reason Japanese has so many words for supernatural creatures is because they have played an important part in Japanese culture for thousands of years. (As a word geek, I am also aware that the Eskimo thing is a myth, but it does support the point I am trying to make so I’m just going to go with it.)

Anyway, here is today’s kaika. Click to read more:

Yesterday we saw a creepy bird, today let’s look at another creepy bird. I like creepy birds… especially ones with legendary ties to actual historical events.

One of the really fun parts about choosing the yokai for The Hour of Meeting Evil Spirits was looking for yokai that were somehow related to each other. Although there isn’t really a narrative or any sort of continuity in the books (being encyclopedias) there is something particularly interesting when different entries reference the same things. It puts the history and the folklore into perspective, and makes it a little more tangible. This is especially helpful when dealing with Japanese history, because it is very complex and for the most part, Americans never really hear much about Japan prior to the 1850s or even World War 2…

While it’s not necessary to understand Japanese history to enjoy yokai, I think it really really helps! So many yokai are tied to historical events and figures that when you don’t know the history, you’re only getting half the story. Or maybe it’s more like when you do know the history, you’re getting double the story! This is coming straight from the mouth of a history buff, so you can take that with a grain of salt. In any case, I tried to introduce bits and pieces of relevant Japanese history in the book in ways that are easily digestible and flesh out the background of some of these yokai more so, as non Japanese history scholars, readers will be able to get a fuller understanding of the circumstances surrounding certain yokai.

Read on below:

Whenever I do A-Yokai-A-Day, I like to start out with the cuter or sillier yokai and work up to the scarier and more grotesque ones as it gets closer to Halloween. Now that we’re in the last week of October, it’s time to get serious!

Today’s yokai certainly fits the grotesque bill. It also is pretty scary, in its own way. It goes to show you the importance of properly performing funeral ceremonies in Japanese culture. If you don’t do it just right, something like this might come out! Although, the more cynical side of me also says that this is a great excuse for priests to jack up the prices of funeral services…

As always, click to view the full entry!

Today’s yokai is an interesting one because it does something that most other yokai do not do: it interacts with other yokai!

Only a few yokai ever really work in concert with others. A few examples would be ushi oni and nure onna or iso onna. A case could probably also be made for kage onna. Aside from a small handful of creatures, most yokai work solo, or with other groups of the same yokai (as kappa often do).

Hikeshibaba is a rare case in that her entire purpose for existence is to make it easier for other yokai to appear, by blowing out lanterns and candles and making the world a dimmer, gloomier place. It’s safe to bet that a lot of human-yokai interactions have been made possible thanks to her hard work! Otsukaresama deshita, hikeshibaba!

Hikeshibaba / 火消婆 / ひけしばば

Once again if you are joining us late, click the image to visit yokai.com and read the full entry on today’s yokai. If you want to know more about yokai. you can order my book from Amazon.com. Stay tuned to my Facebook page for updates on when my second book will be coming out!

Yikes! Another late yokai! It really seems like there are not enough hours in a day to get every thing done!

Today’s yokai is a rare and special one. I’ve mentioned a few times before how most yokai stories are very short—sometimes merely one or two sentences only! Well, today’s yokai is not one of those. Today, I want to show you one of the rare yokai that actually has a decent-length story attached to it.

It’s actually rather a simple yokai, so there’s not much backstory to tell you about it here. It’s a fun story, though, so I hope you like it! Click to read:

Kurote / 黒手 / くろて

I love this yokai.

When I first read about iyaya, I laughed so hard. All I could think of was the Seinfeld episode about the “two-face” woman who looks attractive in bright light, but when the lighting changes just a bit, she suddenly looks hideous. Of course, Jerry dumps her.

This yokai really makes me feel like I can connect to the people living in Edo-period Japan. I mean, isn’t this an experience we all have had? Someone you think is really attractive turns out to be the exact opposite? Call it two-face, or beer goggles, or iyaya; it seems to be something that transcends time and space. We usually think of people living hundreds of years ago as really different than us, but this yokai proves that they really do have the same silly sense of humor as we do, and the same experiences. It really makes a human connection across a vast distance in time.

The other part that just splits my sides is the creatures name: “iyaya!” If you’ve heard Japanese people say this word, you know exactly the tone of voice it should be said in. It’s the exact “nooo noooo!!” sound that would race through your mind as soon as you approached that two-faced person and realized what they really look like. It’s the exact corollary to Bryan Cranston’s “tsk!” in the clip above.

Maybe I am a yokai nerd, but this one just gets me on so many levels!

Iyaya / 否哉 / いやや

Well it was rainy all day today, so clearly yesterday’s amefuri kozou did the trick!

Today we’ll look at one of everybody’s favorite yokai genre: tsukumogami.

For the uninitiated, tsukumogami are a class of yokai made up of tools, clothes, and other man-made items that have been discarded or fallen out of use. They grow resentful of having been put aside after years of faithful work, and that resent turns into a powerful grudge which animates the item and turns it into a yokai.

The name tsukumogami is a bit of a mystery. It means “99-year spirit.” The 99 years is symbolic of extreme old age, which is essentially what causes these yokai to form. However, it is also one year shy of 100 years, which is even more significant. So the fact that it reached only 99 years instead of 100 is a metaphor for the fact that these items were discarded before they reached their full potential. Supposedly, one of these objects would have become a splendid kami after 100 years; but having their life finished prematurely at 99 turns them into a twisted mockery of the divine spirit that they almost became.

Furthermore—and this gets a little bit into linguistics here—the kanji for one hundred is 百. If you remove one from one hundred, you get nintey-nine. If you remove the kanji for one (一) from the kanji for one hundred (百), you get the kanji for white (白). The kami in tsukumogami means spirit, but the word kami can also mean hair. So, one hundred minus one gives you either ninety-nine or white, and kami gives you either spirit or hair. You end up with either “ninety-nine year spirit,” or “white hair”—another symbol of old age. It’s a bit of a pun, really!

Anyway, here is today’s tsukumogami:

Don’t forget, you can learn all about yokai from my book, The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons. The second volume, The Hour of Meeting Evil Spirits, will be released this winter!