Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Water Goblin Tales: Preface and Acknowledgments Names, Dates, Places Part I. Yokai Culture 1. Introducing Yokai Yokai, Folklore, and This Book The Language of Yokai Event Becomes Object 2. Shape-Shifting History Heroes of Myth and Legend Weird Tales and Weird Tastes Modern Disciplines Postwar Animation and the Yokai Boom 3. Yokai Practice/Yokai Theory Yokai Culture Network Zone of Uncertainty Part II. Yokai Codex 4. The Order of Yokai 5. Wilds 6. Water 7. Countryside 8. Village and City 9. Home Epilogue: Monsterful Notes Bibliography Alphabetized List of Yokai in the Codex Index

About the Author

Michael Dylan Foster is Associate Professor in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology and the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Indiana University. He is the author of Pandemonium and Parade: Japanese Monsters and the Culture of Yokai and numerous articles on Japanese folklore, literature, and media. Shinonome Kijin is an artist and scholar of yokai. He lives and works in Chiba Prefecture, Japan.

Reviews

"Foster creates engagingly rich portraits of yokai ... Kijin's illustrations draw on Japanese artistic traditions to depict each creature's personality and visual quirks, making this field guide a delight for researchers, enthusiasts and the uninitiated alike ... Seen this way, even the most horrific yokai seems beautiful." -- Morgan Giles The Times Literary Supplement "Michael Dylan Foster, associate professor of folklore at Indiana University and a yokai expert, analyses and catalogues hundreds of yokai and tells many stories ... The book is enhanced by witty illustrations by Shinonome Kijin ... A fascinating and charming compendium." -- Lesley Downer Literary Review "I highly recommend this book... A fascinating read ... This will be on my personal bookshelf for years to come. " -- Michelle Breckon Reference Reviews "The Book of Yokai is a fascinating and enormously informative study... Foster's narrative is smooth and often humorous. The book is easy to read, and at the same time immensely informative on the complicated and varied ways yokai have existed throughout Japanese history." -- Noriko T. Reider Western Folklore