Japanese Yokai(妖怪)
Yōkai are a diverse class of supernatural spirits, monsters, and demons in Japanese folklore. Ranging from the mischievous and helpful to the terrifying and malevolent, they embody the mysteries, fears, and uncanny aspects of nature and human emotion.
The term translates roughly to “mysterious apparition” or “strange spirit”. Rooted deeply in Shinto animism, yōkai reflect the ancient belief that all things—mountains, rivers, animals, and even everyday household objects—possess a spirit or soul.
Historically, they served as explanations for un-explainable natural phenomena, unusual sounds, or misfortunes. While yōkai became widely immortalized in woodblock prints during the Edo period (1603–1868), their cultural presence remains massive today, heavily influencing modern anime, manga, and video games.
I’m not going to describe all Yokai here, just a quick reference within the site for those that appear in my prints. An excellent online resource for Yokai by Matthew Meyer can be found here Yokai.com
Tengu
The tengu (lit. ‘heavenly/celestial dogs’)were thought to have been born from giant eggs and the earliest mention of a tengu appears in the Chronicles of japan (Nihon shoki) from 637AD. The tale of the Heike (Heike monogatari) which dates to the thirteenth century describes them in detail: “human but not human; bird but not bird; dog but not dog; they possess feet and hands of human, the head of a dog, wings on both sides and can fly as well as walk.
In the Edo period (1603-1868) a distinction began to appear between different types of tengu. The usual form is called konoha tengu (tumbling leaf tengu) or karasu-tengu (crow/raven tengu) while the form with the extraordinarily long nose is hanataka tengu or daitengu (Great tengu).
daitengu or hanataka tengu: a more comical form with human characteristics, often bearing exceptionally long noses (hence the alternate name hanataka tengu) and angry red faces. These are the powerful, wisest leaders of the tengu clans who possess immense supernatural abilities and martial arts skills. They wield powerful, magic feathered fans (hauchiwa) to control winds and fly, and they possess high intelligence.
Serving as their foot soldiers, messengers, or violent subordinates, the lower small tengu (kotengu) are much more instinctual, sometimes cannibalistic, and possess lesser magical capabilities:
karasu tengu: the original avian baseline of the tengu species, had beaks and wings on either side
konoha tengu: low-ranking and primitive. They retain more primal or wild wood/plant-like features, lack significant supernatural powers, and dwell in the deep cedar groves Because tengu were considered spiritual guardians of the mountains, both varieties became associated with yamabushi (lit ‘one who lies down or prostrates in the mountain’), who lived in the mountain and blended Buddhist and Taoist theology with supernatural powers and infamous martial abilities.
See: Prints (S74.16), (T264), (Ku01)