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Gegege no Kitarō 3: The Yōkai World
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This gallery collects the wide range of Japanese folk traditions that this series referenced. The country’s vast population of supernatural phenomena and entities has long since been celebrated with quirky woodcuts depicting “yokai.” The Japanese term can roughly be rendered “monsters,” though in fact many are friendly or at worst innocuous in their uncanny ways. Japanese scholars have been cataloguing them since the 1700s, and so there is a long tradition of graphic art that inspired Toei’s animators.
In the descriptions I’ve offered brief summaries of the actual legend and belief traditions on which these characters are based, including some of the earlier artistic renderings when I was able. For those interested in the wider influence of the Japanese “Yokai World,” you should consult the work of my friend Michael Dylan Foster, whose books Pandemonium and Parade (California 2009) and The Book of Yokai (California 2015) are wide-ranging explorations of the Japanese-language sources. Yokai Attack! by Hiroko Yoda and Matt Alt (Tuttle 2008) is another visually rich and informative guide to this folklore.
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