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A-Yokai-A-Day 2024 Index: Shokoku hyakumonogatari
Thanks to all of my patrons for supporting this year's A-Yokai-A-Day project. All stories are from Shokoku hyakumonogatari. You can become a patron at my Patreon page. Here…
A-Yokai-A-Day: The Man From Saiki Village in Tanba Province Who Became an Oni While Still Living
Happy Halloween! Today marks the end of A-Yokai-A-Day -- a day that is always both sad and a relief for me, as I enjoy doing this project so…
A-Yokai-A-Day: How Mankichi Tayū Became a Bakemono’s Master
Tonight's story is wonderfully silly. And the yokai in this story is a rare one! Instead of a tanuki, yūrei, or a daija, as this book is fond…
A-Yokai-A-Day: The Jealousy of Shibata Shume’s Wife
Jealousy once again rears its ugly head! It's a very common theme in Shokoku hyakumonogatari. In fact, tonight's story contains quite a few repeated themes that we've seen…
A-Yokai-A-Day: The Woman Who Every Night Visited Usa Hachiman in Buzen Province
Tonight's story depicts a legendary ritual known as "the shrine visit at the hour of the ox." This ritual is famous today for being a curse ritual. It…
A-Yokai-A-Day: The Apparitions in Yoshida Sōtei’s House; or, The Power of Poetry
I'm back from Kyoto's Uzumasa film studio. It was an exhausting event, but really fun! According to the studio, it was the greatest attendance the park has seen…
A-Yokai-A-Day: The Tanuki Who Summoned 25 Bodhisattvas
I was at Kyoto Toei Film Studios all day today for the KaiKai Yokai Festival, so tonight's write-up will be brief... Thanks to everyone who came to my…
A-Yokai-A-Day: Retribution for Kicking a Three Trunk Cedar
Hey yokai lovers! I'll be at Toei Kyoto Studio Park all day tomorrow for the KaiKai Yokai Festival. This is Kyoto's greatest yokai festival of the year, and…
A-Yokai-A-Day: The Wife of Matsumotoya Kyūbei of Wakayama, Kishū
Tonight's story is rather short, but it is one of the more disturbing ones in Shokoku hyakumonogatari. The final sentence is an example of a feature I love…
A-Yokai-A-Day: How Baba Kurōzu Defeated a Daija
Tonight's yokai is another daija -- a word that covers serpentine creatures all the way from large snakes to dragons. I'm always torn over how to paint these…
A-Yokai-A-Day: The Bakemono of Himeji Castle, Banshū
Tonight's yokai is a famous one that has appeared not only on yokai.com and A-Yokai-A-Day before, but even in Shokoku hyakumonogatari. Although she is not referred to by…
A-Yokai-A-Day: How Matsumura Sukenojō Was Taken By a Fuka
Tonight's tale describes a sea monster called a fuka. This strange creature's name is written 海豚魚, or sea-pig-fish. Today these kanji are used for the word iruka, or…
A-Yokai-A-Day: How a Woman Was Taken by a Kasha For Using Two Measuring Cups
Tonight's yokai is something called a kasha - meaning "fire chariot." Kasha were giant cats that interrupted funerals and robbed graves of the sinful. The cat connection comes…
A-Yokai-A-Day: The Origin of the Surname ‘Nikurube’
Tonight's story is another tale about romance and ghosts, although it's not a horrific one like many that we've seen. Instead, this ghost story sets up an interesting…
A-Yokai-A-Day: How Ōno Dōkan Was Unfazed by Ayashimi
Tonight's story deals with something called ayashimi. I chose not to translate this word, because it is vague even in Japanese. Ayashimi means something strange or mysterious, and…
A-Yokai-A-Day: Otohime of Ryūgū’s Infatuation with Igarashi Heiemon’s Son
Tonight's story features a character who was popular in folklore throughout much of Japaense history: Otohime. She is the princess of the sea, daughter of the king of…
A-Yokai-A-Day: The Incident at Nunobiki Falls, Settsu Province; or, The Pilgrims’ Poems
Tonight's story is another one featuring snakes. This one was a struggle to translate because it contains my least favorite thing to translate: poetry. Poetry is hard to…
A-Yokai-A-Day: The Ghost of Kiku, Maidservant of Kumamoto Shuri
Tonight's story features an onryō, the most terrifying of Japanese ghosts. Fans of yokai folklore might even think this story sounds somewhat familiar. There's a clear connection to…
A-Yokai-A-Day: The Tanuki’s Wedding; or, The Miraculous Walking Stick
Tonight's yokai is another animal beloved by all: the tanuki. Tanuki are one of the most common animal yokai found in Japanese folklore, and they are well known…
A-Yokai-A-Day: The Nekomata That Changed into Itō Genroku’s Wife
The yokai in tonight's story is a fan favorite: the two-tailed version of a bakeneko, known as a nekomata. In a way it's almost a touching story, about…
A-Yokai-A-Day: The Tumors of Heirokuzaemon of Shimōsa Province’s Father
Tonight's story once again deals with the topic of attachment, as in the Buddhist sin of improper attachment to others. And like several stories we've read so far,…
A-Yokai-A-Day: The Ghost of Shimazu Tōshirō’s Wife
Tonight's story is a classic ghost story. The ghost has all of the standard elements: the white kimono, the disheveled, long hair, blackened teeth; and she visits every…
A-Yokai-A-Day: How Hasegawa Chōzaemon’s Daughter Showed Love to a Crab
Tonight's story talks about a snake who shapeshifts into a man, but this time the Japanese uses the term daija to refer to the snake. This is a…
A-Yokai-A-Day: How a Madwoman Was Mistaken for a Ghost
Horror stories often use moments of comic relief to break up the tension so things don't get too oppressive. Shokoku hyakumonogatari is no different. There are a few…
A-Yokai-A-Day: The Bakemono at Asama Shrine
Tonight's story mentions a Masamune katana and a Yoshimitsu wakizashi. These refer to two legendary swordsmiths from the Kamakura period: Masamune and Awataguchi Yoshimitsu. A sword forged by…
A-Yokai-A-Day: The Snake from Tōtōmi Province Who Violated a Man’s Wife
Tonight's story features a common folkloric theme found in tales around the world: animal-human coupling. Japanese folklore is especially rich with this, featuring tales of humans getting it…
A-Yokai-A-Day: How a Woman’s Obsession Became a Snake in Tōsa Province
Tonight's story deals with a common theme in Shokoku hyakumonogatari: obsession. The Japanese word used in these stories is 執心, and it refers to the kind of improper…
A-Yokai-A-Day: How Sandayū From Chikuzen Province Slept With a Ghost
Tonight's story deals with a yūrei, or a ghost. We've seen a few horrific monsters so far, but, while there is no shortage of terrifying ghost stories, tonight's…
A-Yokai-A-Day: How Tanba Sarugaku Was Caught by a Henge
The yokai in tonight's story is only referred to as a henge. Like bakemono from a few days ago, henge is a fairly generic term for a monster…
A-Yokai-A-Day: The Obsession of the Woman from Peony Hall
Tonight's story is a variation on a folktale that is famous all over the world. The Tale of the Peony Lantern has been featured in A-Yokai-A-Day before, and…
A-Yokai-A-Day: Learning the Art of War from Yuzuru no Kannon
Tonight's story is from Shimōsa Province, which today covers part of Chiba, Ibaraki, Saitama and Tokyo Prefectures, however, the precise location of Sano nor of the Yuzuru Kannon…
A-Yokai-A-Day: How the Power of Sake Overcame a Bakemono
October has arrived and Spooky Season is upon us! Welcome to another year's season of A-Yokai-A-Day! Every day this month I will translate, illustrate, and post one spooky…
Coming Soon: A-Yokai-A-Day 2024!
Hey everyone! It's the end of the September, and that means Halloween season is almost upon us! Personally I think that all of September should just be called…
Don’t Miss the KaiKai Yokai Festival!
Exciting news! This fall, I'll be part of the KaiKai Yokai Festival at Toei Kyoto Studio Park in western Kyoto! I'm both serving as an advisor to the…
Summer Exhibitions & Events
Hey readers! It's been a long time since my last post, and there's been a lot of things keeping me busy. For most of this year I've been…
A-Yokai-A-Day 2023 Index: Shokoku hyakumonogatari
Thanks to everyone for reading 2023’s A-Yokai-A-Day selections from Shokoku hyakumonogatari! If you missed a day, or want to go back and read it again, here is an…