The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons: A Field Guide to Japanese Yokai

What are yokai? Put simply, they are supernatural creatures of Japanese folklore. The word in Japanese is a combination of yo, meaning "bewitching," and kai, meaning "strange." The term encompasses monsters, demons, gods (kami), ghosts (bakemono), magical animals, transformed humans, urban legends, and other strange phenomena. It is a broad and vague term. Nothing exists in the English language that quite does the trick of capturing the essence of yokai. This field guide contains over 100 illustrated entries covering a wide variety of Japanese yokai. Each yokai is described in detail—including its habitat, diet, origin, and legends--based on translations from centuries-old Japanese texts.