If you’ve ever wondered what inspired some of the more peculiar designs of the Pokémon franchise, look no further than yokai, the Japanese word meaning ‘strange apparition’ which describes a wide group of monsters, ghosts, and other spirits.
YOKAI explores those traditions in a book containing more than 500 pages of incredible illustrations and words from author Koichi Yumoto.
Lurking beneath the global obsession with manga and anime, there is a world of Japan’s yokai monsters, mutants, and vengeful mononoke spirits, which have long held people’s imaginations in their terrifying grip ever since the Edo period (16th-19th centuries). These fearsome creatures are now gathered together in this gorgeous new release that, for the first time ever, shows many enlargements of these masterpieces! Selections include over 60 works chosen from the collection at the Yumoto Koichi Memorial Japan Yokai Museum (Miyoshi Mononoke Museum), Japan’s – and, in fact, the world’s – only museum specializing in Japanese yokai monsters, each reproduced in high-resolution images with explanations. This compilation provides readers with the rare experience of seeing the brushwork of Edo-era painters like Tsukioka Yoshitoshi in detail firsthand. This is a must-have book for those who love strange worlds and mutant creatures, and for anyone wanting to know more about Japanese yokai monsters.
book’s Blurb