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Kasha – The Corpse-Eating Cat Demon
Sourced and translated from Mizuki Shigeru’s Hyakumonogatari, Kaii Yokai Densho Database, Japanese Wikipedia, Yokai Jiten, Nihon Kokugo Dai-ten, and Other Sources If you have been a bad person all your...
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Iriomote Oyamaneko – The Iriomote Great Mountain Cat
Translated from Mizuki Shigeru’s Mujyara Iriomote Island in the Okinawa island chain is sometimes called the Galapagos Island of the East. When the Iriomote yamaneko (Iriomote mountain cat; 西表山猫) was...
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Bakeneko – The Changing Cat
Sourced and translated from Mizuki Shigeru’s Hyakumonogatari, Kaii Yokai Densho Database, Japanese Wikipedia, Yokai Jiten, Nihon Kokugo Dai-ten, and Other Sources Late at night, a sublimely beautiful...
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Jinmenju – The Human Face Tree
Translated from Mizuki Shigeru’s Mujyara This tree is found in mountain valleys. The fruit of the tree looks like a human head. It doesn’t say a word, but it is constantly laughing. It is said that if...
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Moidon – The Lords of the Forest
Translated from Mizuki Shigeru’s Mujara The Moidon’s name tells you exactly what it is. The word moi (森) means “forest,” and the word don (殿) means “Lord.” It is a title of honor bestowed upon grand...
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Ki no Kami – The God in the Tree
Translated from Mizuki Shigeru’s Mujara From ancient times in Japan, certain types of trees were thought to be abodes for kami, the spiritual deities of Japan’s native animistic religion. Specific...
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Kodama – The Tree Spirit
Sourced and translated from Kaii Yokai Densho Database, Japanese Wikipedia, Yokai Jiten, Nihon Kokugo Dai-ten, and Other Sources If a tree falls in the forest, and someone hears it, is that the...
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Shirime – Eyeball Butt
Translated from Mizuki Shigeru’s Mujara In old times, this was a yokai found on the roads leading to Kyoto. The legend goes that late at night, a samurai walking down the street when a man in a kimono...
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Shichinin Dōgyō – The Seven Pilgrims
Translated from Mizuki Shigeru’s Mujara This is a legend from Kagawa prefecture, and is one of several legends about someone out for a walk who runs into a mysterious band on the road, and dies as a...
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Shudan Borei – A Group of Ghosts
Translated from Mizuki Shigeru’s Mujara On July 28th, Showa 30th (1955), in a heartbreaking incident 36 junior high school girls drowned on a beach in Mie prefecture. Of the nine girls who survived the...
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Baku – The Dream Eater
Translated from Mizuki Shigeru’s Mujara and Japanese Wikipedia When a child in Japan wakes shaking from a nightmare, she knows what to do. Hugging her face in her pillow, she whispers three times...
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What Does Yokai Mean in English?
You probably think you already know what yokai means. And, you are probably wrong. Or at least, you are only partially correct. There is more to yokai than you think. Thanks to movies like “The Great...
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Bakeneko Yujo – The Bakeneko Prostitutes of Edo
Sourced and Translated from Japanese Wikipedia and Other Sources After enjoying the delights of one of the famed courtesans of the Yoshiwara pleasure district, a young samurai settles into his futon...
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Takaonna – The Tall Woman
Translated from Mizuki Shigeru’s Mujyara and Japanese Wikipedia The takaonna (tall woman) is a yokai with an interesting hobby. If she is walking along, and sees a two-story brothel, she stretches the...
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Aoandon – The Blue Lantern Ghost
Translated and Sourced from Japanese Wikipedia, and Other Sources In the 100 candles game of Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai, when the last story is told and the last light extinguished, something is said...
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Gotokoneko – The Trivet Cat
Translated and Sourced from Mizuki Shigeru’s Mujyara and Japanese Wikipedia If you wake up on a cold morning to see a fire mysteriously roaring in what should be a cold fireplace, don’t be afraid. It...
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Ushi no Koku Mairi – Shrine Visit at the Hour of the Ox
Translated and Sourced from Mizuki Shigeru’s Mujyara, Kaii Yokai Densho Database, Japanese Wikipedia, and Other Sources At the Hour of the Ox (between 1-3 A.M.) a lone figure creeps silently towards a...
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A Brief History of Yokai
When the god Izanagi returned from the Land of Yomi, he purified himself in a bath. As he dried his body, each falling drop of water soaked into the soil and imbued the land with supernatural...
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Happy 91st Birthday Mizuki Shigeru!
Born March 8th, 1922, today is the 91st birthday of the man who brought yokai back to Japan, and created the comics that have entertained and educated succeeding generations of people. Happy birthday...
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Mizuki Shigeru’s Showa 1926-1939: A History of Japan
So, I haven’t had as much time to work on new translations for Hyakumonogatari.com, and I can finally tell you why. I have been working on translating Drawn & Quarterly’s new Mizuki Shigeru comic...
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