The creatures of Japanese folklore

A two-tailed cat wearing a hearth trivet as a crown, puffing the embers back to life.

A century-old mirror that stops reflecting the room and starts showing whatever it pleases.

A mildewed dust cloth that takes flight and wraps itself around a sleeping face.

A worn-out futon that crawls off its shelf at night to strangle whoever sleeps on it.

Ogre-masked visiting deities who storm into homes at New Year roaring 'Any crybabies here?'

A masked woman who asks 'Am I pretty?'—then removes the mask to reveal a mouth slit ear to ear.

A one-eyed, hairy mountain child—the kappa's winter form—that helps loggers in exchange for food.

Cold blue 'demon-fires' that flicker in graveyards and wetlands, said to be born of the dead.

A faceless figure that stops a traveler, drops its robe, and reveals a shining eye where its anus should be.

Pale floating orbs of soul-fire that drift from the newly dead near graveyards and rooftops.

A monstrous head that plummets from treetops to snatch anyone passing beneath at night.

A horse's head that dangles from an old hackberry tree, neighing to frighten passersby.

A fierce, scaled water-tiger relative of the kappa that drags victims beneath the river.

One of the oldest recorded oni, a temple demon subdued by a superhuman young acolyte.

The vengeful monk Raigo reborn as a swarm of iron-toothed rats that devour scriptures.

A hairy, grinning river yokai—cousin of the kappa—that loves eggplants and startles bathers.

A mountain ape-yokai that sucks a sleeper's breath: noticed, you live long; unnoticed, you die.

A ghostly court lady in a ruined palace, endlessly making up her face to greet a lord who never comes.

A woman who stretches her body impossibly tall to peer, envious, into upper-floor windows.

A single flaming wheel carrying a tormented woman; to glimpse it is to invite doom.

A ghostly ox-carriage bearing a huge, glaring face that drifts through misty nights.

A thick, mallet-shaped snake with a gaping mouth that rolls down slopes at travelers.

A voice that suddenly bellows 'Uwan!' from an empty, dilapidated house—and nothing more.

A small ball of shaggy hair that lurks in damp corners and brings illness where it settles.

A forgotten koto that comes alive to sound old melodies no one plays anymore.

Unseen footsteps that follow you at night; say 'please, go ahead' and they pass you by.

A little general armored in cast-off cups and plates who marshals the household crockery.

A discarded biwa lute turned spirit that wanders playing itself and lamenting its neglect.

A swarm of eyes that opens across the torn paper screens of a neglected room.

A blue-lit specter that appears when the hundredth ghost story is told by lantern light.

A spurned woman whose rage transforms her into a fire-breathing serpent to hunt down a fleeing monk.

A colossal skeleton assembled from the bones of the unburied dead that roams to crush the living.

A human-faced calf that is born, speaks a true prophecy of coming disaster, then dies.

The horned, grimacing visage of a woman consumed by jealousy and turned into a demon.

A Japanese merfolk—part human, part fish—whose flesh grants immortality to whoever eats it.

A chimeric, tapir-like beast that devours nightmares when called upon after a bad dream.

A dog-spirit familiar that serves a family but can be sent to curse their enemies.

A three-legged, beaked mermaid-like being that rises from the sea to foretell and ward off epidemics.

A colossal giant whose footsteps shaped Japan's lakes, hills, and valleys.

A ghostly fire-breathing chicken whose cold flames give no heat.

A harmless boy yokai who trots through the rain carrying a block of tofu.

Ghosts of the drowned who beg for a ladle, then use it to swamp and sink your boat.

A savage ox-headed monster that haunts coasts and preys on humans.

The spirit that dwells in an old tree; felling its host brings misfortune.

A small mountain spirit blamed for the echoes that answer you in the hills.

A river otter that shapeshifts and plays tricks, a smaller cousin of the kappa.

A hairy, tusked guardian beast that perches on shrine gates to punish the irreverent.

A courtesan whose face and body are entirely hidden by cascading hair.

A turban-snail that lives long enough to become a shapeshifting sea demon.

A giant spider that takes the form of a seductive woman to ensnare men.

A skeletal woman who, seen as beautiful only by her lover, visits him each night.

A thieving woman whose arms sprout countless bird-eyes as punishment for stealing coins.

A flaming ox-cart wheel bearing the face of a tormented monk that rolls down roads.

A fiery cat-beast that descends at funerals to snatch away the corpses of the wicked.

A long-necked yokai that licks ceilings, leaving the dark stains you see overhead.

A small yokai that creeps into dirty bathhouses at night to lick up the grime.

Whirlwind weasels that slash a traveler's legs with sickle-like claws, leaving painless wounds.

An unseen presence heard washing red beans by the river at night.

A childlike house spirit whose presence brings a family fortune.

A small contrarian demon that provokes people into doing the opposite of their intent.

The ghost of a woman who died in childbirth, begging you to hold her baby.

A split-mouthed paper lantern spirit with a lolling tongue.

A one-eyed, one-legged umbrella come to life—an icon of tool-spirits.

A woman with a second, ravenous mouth hidden at the back of her head.

A huge black sea spirit that rises to capsize ships in calm waters.

A serpent-bodied woman by the water who lures victims to their doom.

A mountain crone who shelters travelers—then may devour them.

A nine-tailed fox disguised as a beautiful court lady who bewitches an emperor.

A giant earth spider that ensnares heroes in monstrous webs.

The sake-loving oni king of Mt. Oe, slain by Minamoto no Yorimitsu.

A chimeric night beast: monkey's face, tiger's limbs, snake for a tail.

A towering bald monk that grows taller the more you look up at it.

A gourd-headed old yokai who slips into homes and acts like the master.

A childlike, one-eyed monk yokai that startles people on lonely roads.

A woman whose neck stretches to impossible lengths at night.

An old cat whose tail splits in two as it becomes a powerful yokai.

A jolly shapeshifting raccoon dog, rival prankster to the fox.

Mysterious floating fox-fires that lead travelers astray at night.

A shapeshifting fox spirit that gains tails and wisdom with age.

A cat that gains supernatural powers with age and walks on two legs.

A pale, beautiful woman of the snowstorm who freezes travelers to death.

A proud mountain spirit with a red face and long nose, master of martial arts.

Horned, fanged ogres of immense strength, often red or blue.

A mischievous, turtle-like river imp with a water-filled dish on its head.