Recommended reading
The books we keep coming back to for Yokai Almanac. Whether you want scholarship, a field guide, or a night of ghost stories, start here.
Yokai & folklore
- The Book of Yokai →
Michael Dylan Foster
The most readable scholarly introduction to yokai — where they come from, what they mean, and the major creatures.
- Japandemonium Illustrated: The Yokai Encyclopedias of Toriyama Sekien →
trans. Hiroko Yoda & Matt Alt
The complete Edo-period bestiaries that so many of these entries trace back to, in full English translation.
- The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons →
Matthew Meyer
A beautifully illustrated field guide to Japan's yokai.
- Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide →
Hiroko Yoda & Matt Alt
A fun, fact-packed pop guide to the most famous yokai.
Kaidan — ghost stories
- Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things →
Lafcadio Hearn
The classic 1904 collection of Japanese ghost stories that shaped how the West first met kaidan.
- Japanese Ghost Stories →
Lafcadio Hearn
More of Hearn's spare, haunting retellings of Japan's supernatural tales.