January 2024 MBR The Mythology Shelf

The Mythology Shelf

The Japanese Yokai Handbook
Masami Kinoshita
Tuttle Publishing
www.tuttlepublishing.com
9784805317280, $14.99, PB, 176pp

https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Yokai-Handbook-Spookiest-Creatures/dp/4805317280

Synopsis: The Y kai are a class of supernatural entities and spirits in Japanese folklore. Yokai come in every imaginable shape and form -- from frightening ghosts and cruel demons to cute fairies and enchanted animals. They can be evil monsters, harmless tricksters or prophets of doom, depending on their inclination.

"The Japanese Yokai Handbook: A Guide to the Spookiest Ghosts, Demons, Monsters and Evil Creatures from Japanese Folklore" by Masami Kinoshita profiles 100 of the most fascinating Yokai, including: Tengu (A powerful Yokai that often takes human form with wings and a large nose who lives in mountains and forests); Kappa (A deadly Yokai that lives near rivers and drags passersby into the water to drown); Peroritaro (A grotesque Yokai that looks like blubbering child and has an appetite for greedy children); Baku (A monstrous Yokai with an elephant's head, a bear's body, a rhino's eyes, an ox's tail and a tiger's legs that aids humans by devouring their nightmares) -- and a great many more!

Yokai expert Masami Kinoshita has been documenting Yokai in folklore, and in real life, for many years. "The Japanese Yokai Handbook" presents her most interesting findings and has over 175 full-color illustrations that vividly depict the appearances of these weird creatures. No matter their origins, each Yokai has a strange and wonderful story that is sure to amaze the western reader!

Critique: Impressively illustrated, exceptionally informative, thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation, "The Japanese Yokai Handbook: A Guide to the Spookiest Ghosts, Demons, Monsters and Evil Creatures from Japanese Folklore" is an original and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and college/university library Japanese Mythology/Folklore collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "The Japanese Yokai Handbook: A Guide to the Spookiest Ghosts, Demons, Monsters and Evil Creatures from Japanese Folklore" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.24).

Editorial Note: Masami Kinoshita is a Yokai researcher based in Japan. After graduating from Nara Women's University she wrote about Yokai on the online newspaper "Nara Monster Times" which reports on supernatural beings and folklore in Nara. She has written stories on a wide variety of Yokai, ranging from Oni and Tengu mountain spirits to Suchinoko, a snake-like creature that was reportedly encountered several times in the 1970s and 1980s.

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