Y?kai are a kind of monstrous creatures prevalent in Japanese folklore, mythology and indigenous animism. Appearing in myriad shapes and identities, they are typically portrayed as grotesque ghouls, representing a dark and supernatural world in art and culture. These enigmatic beings span several epochs of Japanese history: depicted in picture scrolls as early as the 12th century, their appearance continues through to the more recent Edo and Meiji periods. Today they are extremely popular characters in Japanese pop culture – surfacing in literature, manga and animation – a fact illustrated by this pocket-sized collection of imaginative and bizarre drawings.
