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Welcome to Yokai.com, the online database of Japanese folklore.

This is an illustrated encyclopedia featuring ghosts, monsters, and legendary figures from Japan. Within these pages you’ll find an ever-growing collection of folklore from all parts of Japan and all periods of Japanese history. Some have never appeared in English before, while others will be familiar to fans of Japanese culture. The entries on this site were collected from books, paintings, and scrolls, from the internet, and by word of mouth from ordinary people recalling these tales from childhood. Each entry is accompanied by an illustration based on written descriptions and, when possible, on old scrolls and paintings.

Happy New Year

It’s 2023, and you may notice that yokai.com’s design has been updated slightly. The clunky alphabetical menu at the top of the page is gone, and has been replaced by an easier, slide-out hamburger menu on the left hand side. With the new menu and some new responsive design elements, the site should be much easier to read for mobile and tablet users.

This website is kept alive by the support of my backers on Patreon. Through this project, new yokai are translated, painted, and posted up to yokai.com every month, free for everyone to read. Backers get regular yokai updates via email, as well as behind-the-scenes updates, and input on which yokai are selected for the website next. Patrons can also receive monthly postcards, yokai art prints, and original paintings. To become a yokai patron and support this site, sign up at patreon.com/theyokaiguy.