List of legendary creatures from Japan: Difference between revisions
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* [[Hannya]] - a noh mask representing a jealous female demon. |
* [[Hannya]] - a noh mask representing a jealous female demon. |
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* [[Heikegani]] - crabs with human-faced shells, the spirits of the warriors killed in the [[Battle of Dan-no-ura]]. |
* [[Heikegani]] - crabs with human-faced shells, the spirits of the warriors killed in the [[Battle of Dan-no-ura]]. |
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* [[Hibagon]] - the Japanese [[Bigfoot]]. |
* [[Hibagon]] - the Japanese version of the [[North American]] [[Bigfoot]]. |
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* [[Hiderigami]] - the god of drought. |
* [[Hiderigami]] - the god of drought. |
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* [[Hitodama]] - a fireball-ghost that appears when someone dies. |
* [[Hitodama]] - a fireball-ghost that appears when someone dies. |
Revision as of 22:41, 6 December 2011
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The following is a list of demons, ghosts, yōkai, obake, yūrei and other legendary creatures, which are notable in Japanese folklore and mythology.
A
- Aobōzu - a traditional monster from Japanese folklore.
- Abumi-guchi - a furry creature formed from the stirrup of a mounted military commander works for Yama Orochi
- Abura-akago - an infant ghost who licks the oil out of andon lamps.
- Abura-sumashi - a spirit who lives on a mountain pass in Kumamoto Prefecture.
- Aka Manto - A malicious spirit who haunts bathrooms and asks the cubicle occupants if they want red or blue paper.
- Akabeko - a red cow involved in the construction of Enzō-ji in Yanaizu, Fukushima.
- Akaname - the spirit who licks the untidy bathroom.
- Akashita - a creature that looms in a black cloud over a floodgate.
- Akateko - a red hand dangling out of a tree.
- Akkorokamui - an Ainu monster resembling a fish or octopus.
- Akurojin-no-hi - a ghostly fire from Mie Prefecture.
- Amaburakosagi - ritual disciplinary demon from Shikoku.
- Amamehagi - ritual disciplinary demon from Hokuriku.
- Amanojaku - a small demon that instigates people into wickedness.
- Amanozako - a monstrous goddess mentioned in the Kujiki.
- Amazake-babaa - an old woman who asks for sweet sake and brings disease.
- Amefurikozō - a little boy spirit who plays in the rain.
- Amemasu - an Ainu creature resembling a fish or whale.
- Amikiri - the net-cutting spirit.
- Amorōnagu - a tennyo from the island of Amami Ōshima.
- Amaterasu- a sun goddess.
- Anmo - ritual disciplinary demon from Iwate Prefecture.
- Aoandon - the spirit of the blue paper lantern.
- Aobōzu - the green monk who kidnaps children.
- Aonyōbō - a female ghost who lurks in an abandoned imperial palace.
- Aosaginohi - a luminescent heron.
- Arikura-no-baba - an old woman with magical powers.
- Ashimagari - a spirit which entangles the legs of travelers.
- Ashinagatenaga - a pair of characters, one with long legs and the other with long arms.
- Azukiarai - a spirit that makes the sound of azuki beans being washed.
- Azukitogi - another name for azukiarai.
B
- Bakeneko - a shape shifting cat
- Bakezōri - a sandal spirit.
- Baku - an auspicious beast who can devour nightmares.
- Basan - a large fire-breathing chicken monster.
- Binbōgami - the spirit of poverty.
C
- Chōchinobake - a haunted paper lantern.
D
- Daidarabotchi - an angry giant responsible for creating many horrible yet cute geographical features in Japan.
- Daitengu - the most powerful tengu, each of whom lives on a separate mountain.
- Datsue-ba - an old woman seated in the underworld who steals clothes from the souls of the dead.
E
- Enenra - a monster made of smoke.
F
- Fūjin - the wind god.
- Funayūrei - ghosts of people dead at sea.
- Futakuchi-onna - the two-mouthed woman.
G
- Gashadokuro - a giant skeleton, the spirit of the unburied dead.
- Goryō - vengeful spirits of the dead.
H
- Hakutaku - the wise Bai Ze beast of China, who reported on the attributes of demons.
- Hannya - a noh mask representing a jealous female demon.
- Heikegani - crabs with human-faced shells, the spirits of the warriors killed in the Battle of Dan-no-ura.
- Hibagon - the Japanese version of the North American Bigfoot.
- Hiderigami - the god of drought.
- Hitodama - a fireball-ghost that appears when someone dies.
- Hitotsume-kozō - a one-eyed boy.
- Hoji - the wicked spirit of Tamamo-no-Mae.
- Hōkō - a dog-like tree spirit from China.
- Hone-onna - a skeleton woman.
- Hō-ō - the legendary Fenghuang bird of China.
- Hoshi-no-Tama - A ball guarded by a Kitsune which can give the one who obtains it power to force the Kitsune to help them. It is said to hold some reserves of the Kitsune's power.
- Hotoke - a deceased person.
- Hyakki Yakō - the demons' night parade.
- Hyōsube - a kind of hair-covered kappa.
I
- Ikiryō - essentially a living ghost, as it is a living person's soul outside of their body.
- Inugami - a dog-spirit created, worshipped and employed by a family via sorcery.
- Isonade - a fish-like sea monster with a barb-covered tail.
- Ittan-momen - a cloth-like monster that attempts to smother people by wrapping itself around their faces.
J
- Jatai - an obi that has transformed into a snake.
- Jikininki - ghosts that eat human corpses.
- Jinmenju - a tree with human-faced fruits.
- Jishin-namazu - the giant catfish that causes earthquakes and tsunami, blamed during the Ansei quake & tsunami. Here and Here
- Jorōgumo - a spider woman.
- Jubokko - a vampire tree.
K
- Kahaku 河伯 - another name for a kappa.
- Kamaitachi - the slashing sickle-weasel that haunts the mountains.
- Kappa - a famous water monster with a water-filled head and a love of cucumbers.
- Karasu-tengu - a tengu with a bird's bill.
- Kasa-obake - a paper umbrella monster.
- Kasha - a cat-like demon that descends from the sky and carries away corpses.
- Kawa-uso - a supernatural river otter.
- Keneō - an old man seated in the underworld who weighs the clothes given to him by Datsue-ba.
- Keukegen - a creature made of hair.
- Kijimunaa - a tree sprite from Okinawa.
- Kirin - the Qilin of China, part dragon and part hoofed mammal, sometimes called the "Chinese unicorn".
- Kitsune-Tsuki - fox possession.
- Kiyohime - a woman who transformed into a serpent-demon out of the rage of unrequited love.
- Kodama - a spirit that lives in a tree.
- Kokakuchō - the ubume bird.
- Komainu - the pair of lion-dogs that guard the entrances of temples.
- Konoha-tengu - a bird-like tengu.
- Koropokkuru - a little person from Ainu folklore.
- Kuchisake-onna - the slit-mouthed woman.
- Kuda-gitsune - a small fox-like animal used in sorcery.
L
This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (July 2011) |
M
- Miage-nyūdō - a spirit that grows as fast as you can look up at it.
- Mizuchi - a dangerous water-dragon.
- Mokumokuren - a swarm of eyes that appear on a paper sliding door in an old building.
- Morinji-no-kama - another name for Bunbuku Chagama, the tanuki teakettle.
- Mujina - a shapeshifting badger.
- Myōbu - a title sometimes given to a fox.
- Mu-onna - the nothing woman
N
- Namahage - ritual disciplinary demon from the Oga Peninsula.
- Namazu - a giant catfish that causes earthquakes.
- Nekomata - a bakeneko with a split tail.
- Ningyo - a fish person or "mermaid".
- Noppera-bō - a faceless ghost.
- Nue - a monkey-headed, raccoon dog-bodied, tiger-legged, snake-tailed monster which plagued the emperor with nightmares in the Heike Monogatari.
- Nukekubi - a vicious human-like monster whose head detaches from its body, often confused with the rokurokubi.
- Nuppeppo - an animated lump of decaying human flesh.
- Nure-onna - a female snake-like monster who appears on the shore.
- Nurikabe - a ghostly wall that traps a traveler at night.
- Nurarihyon - a strange character who sneaks into houses on busy evenings.
O
- Oiwa - the ghost of a woman with a distorted face who was murdered by her husband.
- Okiku - the plate-counting ghost of a servant girl.
- Ōkubi - the face of a huge woman which appears in the sky.
- Oni - the classic Japanese demon, an ogre-like creature which often has horns.
- Onibaba - the demon hag.
- Onibi - a spirit fire.
- Onryō - a vengeful ghost.
- Otoroshi - a hairy creature that perches on the gates to shrines and temples.
R
- Raijin - the god of thunder.
- Raijū - a beast that falls to earth in a lightning bolt.
- Rokurokubi - a person, usually female, whose neck can stretch indefinitely.
- Ryū - the Japanese dragon.
S
- Sa Gojō - the water-monster Sha Wujing from Journey to the West, often interpreted in Japan as a kappa.
- Samebito - a shark-man from the undersea Dragon Palace.
- Satori - an ape-like creature that can read minds.
- Sazae-oni - a turban snail that turns into a woman.
- Sesshō-seki - the poisonous "killing stones" which Tamamo-no-Mae transformed into.
- Shachihoko - a tiger-headed fish whose image is often used in architecture.
- Shikigami - a spirit summoned to do the bidding of an Onmyōji.
- Shikome - wild women sent by Izanami to harm Izanagi.
- Shinigami - the "god of death", the Japanese Grim Reaper.
- Shirime - (尻目) an apparition in the shape of a man having an eye in the place of his anus.
- Shisa - the Okinawan version of the shishi.
- Shishi - the paired lion-dogs that guard the entrances of temples.
- Shōjō - red-haired sea-sprites who love alcohol.
- Sōjōbō - the famous daitengu of Mount Kurama.
- Son Gokū - the monkey king Sun Wukong from Journey to the West.
T
- Tamamo-no-Mae - a wicked nine-tailed fox who appeared as a courtesan.
- Tanuki - a shapeshifting raccoon dog.
- Tengu - a wise bird-like demon.
- Tennin - a heavenly being.
- Tsuchigumo - a giant spider that was defeated by Minamoto no Raikō.
- Tsuchinoko - a legendary serpentine monster, now a cryptid resembling a fat snake.
- Tsukiyomi - a moon god.
- Tsukumogami - an animated tea caddy that Matsunaga Hisahide used to bargain a peace with Oda Nobunaga, it is now understood to mean any 100-year old inanimate object that has come to life.
- Tsurube-otoshi - a monster that drops out of the tops of trees.
U
- Ubume - the spirit of a woman who died in childbirth.
- Umibōzu - a giant monster appearing on the surface of the sea.
- Ushi-oni - a name given to an assortment of ox-headed monsters.
- Uwan - a spirit named for the sound it shouts when surprising people.
V
This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (July 2011) |
W
- Wani - a water monster comparable to an alligator or crocodile. A related word has been applied to the Indo-Pacific or Saltwater crocodile.
- Wanyūdō - a flaming wheel with a man's head in the center, that sucks out the soul of anyone who sees it.
X
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Y
- Yadōkai - monks who have turned to mischief.
- Yamata no Orochi - the eight-headed serpent slain by the god Susanoo.
- Yama-uba - a Crone-like yōkai.
- Yatagarasu - the three-legged crow of Amaterasu.
- Yato-no-kami - deadly snake-gods which infested a field.
- Yobuko - Mountain dwelling spirit.
- Yomotsu-shikome - the hags of the underworld.
- Yōsei - the Japanese word for "fairy".
- Yuki-onna - the snow woman.
Z
- Zashiki-warashi - a protective child-like house spirit.
- Zennyo Ryūō - a rain-making dragon.