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List of legendary creatures from Japan

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The following is a list of yōkai, obake, yūrei and other legendary creatures which are notable in Japanese folklore, mythology, literature and art.

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A

B

C

D

  • Daidarabotchi - a giant responsible for creating many 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
  • Dodomeki - the ghost of a pickpocket, her arms are covered in eyes
  • Doji - a spirit with white wings, accounted in European mythology as being like an angel
  • Dorotabō - the ghost of an old man whose rice fields were neglected and sold

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

  • Kage-onna - the shadow of a woman cast on the paper doors of a haunted house
  • Kahaku 河伯 - another name for a kappa
  • Kamaitachi - the slashing sickle-weasel that haunts the mountains
  • Kamikiri - the hair-cutting spirit
  • Kameosa - a bottle that never runs dry
  • Kanbari-nyūdō - a bathroom spirit
  • Kanedama - the spirit of money
  • 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 which descends from the sky and carries away corpses
  • Kashanbo - kappa who climb into the mountains for the winter
  • Katawa-guruma - a woman riding on a flaming wheel
  • Katsura-otoko - a handsome man from the moon
  • Kawa-akago - an infant monster that lurks near rivers and drowns people
  • Kawa-uso - a supernatural river otter
  • Kawa-zaru - a smelly, cowardly kappa-like creature
  • Keneō - an old man seated in the underworld who weighs the clothes given to him by Datsue-ba
  • Kerakera-onna - a giant cackling woman who appears in the sky
  • Kesaran-pasaran - a mysterious white fluffy creature
  • Keukegen - a creature made of hair
  • Kijimunaa - a tree sprite from Okinawa
  • Kijo - a witch or ogress
  • Kirin - the Qilin of China, part dragon and part hoofed mammal, sometimes called the "Chinese unicorn"
  • Kitsune - a supernatural fox
  • 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
  • Koma-inu - another name for the shishi, the pair of lion-dogs that guard the entrances of temples
  • Konaki-Jijii - an infant spirit that cries until it is picked up, then increases its weight and crushes its victim
  • Konoha-tengu - a bird-like tengu
  • Koropokkuru - a little person from Ainu folklore
  • Kosode-no-te - a short-sleeved kimono with its own hands
  • Kubikajiri - a ghost which eats heads
  • Kuchisake-onna - the slit-mouthed woman
  • Kuda-gitsune - a small fox-like animal used in sorcery
  • Kudan - a human-faced calf which predicts a calamity and then dies
  • Kurabokko - the guardian spirit of a warehouse
  • Kurage-no-hinotama - a jellyfish which floats through the air as a fireball
  • Kyōkotsu - the ghost of a corpse discarded in a well
  • Kyūbi-no-kitsune - a fox with nine tails
  • Kyūketsuki - a Japanese vampire

L

M

  • Maikubi - the quarreling heads of three dead miscreants
  • Makura-gaeshi - the pillow-moving spirit
  • Mekurabe - the multiplying skulls that menaced Taira no Kiyomori in his courtyard
  • Miage-nyūdō - a spirit which grows as fast as you can look up at it
  • Mikoshi-nyūdō - another name for miage-nyūdō
  • Mizuchi - a dangerous water-dragon
  • Mokumokuren - a swarm of eyes that appear on a paper sliding door in an old building
  • Momonjii - an old-man who is waiting for you at every fork in the road
  • Morinji-no-kama - another name for Bunbuku Chagama, the tanuki teakettle
  • Mōryō - a long-eared, corpse-eating spirit
  • Mujina - a shapeshifting badger
  • Myōbu - a title sometimes given to a fox

N

  • Namahage - ritual disciplinary demon from the Oga Peninsula
  • Namazu - a giant catfish that causes earthquakes
  • Nando-baba - an old-woman spirit who hides under the floor in abandoned storerooms
  • Narikama - a kettle spirit whose ringing sound is a good omen
  • Nebutori - a spook-disease which causes a woman to grow immensely fat and lethargic
  • Nekomata - a bakeneko with a split tail
  • Nekomusume - a cat in the form of a girl
  • Nikusui - a monster which appears as a young woman and sucks all of the flesh off of its victim's body
  • Ningyo - a fish person or "mermaid"
  • Nobusuma - a supernatural wall, or a monstrous flying squirrel
  • Noppera-bō - a faceless ghost
  • Nozuchi - Another name for the tsuchinoko serpent
  • 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
  • Nuppefuhofu - an animated lump of decaying human flesh
  • Nure-onna - a female snake-like monster who appears on the shore
  • Nuribotoke - an animated corpse with blackened flesh and dangling eyeballs
  • Nurikabe - a ghostly wall that traps a traveler at night
  • Nurarihyon - a strange character who sneaks into houses on busy evenings
  • Nyūbachibō - a mortar spirit

O

  • Obariyon - a spook which rides piggyback on a human victim and becomes unbearably heavy.
  • Oboro-guruma - a ghostly oxcart with the face of its driver
  • Ohaguro-bettari - a female spook lacking all facial features save for a large, black-toothed smile
  • 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
  • Ōkamuro - a giant face which appears at the door
  • Ōkubi - the face of a huge woman which appears in the sky
  • Okuri-inu - a dog or wolf that follows travelers at night, similar to the Black dog or Barghest of English folklore.
  • Ōmukade - a giant human-eating centipede that lives in the mountains
  • Oni - the classic Japanese demon, an ogre-like creature which often has horns
  • Onibi - a spook fire
  • Onikuma - a monster bear
  • Onmoraki - a bird-demon created from the spirits of freshly-dead corpses
  • Onryō - a vengeful ghost
  • Otoroshi - a hairy creature that perches on the gates to shrines and temples

P

Q

R

  • Raijin - the god of thunder
  • Raijū - a beast which falls to earth in a lightning bolt
  • Rokurokubi - a person, usually female, whose neck can stretch indefinitely
  • Ryū - the Japanese dragon

S

T

  • Taimatsumaru - a tengu surrounded in demon fire
  • Taka-onna - a female spirit which can stretch itself to peer into the second story of a building
  • Tamamo-no-Mae - a wicked nine-tailed fox who appeared as a courtesan
  • Tankororin - an unharvested persimmon which becomes a monster
  • Tanuki - a shapeshifting raccoon dog
  • Tatami-tataki - a poltergeist that hits the tatami mats at night
  • Tengu - the infamous bird-man demon of the mountains
  • Tenjōname - the ceiling-licking spirit
  • Tennin - a heavenly being
  • Te-no-me - the ghost of a blind man, with his eyes on his hands
  • Tesso - the ghost of the priest Raigō, who transformed into a swarm of rats
  • Tōfu-kozō - a spirit child carrying a block of tofu
  • Toire-no-Hanakosan - a ghost who lurks in grade school restroom stalls
  • Tōtetsu - the Taotie monster of China
  • Tsurara-onna - an icicle woman
  • Tsuchigumo - a giant spider which was defeated by Minamoto no Raikō
  • Tsuchikorobi - a tumbling monster which rolls over travelers
  • Tsuchinoko - a legendary serpentine monster, now a cryptid resembling a fat snake
  • Tsukumogami - inanimate objects that come to life after a hundred years
  • Tsurube-otoshi - a monster that drops out of the tops of trees

U

  • Ubume - the spirit of a woman who died in childbirth
  • Uma-no-ashi - a horse's leg which dangles from a tree and kicks passersby
  • Umibōzu - a giant monster appearing on the surface of the sea
  • Umi-nyōbō - a female sea monster who steals fish
  • Ungaikyō - a mirror monster which can display assorted wonders in its surface
  • 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

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, which sucks out the soul of anyone who sees it.

X

Y

Z

See also

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