List of legendary creatures from Japan

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.

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.

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.

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.

See also

• Japanese mythology
• Kaidan

External links

• Photo Dictionary of Japanese Buddhist and Shinto Deities