お化け物

Dedicated to yōkai (妖怪), a class of supernatural monsters in Japanese folklore. Some other things from Japanese folklore may sneak it's way onto here, heh heh. In no relation to the Obakemono Project. PERSONAL BLOG HERE

[gkojax]

【これが88歳の作品！？】葛飾北斎が老いてから描いた画が強烈すぎる【波の画だけじゃない】 | 幕末ガイド

「小はだ小平二」（1831～32年／『百物語』より） 葛飾北斎 70〜71歳ごろ

[onyomugan3]

妖怪百物語

[cacthigh]

Bake-Kujira is an ocean spirit from the folklore tales of Japanese fishing villages. Literally meaning “ghost whale,” these eerie creatures are the vengeful spirits of whales killed by fishing villages. The whales appear in dark ocean waters on rainy nights and are said to be shadowed by strange, unrecognizable birds and a species of fish that no one had ever seen before. Whales were highly profitable and a blessing when a poor coastal village spotted one on the horizon. They would, naturally, race out to hunt it. Sometimes, it is said, the whale would not be a profit-blessing at all, but the animated skeleton of an already deceased whale. Spears would pass through the beast’s bony body and when the villagers sailed back, thoroughly shaken, they would experience a very powerful curse bestowed upon them by the angry whale. Famine, disease, death, misfortune, and poverty would plague the townspeople for years after.

Image: WanderingGenie at blogspot

[sixpenceee]

Thanks for sharing! I encourage you all to put any local or cultural urban legends you know in the sixpenceee tag. Perhaps if I gather enough, I’ll make an urban legends from around the world masterpost, with links to all your contributions. 

[megamasao]

This is one of 12 Karasu Tengu statues in Hanzo bou shrine in Kamakura.  

[washiemon]

“Tanuki （Raccoon Dog)” Utagawa Kuniyoshi 『狸』　歌川国芳

[magictransistor]

Sawaki Suushi. Hyakkai Zukkan. 1737.

[yajifun]

geikai yoha / Matsudaira Naritami

藝海餘波 第十六集　松平斉民　1800～1860年代

化物蝋燭　絵師不明　年代不詳

"此圖のごとくろうそくのとぼしかけてしよくへたてしやうじの内へおき外にて御覧なされ候えバそのすがたしぜんとしやうじ一めんにあらわれ一トしほの御なぐさミと？成候？幾久しく御評判奉願候　本郷二丁目 古賀屋勝五郎"

百物語化物蠟燭　太雅堂 製　年代不詳

"百物語化物蠟燭　此御慰ハ眼前にいろ／＼の化物をいだし人ゝの目をおどろかす事誠に一興なるべし　口傳書内ニあり　太雅堂製"

化物蠟燭の口傳書？　太雅堂 製　年代不詳

"しやうじのまへに火をともしおき人に知さすせうじの内ニてひそかにしかける也 云々　江戸京橋銀坐二丁目中程 太雅堂 製"

[rhade-zapan]

Illustrated Book of Japanese Monsters by Gojin Ishihara

Kappa (river imp)

Jorōgumo (lit. “whore spider”)

Kubire-oni (strangler demon)

Rokurokubi (long-necked woman)

Onmoraki (bird demon)

Nekomata (cat monster)

Tengu (bird-like demon)

Tenjō-sagari (ceiling dweller)

Enma Dai-Ō (King of Hell)

Kyūbi no kitsune (nine-tailed fox)

Baku (dream-eating chimera)

Yūrei (ghost)

Yamasei (mountain sprite)

Rashōmon no oni (ogre of Rashōmon Gate)

Waira (mountain-dwelling chimera)

Nure-onna (snake woman)

[fleshosphere]

[magictransistor]

がしゃどくろ

[error888]

妖怪和片　百鬼夜行：マハタギヤ

[usualphotograph03]

[o-bakemono]

What Does Ayakashi Mean in English?

A sea serpent so massive it takes three days to pass by in a boat? Mysterious lights floating by the beach? A generic term for ghost stories? Ayakashi is one of the most complicated and convoluted terms in all of Japanese folklore. There is no easy answer to this simple question.

Read more.

[o-bakemono]

Tanuki no Kintama – Tanuki’s Giant Balls

Who’s got big balls? Tanuki have big balls! Anyone who has seen Studio Ghibli’s Pom Poko (Heisei Tanuki Gassen Pom Poko) knows that tanukis’ nut sacks are capable of amazing magical feats—from being stretched out into giant tarpaulins to transforming into magical treasure ships. And the Japanese people aren’t shy about their love for tanukis’ giant balls; images of well-endowed tanuki can be seen all over Japan, from ubiquitous statues in from of shops and restaurants to bank commercials to anime to … pretty much anything.

Read more.

[o-bakemono]

Japan's Strangest Mythological Creature: The Shirime (by japanarchist)

[o-bakemono]

Kitsune no Yomeiri – The Fox Wedding

On a day when the sun shines bright and the rain falls, wise parents advise their children to play indoors. It isn’t that they are worried about them catching a cold. No, it is something more mysterious. For on such days the kitsune, the magical foxes of Japan, hold their wedding processions.

Read more.

[o-bakemono]

[o-bakemono]