From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Part of the series on Japanese Mythology & Folklore

Mythic Texts and Folktales: Kojiki | Nihon Shoki | Kujiki Otogizōshi | Oiwa | Okiku | Urashima Tarō Konjaku Monogatari

Divinities Izanami | Izanagi | Amaterasu Susanoo | Ama-no-Uzume | Inari Kami | Seven Lucky Gods | List of divinities

Legendary Creatures & Spirits Oni | Kappa | Tengu | Fox | Yōkai Dragon | Yūrei | List of creatures

Legendary Figures Abe no Seimei | Benkei | Kintarō Momotarō | Tamamo-no-Mae | Sōjōbō

Mythical & Sacred Locations Mt. Hiei | Mt. Fuji | Izumo | Ryūgū-jō | Takamagahara | Yomi | Jigoku

Sacred Objects Amenonuhoko | Kusanagi | Tonbogiri Three Sacred Treasures

Shintō & Buddhism Bon Festival | Setsubun | Ema | Torii Shinto shrines | Buddhist temples

Folklorists Kunio Yanagita, Keigo Seki, Lafcadio Hearn, Shigeru Mizuki, Inoue Enryo

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

Contents
0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z ‹The template CompactTOC4 is being considered for deletion.›

• Abumi-guchi - a furry creature formed from the stirrup of a mounted military commander
• Abura-akago - an infant ghost who licks the oil out of andon lamps
• Abura-bō - a spook fire from Shiga Prefecture, in which the shape of a monk can often be seen
• Abura-sumashi - a spirit who lives on a mountain pass in Kumamoto Prefecture
• Akabeko - a red cow involved in the construction of Enzō-ji in Yanaizu, Fukushima
• Akamataa - a snake spirit from Okinawa
• Akaname - the spirit who licks the bathroom
• Akashita - a creature that looms in a black cloud over a floodgate
• Akateko - a red hand dangling out of a tree
• Akki - another name for a wicked oni
• Akkorokamui - an Ainu monster resembling a fish or octopus
• Akuma - an evil spirit
• 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 which 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
• Ameonna - a female rain spirit
• Amikiri - the net-cutting spirit
• Amorōnagu - a tennyo from the island of Amami Ōshima
• Anmo - ritual disciplinary demon from Iwate Prefecture
• Aoandon - the spirit of the blue paper lantern
• Aobōzu - the blue monk who kidnaps children
• Aonyōbō - a female ghost who lurks in an abandoned imperial palace
• Aosaginohi - a luminescent heron
• Asobibi - a spook fire from Kōchi Prefecture
• Arikura-no-baba - an old woman with magical powers
• Ashiaraiyashiki(足洗邸) - the story of a huge demon which demands that its leg be washed
• Ashimagari - a spook which entangles the legs of travelers
• Ashinagatenaga - a pair of characters, one with long legs and the other with long arms
• Ato-oi-kozō - an invisible spirit that follows people
• Ayakashi - another name for the ikuchi
• Ayakashi-no-ayashibi - a spook fire from Ishikawa Prefecture
• Azukiarai - a spirit which makes the sound of azuki beans being washed
• Azukibabaa - azukiarai's more vicious cousin, a bean-grinding hag who devours people
• Azukitogi - another name for azukiarai

• Betobeto-san - an invisible spirit which follows people at night, making the sound of footsteps
• Bake-kujira - a ghost whale
• Bakeneko - a shapeshifting 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
• Biwa-bokuboku - the spirit of a biwa lute
• Bunbuku Chagama - a famous story about a tanuki in the form of a teakettle
• Buruburu - a spirit which causes the shivers
• Byakko - the white tiger of the west

• Chōchinobake - a haunted paper lantern
• Cho Hakkai - Zhu Bajie, the pig spirit from Journey to the West

• 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 who steals clothes from the souls of the dead
• Dodomeki - the ghost of a pickpocket, her arms covered in eyes
• Dorotabō - the ghost of an old man whose rice fields were neglected and sold

• Enenra - a monster made of smoke
• Enkō - the kappa of Shikoku and western Honshū
• Eritate-goromo - the tengu Sōjōbō's enchanted clothes

• Fūjin - the god of wind
• Funayūrei - ghosts of people dead at sea
• Futakuchi-onna - the two-mouthed woman

• Gagoze - a demon who attacked young priests at Gangō-ji temple
• Gaki - the hungry ghosts of Buddhism
• Gangi-kozō - a fish-eating water-monster
• Garappa - a kind of kappa from Kyūshū
• Gashadokuro - a giant skeleton, the spirit of the unburied dead
• Genbu - the black tortoise of the north
• Goryō - vengeful spirits of the dead
• Guhin - another name for the tengu
• Gyūki - another name for the ushi-oni, the ox demon

• Hakutaku - the wise Bai Ze beast of China, who reported on the attributes of demons
• Hakuzōsu - a fox who disguised himself as a trapper's uncle
• Hannya - a noh mask representing a jealous female demon
• Harionago - a female monster with deadly barbed hair
• Hayatarō - the dog that killed the sarugami
• Heikegani - crabs with human-faced shells, the spirits of the warriors killed in the Battle of Dan-no-ura
• Hibagon - the Japanese Bigfoot
• Hiderigami - the god of drought
• Hihi - a baboon monster
• 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 mythical Fenghuang bird of China
• Hotoke - a deceased person
• Hyakki Yakō - the demons' night parade
• Hyakume - a creature with a hundred eyes
• Hyōsube - a kind of hair-covered kappa
• Hyōtan-kozō - a gourd spirit

• Ibaraki-dōji - the oni of the Rashomon gate, Shuten-dōji's accomplice
• Ichimoku-nyūdō - a one-eyed kappa from Sado Island
• Ikazuchi-no-Kami - a thunder god
• Ikiryō - a living ghost
• Ikuchi - a sea-serpent that travels over boats in an arc while dripping oil
• Inugami - a dog-spirit created, worshipped and employed by a family via sorcery
• Ippon-datara - a one-legged spirit of the mountains
• Isonade - a fish-like sea monster with a barb-covered tail
• Itsumaden - a monstrous bird that appeared over the capital in the Taiheiki
• Ittan-momen - a cloth-like monster which attempts to smother people by wrapping itself around their faces
• Iwana-bōzu - a char which appeared as a Buddhist monk

• Jakotsu-babaa - an old woman who guards a snake mound
• Jatai - an obi which has transformed into a snake
• Jibakurei 地縛霊, 自縛霊 - a ghost that is bound to a certain place
• Jikininki - ghosts that eat human corpses
• Jinmenju - a tree with human-faced flowers
• Jinmenken - a human-faced dog appearing in recent urban legends
• Jishin-namazu - the giant catfish that causes earthquakes
• Jorōgumo - a spider woman
• Jubokko - a vampire tree

• 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
• 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

• 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

• 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, tiger-bodied, 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 monster who appears on the beach
• 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

• 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 Anglo-Saxon myth.
• 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

• 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

• Sakabashira - a haunted pillar, installed upside-down
• Sagari - a horse's head that dangles from trees on Kyūshū
• 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
• Sarugami - a wicked monkey spirit which was defeated by a dog
• Satori - an ape-like creature that can read minds
• Sazae-oni - a turban snail which turns into a woman
• Seiryū - the azure dragon of the east
• Seko - a kind of kappa, which can be heard making merry at night
• Senpoku-Kanpoku - a human-faced frog which guides the souls of the newly deceased to the graveyard
• Sesshō-seki - the poisonous "killing stones" which Tamamo-no-Mae transformed into
• Setotaishō - a warrior composed of discarded earthenware
• Shachihoko - a tiger-headed fish whose image is often used in architecture
• Shibaten - a kind of kappa from Shikoku.
• Shikigami - a spirit summoned to do the bidding of an Onmyōji
• Shiki-ōji - another name for a shikigami
• Shikome - wild women sent by Izanami to harm Izanagi
• Shiro-bōzu - a white, faceless spirit
• Shin 蜃 - a giant clam which creates mirages
• Shinigami - the "god of death", the Japanese name for the Western Grim Reaper
• Shiro-uneri - an old, rotten dishcloth appearing in the form of a dragon
• Shiryō - the spirit of a dead person
• 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
• Shōkera - a creature that peers in through skylights
• Shōki - the fabled demon-queller Zhong Kui
• Shunoban - a red-faced ghoul that surprises people
• Shuten-dōji - an infamous princess-kidnapping, bloodthirsty oni
• Sodehiki-kozō - an invisible spirit which pulls on sleeves
• Sōjōbō - the famous daitengu of Mount Kurama
• Sōgenbi - the fiery ghost of an oil-stealing monk
• Son Gokū - the monkey king Sun Wukong from Journey to the West
• Soragami - a ritual disciplinary demon in the form of a tengu
• Soraki-gaeshi - the sound of trees being cut down, when later none seem to have been cut
• Sorobanbōzu - a ghost with an abacus
• Sōtangitsune - a famous fox from Kyoto
• Sunakake-baba - the sand-throwing hag
• Sunekosuri - a small dog- or cat-like creature that rubs against a person's legs at night
• Suppon-no-yūrei - a ghost with a face like a soft-shelled turtle
• Suzaku - the vermilion bird of the south

• 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

• Ubume - the spirit of a woman who died in childbirth
• Uma-no-ashi - a horse's leg which dangles from a tree and kicks passerbies
• 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

• Wani--a water monster comparable to an alligator or crocodile. compounds using the word "Wani" in part include words for "armor-plated" or "Scaly", "Bowlegged" or "Snaggletoothed". A related word has been applied to the Indopacific 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.

• Yagyō-san - a demon who rides through the night on a headless horse
• Yakubyō-gami - spirits who bring plagues and other unfortunate events
• Yadōkai - monks who have turned to mischief
• Yamaarashi - a supernatural porcupine
• Yama-biko - a creature that creates echos
• Yama-bito - the wild people who live in the mountains
• Yama-chichi - a mountain spirit resembling a monkey
• Yama-inu - the fearsome mountain dog
• Yama-otoko - the giant mountain man
• Yama-oroshi - a radish-grater spirit, a pun on a word for "mountain storm"
• Yamata-no-Orochi - the eight-headed serpent slain by the god Susanoo
• Yama-uba - the mountain hag
• Yama-waro - a hairy, one-eyed spirit, sometimes considered a kappa who has gone into the mountains for the winter.
• Yanari - poltergeists which cause strange noises
• 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"
• Yosuzume - a mysterious bird that sings at night, sometimes indicating that the okuri-inu is near
• Yukinko - a child-like snow-spirit
• Yuki-onna - the snow woman

• Zashiki-warashi - a protective child-like house spirit.
• Zennyo Ryūō - a rain-making dragon
• Zunbera-bō - another name for the noppera-bō

• Japanese mythology
• Toriyama Sekien
• Kaidan
• Lafcadio Hearn
• Shigeru Mizuki
• InuYasha Yokai List
• J-Horror

• Photo Dictionary of Japanese Buddhist and Shinto Deities
• Japanese Wikipedia's List of Yōkai
• The Obakemono Project

Contents
0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z ‹The template CompactTOC4 is being considered for deletion.›