Talk:List of legendary creatures from Japan

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This article has been mentioned by a media organization: Max Towle (24 January 2018). "This 19-year-old Kiwi farmer accidentally became a character in a US board game". The Wireless. Retrieved 24 January 2018. A year-and-a-half ago, Kotahi-Manawa Bradford and his friend were messing around on Wikipedia and created a fake entry on the "Legendary Japanese Monsters" page. Their entry, named after Kotahi, read "A Manawa Bradford, a spirit monkey that is very hairy and gets engulfed in rage." This internet rabbit hole was discovered a few days ago by US game designer John Brieger, whose Twitter thread about the mixup has been retweeted hundreds of times. He tweeted: "In short: consult people from the cultures you are basing your #boardgame in, or even better, bring them in as co-designers, developers, or artists. Cultural appropriation aside, it'll prevent you from including fake Wikipedia entries as characters in your game!" {{cite news}}: External link in |agency= (help)

The only sources I can find for this in Japanese indicate this is a katakanization, then re-romanization of the Mayan founder spirit Itzamna, and therefore not a Japanese mythological creature.--Ben Applegate 08:41, 11 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Instead of deleting the information I am simply moving them here. While both articles claim that there are Japanese versions of these Chinese legends neither actually provides references or sources:

• Hakutaku
  - the wise Bai Ze beast of China, who reported on the attributes of demons. [note: article doesn't actually say this is part of it's Japanese function, rather it simply describes it as having a lot of eyeballs, no references or sources]

• Hōkō - a dog-like tree spirit from China. [no references or sources]

If anyone has references to help improve these two articles that would be wonderful. Cheers! Duende-Poetry (talk) 12:43, 7 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It seems that someone is simply reinserting deadlinks for pages that have yet to be written. I thought the lists on the talk page was where we were putting such links instead of the article itself? Am I wrong? Is it better to have a shorter list with links that work or a longer list full of deadlinks that might, or might not, ever get written? Just curious before I start working on this page. Thanks! Chalchiuhtlatonal (talk) 01:20, 28 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The following

• Abura-bō - a spirit fire from Shiga Prefecture, in which the shape of a monk can often be seen. ^{[citation needed]}
• Akamataa - a snake spirit from Okinawa. ^{[citation needed]}
• Akanbei - a humanoid yokai who always has one drooping eye. ^{[citation needed]}
• Akuma - an evil spirit. ^{[citation needed]}
• Ame-onna - a female rain spirit. ^{[citation needed]}
• Asobibi - a spirit fire from Kōchi Prefecture.^{[citation needed}
  ]
• Ashiaraiyashiki(足洗邸) - the story of a huge demon that demands that its leg be washed.^{[citation needed]}
• Ato-oi-kozō - an invisible spirit that follows people, said to be the spirits of deceased children.^{[citation needed]}
• Azukibabaa - azukiarai's more vicious cousin, a bean-grinding hag who devours people.^{[citation needed]}
• Ayakashi - another name for the ikuchi, also another name for demons or yokai.^{[citation needed]}
• Ayakashi-no-ayashibi - a spirit fire from Ishikawa Prefecture.^{[citation needed]}

The following

• Betobeto-san - an invisible spirit that follows people at night, making the sound of footsteps.^{[citation needed]}
• Bake-kujira - an angry ghostly whale skeleton that drifts along the coastline.^{[citation needed]}
• Biwa-bokuboku - the spirit of a biwa lute.^{[citation needed]}
• Boroboro-ton - A possessed comforter.^{[citation needed]}
• Buruburu - a spirit that causes the shivers.^{[citation needed]}

The following

• Chōchinobake.^{[citation needed}
  ]

• Dodomeki - the ghost of a pickpocket, her arms are covered in eyes.^{[citation needed]}
• Doji - a spirit with white wings, accounted in European mythology as being like an angel.^{[citation needed]}
• Dorotabō - the ghost of an old man whose rice fields were neglected and sold.^{[citation needed]}
• Dozaemon - a yokai who resembles a kappa.^{[citation needed]}
• Diran-san - a spirit who laughs at others misfortunes. seen being a small fat boy. about a foot tall.^{[citation needed]}

The following

• Honshū.^{[citation needed}
  ]
• Eritate-goromo - the tengu Sōjōbō's enchanted clothes.^{[citation needed]}

The following

• Fukuko - spirit or creature that brings luck.^{[citation needed]}

The following

• Gagoze - a demon who attacked young priests at Gangō-ji temple.^{[citation needed]}
• Gangi-kozō - a fish-eating water-monster.^{[citation needed]}
• Kyūshū.^{[citation needed}
  ]
• Gotokuneko - a cat Yōkai who can breathe fire from a cut shoot of bamboo. His name means "Cat of Five Virtues".^{[citation needed]}

The following

• Hainu - A ferocious winged dog which attacked humans and livestock.^{[citation needed]}
• Hakuzōsu - a fox who disguised himself as a trapper's uncle.^{[citation needed]}
• Harionago - a female monster with deadly barbed hair.^{[citation needed]}
• Hayatarō - the dog that killed the sarugami.^{[citation needed]}
• Hihi - a baboon monster.^{[citation needed]}
• Hinoenma (飛縁魔) - a Japanese succubus.^{[citation needed]}
• Hyakume - a creature with a hundred eyes.^{[citation needed]}
• Hyōtan-kozō - a gourd spirit.^{[citation needed]}
• Hikiko- A ghost of a girl who was violently treated by her parents and bullied by her classmates.
• Hinoenma - A succubus spirit that draws energy/blood from its male victims.
• Hōkō - Dog-like tree spirit from China. Beag maclir (talk
  ) 16:29, 29 March 2014 (UTC)

• Ichiren-bozu - Animated prayer beads.^{[citation needed]}
• Ibaraki-dōji - the oni of the Rashomon gate, Shuten-dōji's accomplice.^{[citation needed]}
• Ichimoku-nyūdō - a one-eyed kappa from Sado Island.^{[citation needed]}
• Ikazuchi-no-Kami - a thunder god.^{[citation needed]}
• Ikuchi - a sea-serpent that travels over boats in an arc while dripping oil.^{[citation needed]}
• Ippon-datara - a one-legged spirit of the mountains. A one-eyed, one-legged monster said to be an expert blacksmith.^{[citation needed]}
• Itsumaden - a monstrous bird that appeared over the capital in the Taiheiki.^{[citation needed]}
• Iwana-bōzu - a char that appeared as a Buddhist monk.^{[citation needed]}
• Ichimoku-nyūdō - A one-eyed Kappa from Sado Island* Ippon-datara - One-legged mountain spirit said to be a ghost of a blacksmith or the blacksmith deity Ameno-me-Hitotsu.
• Iwana-bōzu - A Char that appears as a Buddhist monk.Beag maclir (talk) 16:31, 29 March 2014 (UTC)

The following

• Jakotsu-babaa - an old woman who guards a snake mound.^{[citation needed]}
• Jinmenken - a human-faced dog appearing in recent urban legends.^{[citation needed}
  ]
• Jotai - Possessed cloths draped from folding screens.^{[citation needed]}

The following

• Kage-onna - the shadow of a woman cast on the paper doors of a haunted house.^{[citation needed]}
• Kamikiri - the hair-cutting spirit.^{[citation needed]}
• Kameosa - a bottle that never runs dry.^{[citation needed]}
• Kanbari-nyūdō - a bathroom spirit.^{[citation needed]}
• Kanedama - the spirit of money.^{[citation needed]}
• Katawa-guruma - a woman riding on a flaming wheel.^{[citation needed]}
• Katsura-otoko - a handsome man from the moon.^{[citation needed]}
• Kawa-akago - an infant monster that lurks near rivers and drowns people.^{[citation needed]}
• Kawa-zaru - a smelly, cowardly kappa-like creature.^{[citation needed]}
• Kerakera-onna - a giant cackling woman who appears in the sky.^{[citation needed]}
• Kesaran-pasaran - a mysterious white fluffy creature.^{[citation needed]}
• Kibagurui - a nasty creature with sharp teeth, and can pull his entire body together to form a giant floating, fanged mouth.^{[citation needed]}
• Konaki-jijī - an infant spirit that cries until it is picked up, then increases its weight and crushes its victim.^{[citation needed]}
• Kosode-no-te - a short-sleeved kimono with its own hands.^{[citation needed]}
• Kurabokko - the guardian spirit of a warehouse.^{[citation needed]}
• Kurage-no-hinotama - a jellyfish that floats through the air as a fireball.^{[citation needed]}
• Kyōkotsu - the ghost of a corpse discarded in a well.^{[citation needed]}
• Kyūbi-no-kitsune - a fox with nine tails.^{[citation needed]}
• Kanashimi - demon shinobi of sorrow which wear play mask displaying different emotions said to live in mount hiei zan.^{[citation needed]}

The following

• Letchku- The golden Demon owl; brother of Netchku.^{[citation needed]}

The following

• Maikubi - the quarreling heads of three dead miscreants.^{[citation needed]}
• Makura-gaeshi - the pillow-moving spirit.^{[citation needed]}
• Mekurabe - the multiplying skulls that menaced Taira no Kiyomori in his courtyard.^{[citation needed}
  ]
• Mōryō - a long-eared, corpse-eating spirit.^{[citation needed]}
• Mukujara - a massive, faceless creature covered in hair.^{[citation needed]}

The following

• Nando-baba - an old-woman spirit who hides under the floor in abandoned storerooms.^{[citation needed]}
• Narikama - a kettle spirit whose ringing sound is a good omen.^{[citation needed]}
• Nebutori - a spirit-disease that causes a woman to grow immensely fat and lethargic.^{[citation needed]}
• Nikusui - a monster that appears as a young woman and sucks all of the flesh off of its victim's body.^{[citation needed]}
• Nobusuma - a supernatural wall, or a monstrous flying squirrel.^{[citation needed}
  ]
• Notari-bō - a very small humanoid yōkai.^{[citation needed]}
• Nowake-baba - an old crone that can blow strong gusts of wind.^{[citation needed]}
• Nogitsune - another name for a kitsune. ^{[citation needed]}
• Nozuchi - Another name for the tsuchinoko serpent.^{[citation needed]}
• Numagozen - a lake spirit of a women who's husband disappeared in battle.^{[citation needed]}
• Nuribotoke - an animated corpse with blackened flesh and dangling eyeballs.^{[citation needed]}
• Nyoijizai - a skeletal-looking spirit that does as they please. Able to stretch their arms great lengths.^{[citation needed]}
• Nyūbachibō - a mortar spirit.^{[citation needed]}

The following

• Obariyon - a spirit that rides piggyback on a human victim and becomes unbearably heavy.^{[citation needed]}
• Oboro-guruma - a ghostly oxcart with the face of its driver.^{[citation needed]}
• Ohaguro-bettari - a female spirit lacking all facial features save for a large, black-toothed smile.^{[citation needed]}
• Ōkamuro - a giant face that appears at the door.^{[citation needed]}
• Black dog or Barghest of English folklore. ^{[citation needed}
  ]
• Okurimono- a demon which is known for following one home to either protect them from being eaten or to eat them. ^{[citation needed]}
• Ōmukade - a giant human-eating centipede that lives in the mountains.^{[citation needed]}
• Onikuma - a monster bear.^{[citation needed]}
• Onmoraki - a bird-demon created from the spirits of freshly dead corpses.^{[citation needed]}
• O-kubi - A enormous head in the clouds. Often means something awful around the corner.^{[citation needed]}

The following

• Rokurobei - a male Rokurokubi.^{[citation needed]}

The following

• Sakabashira - a haunted pillar, installed upside-down.^{[citation needed]}
• Kyūshū.^{[citation needed}
  ]
• Sarugami - a wicked monkey spirit which was defeated by a dog.^{[citation needed]}
• Seko - a kind of kappa, that can be heard making merry at night.^{[citation needed]}
• Senpoku-Kanpoku - a human-faced frog that guides the souls of the newly deceased to the graveyard.^{[citation needed]}
• Setotaishō - a warrior composed of discarded earthenware.^{[citation needed]}
• Shibaten - a kind of kappa from Shikoku.^{[citation needed]}
• Shiki-ōji - another name for a shikigami. ^{[citation needed]}
• Shiro-bōzu - a white, faceless spirit.^{[citation needed]}
• Shiro-uneri - an old, rotten dishcloth appearing in the form of a dragon.^{[citation needed]}
• Shiryō - the spirit of a dead person.^{[citation needed]}
• Shōkera - a creature that peers in through skylights.^{[citation needed]}
• Shuba-uba- said to be Yama-uda's brother in the folklore of Atsumi peninsula in Aichi region of Japan.^{[citation needed]}
• Shu no Bon - a red-faced ghoul that surprises people.^{[citation needed]}
• Sodehiki-kozō - an invisible spirit that pulls on sleeves.^{[citation needed]}
• Sōgenbi - the fiery ghost of an oil-stealing monk.^{[citation needed}
  ]
• Soragami - a ritual disciplinary demon in the form of a tengu.^{[citation needed]}
• Soraki-gaeshi - the sound of trees being cut down, when later none seem to have been cut.^{[citation needed]}
• Sorobanbōzu - a ghost with an abacus.^{[citation needed]}
• Sōtangitsune - a famous fox from Kyoto.^{[citation needed]}
• Sunakake-baba - the sand-throwing hag.^{[citation needed]}
• Sunekosuri -a small dog- or cat-like creature that rubs against a person's legs at night.^{[citation needed]}
• Suppon-no-yūrei - a ghost with a face like a soft-shelled turtle.^{[citation needed]}

The following

• Taimatsumaru - a tengu surrounded in demon fire.^{[citation needed]}
• Taka-onna - a female spirit that can stretch itself to peer into the second story of a building.^{[citation needed]}
• Tankororin - an unharvested persimmon which becomes a monster.^{[citation needed]}
• Tantanbō - a massive stone head with glowing eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth. His saliva can turn anything into stone.^{[citation needed]}
• Tatami-tataki - a poltergeist that hits the tatami mats at night.^{[citation needed]}
• Teke-Teke - a beautiful young girl with no lower body, carries a sythe.^{[citation needed]}
• Tenjōname - the ceiling-licking spirit.^{[citation needed]}
• Te-no-me - the ghost of a blind man, with his eyes on his hands.^{[citation needed]}
• Tesso - the ghost of the priest Raigō, who transformed into a swarm of rats.^{[citation needed]}
• Tōfu-kozō - a spirit child carrying a block of tofu.^{[citation needed]}
• Toire no Hanako-san - a ghost who lurks in grade school restroom stalls.^{[citation needed}
  ]
• Tsurara-onna - an icicle woman.^{[citation needed]}
• Tsuchikorobi - a tumbling monster that rolls over travelers.^{[citation needed]}

The following

• Uma-no-ashi - a horse's leg that dangles from a tree and kicks passersby.^{[citation needed]}
• Umi-nyōbō - a female sea monster who steals fish.^{[citation needed]}
• Umizatou - a blind man from the sea who asks travelers about their worst fears.^{[citation needed]}
• Ungaikyō - a mirror monster that can display assorted wonders in its surface.^{[citation needed]}

The following

• Yagyō-san - a demon who rides through the night on a headless horse.^{[citation needed]}
• Yakubyō-gami - spirits who bring plagues and other unfortunate events.^{[citation needed]}
• Yama-biko - a creature that creates echoes.^{[citation needed}
  ]
• Yama-chichi - a mountain spirit resembling a monkey.^{[citation needed}
  ]
• Yama-inu - the fearsome mountain dog.^{[citation needed]}
• Yama-jijii - a humanoid with a head like a large rock, with one eyeball and a constant smile. Often lives in the trees in the mountains.^{[citation needed}
  ]
• Yama-otoko - the giant mountain man.^{[citation needed]}
• Yama-oroshi - a radish-grater spirit, a pun on a word for "mountain storm".^{[citation needed]}
• Yama-waro - a hairy, one-eyed spirit, sometimes considered a kappa who has gone into the mountains for the winter.^{[citation needed]}
• Yanari - poltergeists that cause strange noises.^{[citation needed]}
• Yosuzume - a mysterious bird that sings at night, sometimes indicating that the okuri-inu is near.^{[citation needed]}
• Yukinko - a child-like snow-spirit.^{[citation needed]}

The following

• Zanki - a lightning oni(demon).^{[citation needed]}

I understand that for many people -- many sheltered people, people who mean well but due to a failed education system have yet to learn how to cite or reference or even separate all the nonsense

So ... this is what exactly? Because a HUGE amount of these links go to articles whose only source is the Obakemono Project, which seems, as far as I can tell, not to have any, you know, actual research attached to it. Just saying, before I start deleting ... it gets a bit tiring, people, trying to see what has actual historical Japanese relevance and what got put here by some 13 year old because it once appeared in an InuYasha episode. Duende-Poetry (talk) 17:16, 27 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The word spook to indicate a supernatural entity is, at best, a curious choice. I changed it to spirit, cheers! Duende-Poetry (talk) 19:18, 27 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Should the Akago be in here if it only links to an inuyasha article?

Hmm,

I think people need to be a little more choosy about adding things from this list. I think whoever wrote it got a little overzealous in including everything that could possibly be considered a yōkai, including a lot of things that are so extremely obscure there isn't really any information about them on the internet, and iffy things like historical figures with supernatural legends associated with them, or like dōsojin, roadside stone markers that are supposed to house protective kami, but which don't really fall into the "legendary creature" category unless you want to be extremely loose with the definition.

It is horrendously thorough, though, so it might be good to use it to double-check entries from Encyclopedia Mythica, to make sure things like "Yofune Nushi" and "Uwibami" (which don't even seem to exist on the Japanese-speaking internet) don't get re-added. Kotengu 23:57, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Are the Biwa-bokuboku on this list and the Biwa-yanagi the same? Pfhreak (talk) 19:36, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Even though I know some yōkais, I know no yōkai known as Biwa-yanagi. I Googled this one with katakana and possible kanji translations, but to no avail. So I believe Biwa-yanagi is mistakenly referred... Shigerello (talk) 15:14, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Biwa-bokuboku is the form of Biwa-yanagi created by Toriyama Sekien for one of his yōkai books. Then again, even biwa-yanagi is probably a fictional (rather than legendary) tsukumogami creation. Very few distinct tsukumogami appear in folk tales and fairy tales. 67.167.29.149 (talk) 01:38, 3 November 2008 (UTC) Chris G.[reply]

I've looked all over online but can't find any information on this "monster" centipede--only pictures of a real "giant" centipede which does live in the mountains but apparently never exceeds 12 inches. Is there any real proof that there is a monstrous centipede by that name, or is this just a misinterpretation on somebody's part? 97.104.210.67 (talk) 20:09, 23 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It certainly is indeed a Japanese Monster which is from the tale of Fujiwara no Hidesato, the creature also "apparently falls under a type of henge" that can actually take on a human appearance as well, but I have not able to locate a exact source for that as of yet whether this is true. I think the issue is that this yokai is poorly sourced, and I have taken a look at the article on here which has very little information compared to outside of the wikipedia page. The details is out there, but nobody has bothered to implement the already available information.74.124.163.114 (talk) 10:52, 20 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I just deleted a "creature" as it is a folktale, and the monster from the folktale is on this page as well. It was a hyperlink to it and the small discription on the side even said it was just a folktale, not an actual creature 77.101.246.75 (talk) 19:35, 22 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

cause if you look up about them their is no information linking them to Japanese mythology or folklore only Chinese.--Jasonz2z (talk) 23:35, 24 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Gozu and Mezu has roots in Chinese Mythology, but both these creatures eventually were imported into Japanese-Buddhist Religion. I would say for future additions that are considered imported yokai that it should be separated into a different list or at least make note it falls under a shared mythology.74.124.163.114 (talk) 10:43, 20 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The article "This 19-year-old Kiwi farmer accidentally became a character in a US board game" explains how the made-up entry "Kōtahi" (named after a New Zealand teenager) was added 7 September 2016, and persisted undetected for so long that games company CMON Limited picked it to be a monster in a forthcoming board game. The perils of beginning and ending your research on Wikipedia! It was finally deleted only yesterday, after being exposed on Twitter. Giantflightlessbirds (talk) 06:32, 24 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I think it is a big shame that a good chunk of the yokai is currently still only exclusive to the Japanese List that has yet to make an Transition to the English List for quite a number of years now, it is hard enough for non-Japanese speakers to research the more obscure ones. I hope there will be more support to update this legendary creature list sometime in the near future, and some of us don't have to rely on Google Machine translation that requires a lot of extra work than needed to be able to figure out what exactly certain articles are about.74.124.163.114 (talk) 10:37, 20 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]