Panel at Katsucon ’18: Yokai, A Cultural History of Japanese Monsters

Things that go bump in the night.

As a kaiju enthusiast since my childhood, it’s only natural that I’d be drawn to youkai. Youkai, or Japanese monsters and spirits, are known to pop up in popular Japanese media from time to time. Those vaguely familiar with Japanese media are still likely to know of kitsune or kappa. There’s a lot to discuss in regards to youkai due to the sheer number of species that exist, so naturally, I made to attend the panel about them. I came in expecting the discussion to be a list of some of the most popular youkai, sprinkled with some fun trivia. After all, there are extremely popular species, such as yurei and oni, but a lot of smaller, more obscure ones that rarely get attention. I was pleasantly surprised that the host of the panel, Charles Dunbar, went with a far more interesting approach, and focused on extensively mapping the cultural significance of youkai.

Youkai haven’t always had the same form over the years, but instead are constantly evolving to fit the roles that people require of them. While it seems like the many identities of these creatures have remained stable enough to exist up to the present day, they have actually evolved quite a lot since their inception. Originally, youkai were meant to, like most mythology and folklore, be cautionary tales and explain the unknown. Later on, they became more like ghost stories and even transformed into something more humorous than terrifying during peacetime. While technological advancements made the belief in youkai ease away over time, the stories were still told, such as in poetry or games. Upon contact with the West, youkai became moneymakers, as the fascinating tales could be marketed to foreigners— something still happening to this day. The stories’ ability to change allows them to persist throughout the era. Had they simply remained as only cautionary tales, likely youkai would have vanished as soon as belief in them dwindled, but they were able to persist through change.

This funny looking youkai is in fact, a porcupine.

Another one of the main points Dunbar brought up is that youkai, as a significant part of Japanese culture, act as cultural ambassadors. People have always been fascinated with the mythical and fantastical and would be inherently attracted to youkai. The widespread interest began in 1904 with Lafcadio Hearn’s Kwaidan, and has persisted to the present. In modern times, the impact that youkai have is clear. Yo-kai Watch is incredibly popular with children now, and some franchises subtly carry the torch, like Pokemon with Froslass and Golduck. Some anime directly features youkai interacting with the mundane, such as Natsume Yujin-cho and Mononoke. Horror anime that pulls from folklore and fear of unknown monsters such as Yamishibai and Junji Ito Collection has garnered a lot of interest recently, with Funimation finding enough potential interest in Ito’s work to produce an English dub. In the Katsucon Artist’s Alley, I spotted several prints and small goods featuring youkai. Monster-lore is no doubt intriguing and has made enough of an impact for many to seek out media featuring them, and even create fanworks. Washington DC is far from Japan, but youkai are still lurking around.

While few people believed youkai were real, they found importance in the emotions the story evoked. People love stories of the unknown. Monsters will always be something that people are inherently attracted to, even if it’s hard to explain why. Somehow, monster stories always make the mundane more interesting, and youkai are no exception. The idea of creatures hiding in the shadows are both terrifying and fascinating, and so youkai are here to stay.