Have you ever heard of Yokai?
These supernatural folklore creatures include oni demons, kappa, foxes and cats that have mysterious powers.
Some are called mononoke and others are known as bakemono.
Nobody knows if Yokai can actually be seen,but all sorts of people have been talking and listening to stories about them since ancient times and the mysteries have been passed down to this day.
Do you have Yokai in your country?
Do you have mysterious stories from ancient times?
This article introduces three websites where you can read about Japan's Yokai.
1. Reiwa Yokai Dictionary
2. Mizuki Shigeru Road
3. Kaii-Yokai Densho Database (database of Yokai and mystery stories from Japanese folklore)
Reiwa Yokai Dictionary and Kaii-Yokai Densho Database are only available in Japanese.
Mizuki Shigeru Road is available in Japanese, English, Korean, traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese.
If you've started to become accustomed to reading about various situations and topics in Japanese or if you can continue reading by looking up or asking others about words and kanji that are new to you, choosing Yokai as your next subject might be a good challenge.
令和妖怪辞典 (Reiwa Yokai Dictionary)
Reiwa Yokai Dictionary is a project that started in January 2024, to share the charms of Yokai known across Japan.
Three procedures - original idea, design, and manga - are used to create a new Yokai.
Let's take a look. Start by clicking 令和妖怪辞典 (Reiwa Yokai Dictionary).
A collection of Yokai will appear.
Click on a Yokai to read about it.
This Yokai's name is 件. It's read "Kudan". The kanji is made up of the radicals 人 (human) and 牛 (cow). So does that means it's a half human and half cow monster?!
Next, click on マンガを読む (read manga) to read a manga story about this Yokai.
水木しげるロード(Mizuki Shigeru Road)
The next site is a page in the Mizuki Shigeru Memorial Museum dedicated to the famous manga artist known for his Yokai stories.
From MENU, click ROAD - Mizuki Shigeru Road.
Scroll down the page until you find the part that says PICKUP - Bronze Statue Collection.
Here, you can find written information about the Yokai Bronze Statues.
They're divided into four categories.
‐Yokai that live in the forest.
‐Yokai that can control gods, deities, and fortune.
‐Yokai that lurk in familiar places.
‐Yokai that live in houses.
Look, there's a Kudan here, too. It's a bit different from the Reiwa Yokai Dictionary.
怪異・妖怪伝承データベース (Kaii-Yokai Densho Database)
If you want more details about Yokai, this website might be helpful.
It's a database available to the public, prepared by the International Research Center for Japanese Studies, and is a collection of Kaii and Yokai examples reported in folklore studies.
Kaii is the word for mysterious phenomena and strange happenings.
If you click データベース検索ページ (search database page), you can search for Yokai from the following:
‐Search keyword
‐Search region
‐Search name
‐Search from name of typical Kaii or Yokai

Let's try searching for Kudan in the search name (呼称検索) function.

We can see detailed information about written materials on Kudan.
Under Summary (要約) you can read the story behind the Yokai.
Please note that this database does not use pictures and illustrations.

If you're not sure of a kanji reading, you can use Hiragana Megane (Introduction article) to display the hiragana over the kanji.
You could probably use translation and other AI tools to help you understand the content.
So now you know about Japanese Yokai.
Were the stories different from mysteries about strange, supernatural creatures and phenomena in your country?
Did you find anything similar?
We urge you to take a good look at these three websites and compare the culture of Japan with that of your own country.