Japanese ghosts and monsters, illustrated

>> Friday, January 15, 2010



Surfing around looking for information about Japanese ghosts and monsters, I stumbled onto a fantastic site called The Obakemono Project, an ambitious attempt at cataloging all the macabre and fascinating yokai (monsters, ghosts, and demons).

Along with the descriptions of many of the creatures are some fantastic illustrations by artist Susan H. Morgan. Above, the Yuki-onna, "the spirit of the snow itself."


 
 
The Hari-Onago, or "Hook Hair Woman"
 


The Ippon-datara, or "One-legged Blacksmith"

There are even more goodies at her portfolio web site, Drunken Tengu, though not always cataloged yokai (and not always Japanese):


 
 
The Shaggy Tyrant



Sun Wukong

Give both sites a look! They're well worth your time, particularly the Obakemono Project if you've never had a glimpse into Japan's rich--and bizarre--ghost and monster folklore. Weird, weird stuff.

2 comments:

tanita✿davis January 15, 2010 at 12:42 PM  

Ooh, I think I've seen Hook Hair woman. In the mirror.

Actually, Sun Wukong is familiar for some reason. What a great site, thanks.

Alan Gratz January 15, 2010 at 4:08 PM  

Sun Wukong is the Monkey King from the Chinese epic Journey to the West!

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