Japanese ghosts and monsters, illustrated

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.