<figure id="attachment_470276" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 5758px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-470276"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="740e0ce0"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/06/447c3317c406b594fdbc952ee213ed3e.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-470276" class="wp-caption-text">&#8220;Illustration of a Strange Bird&#8221; (1839), from the collection of the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of History (Kita Collection). Like &#8220;Amabie,&#8221; it was said to predict epidemics, and images of it were believed to ward off disease.</figcaption></figure>
<h3><span class="strongInContent"> A dangerous realm where strange beings lurk</span></h3>
<p class="PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer" data-start="278" data-end="533">Today, yōkai (supernatural creatures) have largely become a form of entertainment and are often enjoyed as fictional characters. In earlier times, however, they were feared as manifestations of nature&#8217;s power—forces beyond human understanding and control.</p>
<p data-start="535" data-end="870">Among the beings commonly classified as yōkai are also &#8220;genjū&#8221; (&#8220;phantom beasts&#8221;), creatures that were reportedly witnessed or left behind physical traces such as carcasses, yet were not recognized as known animals. Today, such beings are often referred to as UMA (Unidentified Mysterious Animals) and remain shrouded in mystery.</p>
<p data-start="872" data-end="1426">The special exhibition &#8220;A Complete Survey of Yōkai and Phantom Beasts&#8221;, which examines the relationship between the Japanese people and nature through an enormous collection of materials related to these creatures, concluded its run at the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of History on June 14. The exhibition is scheduled to be held next at the Tottori Prefectural Museum from July 4 to August 30. In addition, the official exhibition catalog, &#8220;Illustrated Guide to Yōkai and Phantom Beasts&#8221; (published by Kawade Shobo Shinsha), was released in late April.</p>
<p data-start="1428" data-end="1732">Yōkai emerged from the Japanese people&#8217;s awe and fear of nature—forces they could not control. However, according to the book, they were not simply born from a confrontation between human civilization and untouched wilderness. Rather, they arose in spaces where human activity and nature intersected.</p>
<p data-start="1734" data-end="2030">For example, in the Japanese term &#8220;sanya&#8221; (&#8220;mountains and fields&#8221;), the character &#8220;no&#8221; (field) refers to an intermediate zone between the human-inhabited &#8220;sato&#8221; (village) and the &#8220;yama&#8221; (mountain). It is a place where people may encounter untamed and potentially dangerous forces.</p>
<p data-start="1734" data-end="2030"><strong>&#8220;It was a dangerous realm where humans could unexpectedly come into contact with the wild, untamed powers of nature. Since these fields were also places where people gathered resources such as grasses and trees, humans frequently entered them. There, they often encountered wild animals and sometimes found themselves in perilous situations.&#8221;</strong></p>
<p data-start="2381" data-end="2515" data-is-last-node="">— From &#8220;Introduction: Yōkai Studies in the Anthropocene,&#8221; by Masanobu Kagawa, Head Curator of the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of History.</p>
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<h3><span class="strongInContent">The phantom beast that inspired Amabie</span></h3>
<p class="PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer" data-start="46" data-end="411">One of the most dangerous creatures said to inhabit the <strong data-start="102" data-end="110">&#8220;no&#8221;</strong> (the borderland between village and wilderness) was the snake. Examples include the Yamata no Orochi, the legendary eight-headed serpent, and Nozuchi, considered the prototype of creatures such as the &#8220;tsuchinoko.&#8221; These beings were sometimes worshipped as manifestations of mountain deities.</p>
<p data-start="413" data-end="631">Likewise, animals such as foxes and tanuki that ventured from the wild into human settlements were regarded with particular suspicion because they were believed to possess the power to deceive and transform themselves.</p>
<p data-start="633" data-end="1278">The &#8220;tengu&#8221; is another interesting example. In China, it originally referred to a heavenly dog, but somehow in Japan it came to be understood as a fox-like supernatural being that deceived humans before eventually evolving into the entirely different form familiar today. Cats, meanwhile, entered human homes as pets, but unlike dogs they were not seen as obedient. Their seemingly mysterious and independent nature led people to believe they could transform into supernatural creatures. In this way, yōkai emerged from landscapes already shaped by human activity and coexisted with people through a long history of conflict and interaction.</p>
<p data-start="1280" data-end="1668">The folklorist and renowned yōkai collector Goichi Yumoto defined creatures whose boundaries with real animals are particularly ambiguous as &#8220;genjū&#8221; (&#8220;phantom beasts&#8221;). As discussed in the book, relics such as kappa mummies and mermaid remains have often been preserved. These traces, whether genuine or fabricated, were displayed as curiosities or treasured by temples and shrines.</p>
<p data-start="1670" data-end="1894">Today, such mysterious creatures are often called &#8220;UMA (Unidentified Mysterious Animals).&#8221; Unlike UMAs, however, phantom beasts were not merely strange creatures—they could serve as omens of disaster or objects of worship.</p>
<p data-start="1896" data-end="2361">For example, in the late Edo period, a creature known as &#8220;Jinja-hime&#8221; (&#8220;Shrine Princess&#8221;) reportedly appeared in Hizen Province (modern Nagasaki and Saga Prefectures). Described as having the face of a beautiful woman and the body of a dragon, it foretold the outbreak of an epidemic and declared that anyone who displayed an image of it would be protected from disease. When an epidemic later occurred, pictures of Jinja-hime became popular as protective charms.</p>
<p data-start="2363" data-end="2532">The story may sound familiar. Jinja-hime is considered one of the inspirations behind Amabie, the prophetic creature that became famous during the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
<p data-start="2534" data-end="2824">Interestingly, the tale of Jinja-hime later evolved into one involving a mermaid. Mermaid exhibitions became popular because mermaids were also believed to ward off epidemics. Many of the surviving mermaid mummies found in Japan today are said to have been created during this period.</p>
<p data-start="2826" data-end="3098" data-is-last-node="" data-is-only-node="">The book &#8220;Illustrated Guide to Yōkai and Phantom Beasts&#8221; introduces many of the rare materials featured in the exhibition. Through these artifacts, readers are invited to reflect once more on the yōkai and phantom beasts that once existed alongside everyday Japanese life.</p>
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<figure id="attachment_470277" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 4589px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-470277"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="ebed7461"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/06/3514099c397c48e36e2ea63d2e42d4be.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-470277" class="wp-caption-text">&#8220;The Nine-Tailed Fox&#8221; — Foxes came to be viewed as supernatural beings around the 8th–9th centuries, influenced by knowledge and folklore introduced from China. (From &#8220;Illustrated Guide to Yōkai and Phantom Beasts&#8221;)</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_470278" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 4599px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-470278"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="57cd2a88"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/06/81a1e2648626032376895d665f7f7cd0.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-470278" class="wp-caption-text">Ancient references to the &#8220;nue&#8221; originally referred to the scaly thrush, a bird known for its mournful nighttime call. Later, however, a monster said to have the head of a monkey, the body of a raccoon dog, the tail of a snake, and the limbs of a tiger was described as crying with the voice of a nue, and the name came to refer to that creature instead. (From &#8220;Illustrated Guide to Yōkai and Phantom Beasts&#8221;)</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_470279" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 4590px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-470279"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="447f96a5"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/06/134a76f16f7e672625720c5296d9bae9.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-470279" class="wp-caption-text">During the Edo period, numerous &#8220;Bakemono Emaki&#8221; (&#8220;Monster Picture Scrolls&#8221;) were produced. Around this time, yōkai began to attract people&#8217;s intellectual curiosity rather than simple fear, a development that eventually led to their transformation into the popular characters familiar today. (From &#8220;Illustrated Guide to Yōkai and Phantom Beasts&#8221;)</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_470280" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 4592px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-470280"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="8945f32c"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/06/05c3d34d99eb625828b8fc36560aad82.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-470280" class="wp-caption-text">In the mid-Edo period, the study of natural history known as &#8220;honzōgaku&#8221; (materia medica) flourished. Works such as the &#8220;Wakan Sansai Zue&#8221; (upper right), which introduced yōkai alongside various animals and plants, reflected a more objective and scholarly approach to supernatural beings. (From &#8220;Illustrated Guide to Yōkai and Phantom Beasts&#8221;)</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_470281" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2634px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-470281"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="2d0a7ead"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/06/50fda43361a9897d8c773e4ee66206d7.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-470281" class="wp-caption-text">The book also includes the newly discovered &#8220;Illustration of a Strange Bird (Ichōzu)&#8221; and the &#8220;Chikuzen Monster Scroll (Chikuzen Bakemono Emaki),&#8221; exhibited outside its home region of Fukuoka for the first time.</figcaption></figure>
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<p class="" data-start="0" data-end="171"><a href="https://amzn.to/4v6t8bd">&#8220;A Complete Survey of Yōkai and Phantom Beasts&#8221;</a><br data-start="47" data-end="50"><a href="https://amzn.to/4v6t8bd">(Edited by the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of History and the Tottori Prefectural Museum; published by Kawade Shobo Shinsha)</a></p>
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<p class="PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer" data-start="1595" data-end="1637"><a href="https://rekihaku.pref.hyogo.lg.jp/exhibition/20625/">Special Exhibition: &#8220;A Complete Survey of Yōkai and Phantom Beasts&#8221; | Exhibition Information</a><br data-start="269" data-end="272" data-is-only-node=""><a href="https://rekihaku.pref.hyogo.lg.jp/exhibition/20625/">Hyogo Prefectural Museum of History (Hyogo Prefectural Board of Education)</a></p>
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 How did yokai and mythical beasts come to be? According to the special exhibition “All About Yokai and Mythical Beasts,” which has been drawing rave reviews at the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of History since late April, it’s not merely a matter of awe of nature, but rather the “history of coexistence” between humans and nature.

Why Do Yokai Exist? The Surprising Truth Behind Japan’s Mythical Beasts

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