Yokai Jiten - A Guide To Monsters
Yokai Jiten or Yokai encyclopaedia is an informative guide to 100 traditional Japanese monsters, written and illustrated by manga artist Shigeru Mizuki.
Yōkai are a class of supernatural monsters and spirits in Japanese folklore. The western sense of the word demons doesn’t fit, as their behaviour can range from malevolent or mischievous to friendly, fortuitous, or helpful to humans. Often they possess animal features but may also appear humanoid in appearance.
Mizuki was born in Osaka in 1922 and showed impressive artistic skills at a very young age.
He also was interested in the supernatural since being a kid.
Later he was drafted into the imperial Japanese army and was sent to New Britain Island in Papua New Guinea. His experiences in war affected him greatly as he was contracted malaria and even lost his left arm. He is seen as a specialist in the subject of Yōkai, traditional Japanese monsters.
In a late interview, he explained that his Yōkai characters can be seen only in times of peace, not war and that he purposely created these supernatural creatures to be of no specific ethnicity or nationality as a hint of the potential for humanity.
