Created
October 25, 2010 18:57
-
-
Save seaofclouds/645490 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
A long list of Japanese Mythical Creatures
This file contains bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
| Inspired by VividDreams' topic: "Mythical Creatures A-Z" | |
| source: http://www.animationsource.org/board/japanese-mythical-creatures-t14593.html | |
| A | |
| * Abumi-guchi - a furry creature formed from the stirrup of a mounted military commander | |
| * Abura-akago - an infant ghost who licks the oil out of andon lamps | |
| * Abura-bō - a spook fire from Shiga Prefecture, in which the shape of a monk can often be seen | |
| * Abura-sumashi - a spirit who lives on a mountain pass in Kumamoto Prefecture | |
| * Akabeko - a red cow involved in the construction of Enzō-ji in Yanaizu, Fukushima | |
| * Akamataa - a snake spirit from Okinawa | |
| * Akaname - the spirit who licks the bathroom | |
| * Akashita - a creature that looms in a black cloud over a floodgate | |
| * Akateko - a red hand dangling out of a tree | |
| * Akki - another name for a wicked oni | |
| * Akkorokamui - an Ainu monster resembling a fish or octopus | |
| * Akuma - an evil spirit | |
| * Akurojin-no-hi - a ghostly fire from Mie Prefecture | |
| * Amaburakosagi - ritual disciplinary demon from Shikoku | |
| * Amamehagi - ritual disciplinary demon from Hokuriku | |
| * Amanojaku - a small demon which instigates people into wickedness | |
| * Amanozako - a monstrous goddess mentioned in the Kujiki | |
| * Amazake-babaa - an old woman who asks for sweet sake and brings disease | |
| * Amefurikozō - a little boy spirit who plays in the rain | |
| * Amemasu - an Ainu creature resembling a fish or whale | |
| * Ameonna - a female rain spirit | |
| * Amikiri - the net-cutting spirit | |
| * Amorōnagu - a tennyo from the island of Amami Ōshima | |
| * Anmo - ritual disciplinary demon from Iwate Prefecture | |
| * Aoandon - the spirit of the blue paper lantern | |
| * Aobōzu - the blue monk who kidnaps children | |
| * Aonyōbō - a female ghost who lurks in an abandoned imperial palace | |
| * Aosaginohi - a luminescent heron | |
| * Asobibi - a spook fire from Kōchi Prefecture | |
| * Arikura-no-baba - an old woman with magical powers | |
| * Ashiaraiyashiki(足洗邸) - the story of a huge demon which demands that its leg be washed | |
| * Ashimagari - a spook which entangles the legs of travelers | |
| * Ashinagatenaga - a pair of characters, one with long legs and the other with long arms | |
| * Ato-oi-kozō - an invisible spirit that follows people | |
| * Ayakashi - another name for the ikuchi | |
| * Ayakashi-no-ayashibi - a spook fire from Ishikawa Prefecture | |
| * Azukiarai - a spirit which makes the sound of azuki beans being washed | |
| * Azukibabaa - azukiarai's more vicious cousin, a bean-grinding hag who devours people | |
| * Azukitogi - another name for azukiarai | |
| B | |
| * Betobeto-san - an invisible spirit which follows people at night, making the sound of footsteps | |
| * Bake-kujira - a ghost whale | |
| * Bakeneko - a cat with magical powers | |
| * Bakezōri - a sandal spirit | |
| * Baku - an auspicious beast who can devour nightmares | |
| * Basan - a large fire-breathing chicken monster | |
| * Binbōgami - the spirit of poverty | |
| * Biwa-bokuboku - the spirit of a biwa lute | |
| * Bunbuku Chagama - a famous story about a tanuki in the form of a teakettle | |
| * Buruburu - a spirit which causes the shivers | |
| * Byakko - the white tiger of the west | |
| C | |
| * Chōchinobake - a haunted paper lantern | |
| * Cho Hakkai - Zhu Bajie, the pig spirit from Journey to the West | |
| D | |
| * Daidarabocchi - a giant responsible for creating many geographical features in Japan | |
| * Daitengu - the most powerful tengu, each of whom lives on a separate mountain | |
| * Datsue-ba - an old woman who steals clothes from the souls of the dead | |
| * Dodomeki - the ghost of a pickpocket, her arms covered in eyes | |
| * Dorotabō - the ghost of an old man whose rice fields were neglected and sold | |
| E | |
| * Enenra - a monster made of smoke | |
| * Enkō - the kappa of Shikoku and western Honshū | |
| * Eritate-goromo - the tengu Sōjōbō's enchanted clothes | |
| F | |
| * Fūjin - the god of wind | |
| * Funayūrei - ghosts of people dead at sea | |
| * Futakuchi-onna - the two-mouthed woman | |
| G | |
| * Gagoze - a demon who attacked young priests at Gangō-ji temple | |
| * Gaki - the hungry ghosts of Buddhism | |
| * Gangi-kozō - a fish-eating water-monster | |
| * Garappa - a kind of kappa from Kyūshū | |
| * Gashadokuro - a giant skeleton, the spirit of the unburied dead | |
| * Genbu - the black tortoise of the north | |
| * Goryō - vengeful spirits of the dead | |
| * Guhin - another name for the tengu | |
| * Gyūki - another name for the ushi-oni, the ox demon | |
| H | |
| * Hakutaku - the wise Bai Ze beast of China, who reported on the attributes of demons | |
| * Hakuzōsu - a fox who disguised himself as a trapper's uncle | |
| * Hannya - a noh mask representing a jealous female demon | |
| * Harionago - a female monster with deadly barbed hair | |
| * Hayatarō - the dog that killed the sarugami | |
| * Heikegani - crabs with human-faced shells, the spirits of the warriors killed in the Battle of Dan-no-ura | |
| * Hibagon - the Japanese Bigfoot | |
| * Hiderigami - the god of drought | |
| * Hihi - a baboon monster | |
| * Hitodama - a fireball-ghost that appears when someone dies | |
| * Hitotsume-kozō - a one-eyed boy | |
| * Hoji - the wicked spirit of Tamamo-no-Mae | |
| * Hōkō - a dog-like tree spirit from China | |
| * Hone-onna - a skeleton woman | |
| * Hō-ō - the mythical Fenghuang bird of China | |
| * Hotoke - a deceased person | |
| * Hyakki Yakō - the demons' night parade | |
| * Hyakume - a creature with a hundred eyes | |
| * Hyōsube - a kind of hair-covered kappa | |
| * Hyōtan-kozō - a gourd spirit | |
| I | |
| * Ibaraki-dōji - the oni of the Rashomon gate, Shuten-dōji's accomplice | |
| * Ichimoku-nyūdō - a one-eyed kappa from Sado Island | |
| * Ikazuchi-no-Kami - a thunder god | |
| * Ikiryō - a living ghost | |
| * Ikuchi - a sea-serpent that travels over boats in an arc while dripping oil | |
| * Inugami - a dog-spirit created, worshipped and employed by a family via sorcery | |
| * Ippon-datara - a one-legged spirit of the mountains | |
| * Isonade - a fish-like sea monster with a barb-covered tail | |
| * Itsumaden - a monstrous bird that appeared over the capital in the Taiheiki | |
| * Ittan-momen - a cloth-like monster which attempts to smother people by wrapping itself around their faces | |
| * Iwana-bōzu - a char which appeared as a Buddhist monk | |
| J | |
| * Jakotsu-babaa - an old woman who guards a snake mound | |
| * Jatai - an obi which has transformed into a snake | |
| * Jibakurei 地縛霊, 自縛霊 - a ghost that is bound to a certain place | |
| * Jikininki - ghosts that eat human corpses | |
| * Jinmenju - a tree with human-faced flowers | |
| * Jinmenken - a human-faced dog appearing in recent urban legends | |
| * Jishin-namazu - the giant catfish that causes earthquakes | |
| * Jorōgumo - a spider woman | |
| * Jubokko - a vampire tree | |
| K | |
| * Kage-onna - the shadow of a woman cast on the paper doors of a haunted house | |
| * Kahaku 河伯 - another name for a kappa | |
| * Kamaitachi - the slashing sickle-weasel that haunts the mountains | |
| * Kamikiri - the hair-cutting spirit | |
| * Kameosa - a bottle that never runs dry | |
| * Kanbari-nyūdō - a bathroom spirit | |
| * Kanedama - the spirit of money | |
| * Kappa - a famous water monster with a water-filled head and a love of cucumbers | |
| * Karasu-tengu - a tengu with a bird's bill | |
| * Kasa-obake - a paper umbrella monster | |
| * Kasha - a cat-like demon which descends from the sky and carries away corpses | |
| * Kashanbo - kappa who climb into the mountains for the winter | |
| * Katawa-guruma - a woman riding on a flaming wheel | |
| * Katsura-otoko - a handsome man from the moon | |
| * Kawa-akago - an infant monster that lurks near rivers and drowns people | |
| * Kawa-uso - a supernatural river otter | |
| * Kawa-zaru - a smelly, cowardly kappa-like creature | |
| * Kerakera-onna - a giant cackling woman who appears in the sky | |
| * Kesaran-pasaran - a mysterious white fluffy creature | |
| * Keukegen - a creature made of hair | |
| * Kijimunaa - a tree sprite from Okinawa | |
| * Kijo - a witch or ogress | |
| * Kirin - the Qilin of China, part dragon and part hoofed mammal, sometimes called the "Chinese unicorn" | |
| * Kitsune - a supernatural fox | |
| * Kitsune-Tsuki - fox possession | |
| * Kiyohime - a woman who transformed into a serpent-demon out of the rage of unrequited love | |
| * Kodama - a spirit that lives in a tree | |
| * Kokakuchō - the ubume bird | |
| * Koma-inu - another name for the shishi, the pair of lion-dogs that guard the entrances of temples | |
| * Konaki-Jijii - an infant spirit that cries until it is picked up, then increases its weight and crushes its victim | |
| * Konoha-tengu - a bird-like tengu | |
| * Koropokkuru - a little person from Ainu folklore | |
| * Kosode-no-te - a short-sleeved kimono with its own hands | |
| * Kuchisake-onna - the slit-mouthed woman | |
| * Kuda-gitsune - a small fox-like animal used in sorcery | |
| * Kudan - a human-faced calf which predicts a calamity and then dies | |
| * Kurabokko - the guardian spirit of a warehouse | |
| * Kurage-no-hinotama - a jellyfish which floats through the air as a fireball | |
| * Kyōkotsu - the ghost of a corpse discarded in a well | |
| * Kyūbi-no-kitsune - a fox with nine tails | |
| * Kyūketsuki - a Japanese vampire | |
| M | |
| * Maikubi - the quarreling heads of three dead miscreants | |
| * Makura-gaeshi - the pillow-moving spirit | |
| * Mekurabe - the multiplying skulls that menaced Taira no Kiyomori in his courtyard | |
| * Miage-nyūdō - a spirit which grows as fast as you can look up at it | |
| * Mikoshi-nyūdō - another name for miage-nyūdō | |
| * Mizuchi - a dangerous water-dragon | |
| * Mokumokuren - a swarm of eyes that appear on a paper sliding door in an old building | |
| * Momonjii - an old-man who is waiting for you at every fork in the road | |
| * Morinji-no-kama - another name for Bunbuku Chagama, the tanuki teakettle | |
| * Mōryō - a long-eared, corpse-eating spirit | |
| * Mujina - a shapeshifting badger | |
| * Myōbu - a title sometimes given to a fox | |
| N | |
| * Namahage - ritual disciplinary demon from the Oga Peninsula | |
| * Namazu - a giant catfish that causes earthquakes | |
| * Nando-baba - an old-woman spirit who hides under the floor in abandoned storerooms | |
| * Narikama - a kettle spirit whose ringing sound is a good omen | |
| * Nebutori - a spook-disease which causes a woman to grow immensely fat and lethargic | |
| * Nekomata - a bakeneko with a split tail | |
| * Nekomusume - a cat in the form of a girl | |
| * Nikusui - a monster which appears as a young woman and sucks all of the flesh off of its victim's body | |
| * Ningyo - a fish person or "mermaid" | |
| * Nobusuma - a supernatural wall, or a monstrous flying squirrel | |
| * Noppera-bō - a faceless ghost | |
| * Nozuchi - Another name for the tsuchinoko serpent | |
| * Nue - a monkey-headed, tiger-bodied, snake-tailed monster which plagued the emperor with nightmares in the Heike Monogatari | |
| * Nukekubi - a vicious human-like monster whose head detaches from its body, often confused with the rokurokubi | |
| * Nuppefuhofu - an animated lump of decaying human flesh | |
| * Nure-onna - a female monster who appears on the beach | |
| * Nuribotoke - an animated corpse with blackened flesh and dangling eyeballs | |
| * Nurikabe - a ghostly wall that traps a traveler at night | |
| * Nurarihyon - a strange character who sneaks into houses on busy evenings | |
| * Nyūbachibō - a mortar spirit | |
| O | |
| * Oboro-guruma - a ghostly oxcart with the face of its driver | |
| * Ohaguro-bettari - a female spook lacking all facial features save for a large, black-toothed smile | |
| * Oiwa - the ghost of a woman with a distorted face who was murdered by her husband | |
| * Okiku - the plate-counting ghost of a servant girl | |
| * Ōkamuro - a giant face which appears at the door | |
| * Ōkubi - the face of a huge woman which appears in the sky | |
| * Okuri-inu - a dog or wolf that follows travelers at night, similar to the Black dog or Barghest of Anglo-Saxon myth. | |
| * Ōmukade - a giant centipede | |
| * Oni - the classic Japanese demon, an ogre-like creature which often has horns | |
| * Onibi - a spook fire | |
| * Onikuma - a monster bear | |
| * Onmoraki - a bird-demon created from the spirits of freshly-dead corpses | |
| * Onryō - a vengeful ghost | |
| * Otoroshi - a hairy creature that perches on the gates to shrines and temples | |
| R | |
| * Raijin - the god of thunder | |
| * Raijū - a beast which falls to earth in a lightning bolt | |
| * Rokurokubi - a person, usually female, whose neck can stretch indefinitely | |
| * Ryū - the Japanese dragon | |
| S | |
| * Sakabashira - a haunted pillar, installed upside-down | |
| * Sagari - a horse's head that dangles from trees on Kyūshū | |
| * Sa Gojō - the water-monster Sha Wujing from Journey to the West, often interpeted in Japan as a kappa | |
| * Samebito - a shark-man from the undersea Dragon Palace | |
| * Sarugami - a wicked monkey spirit which was defeated by a dog | |
| * Satori - an ape-like creature that can read minds | |
| * Sazae-oni - a turban snail which turns into a woman | |
| * Seiryū - the azure dragon of the east | |
| * Seko - a kind of kappa, which can be heard making merry at night | |
| * Senpoku-Kanpoku - a human-faced frog which guides the souls of the newly deceased to the graveyard | |
| * Sesshō-seki - the poisonous "killing stones" which Tamamo-no-Mae transformed into | |
| * Setotaishō - a warrior composed of discarded earthenware | |
| * Shachihoko - a tiger-headed fish whose image is often used in architecture | |
| * Shibaten - a kind of kappa from Shikoku. | |
| * Shikigami - a spirit summoned to do the bidding of an Onmyōji | |
| * Shiki-ōji - another name for a shikigami | |
| * Shikome - wild women sent by Izanami to harm Izanagi | |
| * Shiro-bōzu - a white, faceless spirit | |
| * Shin 蜃 - a giant clam which creates mirages | |
| * Shinigami - the "god of death", the Japanese name for the Western Grim Reaper | |
| * Shiro-uneri - an old, rotten dishcloth appearing in the form of a dragon | |
| * Shiryō - the spirit of a dead person | |
| * Shisa - the Okinawan version of the shishi | |
| * Shishi - the paired lion-dogs that guard the entrances of temples | |
| * Shōjō - red-haired sea-sprites who love alcohol | |
| * Shōkera - a creature that peers in through skylights | |
| * Shōki - the fabled demon-queller Zhong Kui | |
| * Shunoban - a red-faced ghoul that surprises people | |
| * Shuten-dōji - an infamous princess-kidnapping, bloodthirsty oni | |
| * Sodehiki-kozō - an invisible spirit which pulls on sleeves | |
| * Sōjōbō - the famous daitengu of Mount Kurama | |
| * Sōgenbi - the fiery ghost of an oil-stealing monk | |
| * Son Gokū - the monkey king Sun Wukong from Journey to the West | |
| * Soragami - a ritual disciplinary demon in the form of a tengu | |
| * Soraki-gaeshi - the sound of trees being cut down, when later none seem to have been cut | |
| * Sorobanbōzu - a ghost with an abacus | |
| * Sōtangitsune - a famous fox from Kyoto | |
| * Sunakake-baba - the sand-throwing hag | |
| * Sunekosuri - a small dog- or cat-like creature that rubs against a person's legs at night | |
| * Suppon-no-yūrei - a ghost with a face like a soft-shelled turtle | |
| * Suzaku - the vermilion bird of the south | |
| T | |
| * Taimatsumaru - a tengu surrounded in demon fire | |
| * Taka-onna - a female spirit which can stretch itself to peer into the second story of a building | |
| * Tamamo-no-Mae - a wicked nine-tailed fox who appeared as a courtesan | |
| * Tankororin - an unharvested persimmon which becomes a monster | |
| * Tanuki - a shapeshifting raccoon dog | |
| * Tatami-tataki - a poltergeist that hits the tatami mats at night | |
| * Tengu - the infamous bird-man demon of the mountains | |
| * Tenjōname - the ceiling-licking spirit | |
| * Tennin - a heavenly being | |
| * Te-no-me - the ghost of a blind man, with his eyes on his hands | |
| * Tesso - the ghost of the priest Raigō, who transformed into a swarm of rats | |
| * Tōfu-kozō - a spirit child carrying a block of tofu | |
| * Toire-no-Hanakosan - a ghost who lurks in grade school restroom stalls | |
| * Tōtetsu - the Taotie monster of China | |
| * Tsurara-onna - an icicle woman | |
| * Tsuchigumo - a giant spider which was defeated by Minamoto no Raikō | |
| * Tsuchikorobi - a tumbling monster which rolls over travelers | |
| * Tsuchinoko - a legendary serpentine monster, now a cryptid resembling a fat snake | |
| * Tsukumogami - inanimate objects that come to life after a hundred years | |
| * Tsurube-otoshi - a monster that drops out of the tops of trees | |
| U | |
| * Ubume - the spirit of a woman who died in childbirth | |
| * Uma-no-ashi - a horse's leg which dangles from a tree and kicks passerbies | |
| * Umibōzu - a giant monster appearing on the surface of the sea | |
| * Umi-nyōbō - a female sea monster who steals fish | |
| * Ungaikyō - a mirror monster which can display assorted wonders in its surface | |
| * Ushi-oni - a name given to an assortment of ox-headed monsters | |
| * Uwan - a spirit named for the sound it shouts when surprising people | |
| W | |
| * Wanyūdō - a flaming wheel with a man's head in the center, which sucks out the soul of anyone who sees it. | |
| Y | |
| * Yagyō-san - a demon who rides through the night on a headless horse | |
| * Yakubyō-gami - spirits who bring plagues and other unfortunate events | |
| * Yadōkai - monks who have turned to mischief | |
| * Yama-biko - a creature that creates echos | |
| * Yama-bito - the wild people who live in the mountains | |
| * Yama-chichi - a mountain spirit resembling a monkey | |
| * Yama-inu - the fearsome mountain dog | |
| * Yama-otoko - the giant mountain man | |
| * Yama-oroshi - a radish-grater spirit, a pun on a word for "mountain storm" | |
| * Yamata-no-Orochi - the eight-headed serpent slain by the god Susanoo | |
| * Yama-uba - the mountain hag | |
| * Yama-waro - a hairy, one-eyed spirit, sometimes considered a kappa who has gone into the mountains for the winter. | |
| * Yanari - poltergeists which cause strange noises | |
| * Yatagarasu - the three-legged crow of Amaterasu | |
| * Yato-no-kami - deadly snake-gods which infested a field | |
| * Yomotsu-shikome - the hags of the underworld | |
| * Yōsei - the Japanese word for "fairy" | |
| * Yosuzume - a mysterious bird that sings at night, sometimes indicating that the okuri-inu is near | |
| * Yukinko - a child-like snow-spirit | |
| * Yuki-onna - the snow woman | |
| Z | |
| * Zashiki-warashi - a protective child-like house spirit. | |
| * Zennyo Ryūō - a rain-making dragon | |
| * Zunbera-bō - another name for the noppera-bō |
Sign up for free
to join this conversation on GitHub.
Already have an account?
Sign in to comment
So interesting. Thank you ♥