Immerse yourself in the yokai images and their mesmerizing detail showcased over more than 500 pages in this epic collection!

Lurking beneath the global obsession with manga and anime, there is a world of Japan's yokai monsters, mutants, and vengeful mononoke spirits, which have long held people's imaginations in their terrifying grip ever since the Edo period (16th-19th centuries). These fearsome creatures are now gathered together in this gorgeous new release that, for the first time ever, shows many enlargements of these masterpieces! Selections include over 60 works chosen from the collection at the Yumoto Koichi Memorial Japan Yokai Museum (Miyoshi Mononoke Museum), Japan's - and, in fact, the world's - only museum specializing in Japanese yokai monsters, each reproduced in high-resolution images with explanations. This compilation provides readers with the rare experience of seeing the brushwork of Edo-era painters like Tsukioka Yoshitoshi in detail firsthand. This is a must-have book for those who love strange worlds and mutant creatures, and for anyone wanting to know more about Japanese yokai monsters.

About the Yumoto Koichi Collection

With over 5,000 works, the Yumoto Koichi Collection is the largest yokai collection in Japan. Spanning from the early modern period to the present day, the collection includes a wide range of artistic genres from paintings and hand-painted scrolls to nishiki-e woodblock prints and handicrafts such as kimono, metalworks, folk art and toys. The donated collection is housed at the Yumoto Koichi Memorial Japan Yokai Museum (Miyoshi Mononoke Museum) in Miyoshi City, Hiroshima Prefecture, and part of the collection tours the world as part of exhibitions overseas.

Yokai are a class of supernatural monsters in Japanese folklore. Yokai have attracted the artists and have been a common theme in art works until these days because of their unique forms and their mysterious behaviours. This book is a visual collection of art works of Yokai in Japan since the Edo period (1603 - 1868). The works are not only paintings but also wood block prints, ceramics, kimonos, children's playthings such as board games, and more. All items that are featured in the book come from personal collections by Koichi Yumoto, who has the largest Yokai art collection in Japan.

Yokai are a class of supernatural monsters in Japanese folklore. In the Edo period (1603-1868), many artists, such as Hokusai Katsushika or Kuniyoshi Utagawa, created works featuring yokai that were inspired by folklore or their own imaginations.

Yokai Wonderland contains many art works of Japanese yokai from the Edo period to today and includes not only paintings but also woodblock prints, scrolls, ceramics, kimonos, wooden sculptures, magazines, toys for children, such as board games, and more.

This is the second series from the Yokai Museum and showcases a new collection of works, including never-before-seen works. All of the works featured in this book are from the personal collection of Koichi Yumoto, who will be opening the Yokai Museum in Hiroshima in 2018. Yumoto's own commentary on the works and the history of yokai are also included.

This book will certainly appeal to Japanese art lovers, fans of yokai and also to those who are new to these fascinating supernatural creatures. It is also a valuable reference and source of inspiration for designers and illustrators.

The absurd and surreal world of Yokai is back with full of stories to tell

Following the success of Yokai Musuem and Yokai Wonderland, we are proud to publish Yokai Storyland, the third book from Yumoto Koichi, renowned Yokai art collector who has collected more than 4,000 artworks ranging from paintings, sculptures, books, magazines, toys and many more.

In response to great demand from readers wanting to know more details about the meaning, background and stories behind each illustration, this time we have focused on collecting Yokai story books and manga. Very rare, never-before-seen materials (books/manga) are showcased in an immersive full-size, full-page format to give a more realistic feeling. They are all accompanied by full translations and notes to make the content of the manga more accessible to readers. Yokai Storyland will be a treasure trove of information for those who are eager to know everything in detail about Yokai stories. It also presents Japanese culture from a whole new and different perspective.

This book is divided into three chapters.
Chapter 1 explores the world of Yokai stories in the Edo and Meiji periods by introducing seven stories.
Chapter 2 sheds a light on a quirky manga from the Edo period titled Jinmen-Zoshi (The Book of Faces). This manga was briefly introduced in Yokai Wonderland but only in a few pages with small images. But in this book, it is introduced in full-size, full-page format and with a full translation. All the characters have the same comical look, which is supposed to be cute but actually gives an uncanny, strange, and even frightening impression. The art works show these strange characters entertaining themselves in the city of Edo, but little is actually known about The Book of Faces, beyond these depictions, including the origins of these characters.
Chapter 3 is a Yokai encyclopedia featuring around fifteen characters selected from the book, fully introduced and explained.