Book Information

Book ID Asin: 0520271025
Book Title: The Book of Yokai: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore
Book Author: Michael Dylan Foster,Shinonome Kijin
Book Format and Price:
Book Format Name: Kindle
Book Format Price: $23.85
Book Format Name: Audiobook
Book Format Price: $0.00
Book Format Name: Hardcover
Book Format Price: $63.07
Book Format Name: Paperback
Book Format Price: $18.29
Book Format Name: AudioCD
Book Format Price: $27.29
Book Price: $18.29
Book Category: Books, Literature & Fiction, History & Criticism and unknown
Book Rating: 1,430 ratings

Book Product Detail

• Best Sellers Rank: #33,184 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #15 in Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology Literary Criticism
  • #80 in Folklore & Mythology Studies

• Customer Reviews:
  4.7 out of 5 stars 1,430 ratings

Book Review

Name: G. Ridgeway
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Absolutely fascinating read
Date: Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2016
Review: I am and have been a long time lover of culture and religion. So much of my reading over the years, focuses on non-fiction titles which can be classified in those two categories.
First off, I have never read anything else by this author, and this is the first book completely dedicated to the yokai that I have read. So my knowledge as well as my experience may be a bit flawed by these facts.
Over all this is a really good book, and a very readable book, the latter will come as a bit of a surprise to those whom are familiar with academic writings. Which this book is, but the author says very early on in the book that his aim while writing was to bridge the gap between academic and lay reading, and I think he did a very good job at this.
Now don't get me wrong, there are a few places where it gets bogged down a bit, in explanation and theory, but it doesn't last long.
I think the most useful thing about this book, not only the obvious that you will gain a lot more understanding about the yokai, but also, how "beings" and "ideas" such as the yokai, have changed, adapted and evolved alongside the Japanese culture, with no break by a competing or subjugating rival religion.
This is something as westerners we do not have the luxury of enjoying when it comes to pre-Abrahamic beliefs, as they did the favor of either erasing, changing or subverting our ancestors pagan beliefs to the point that eventually you have to dig through a cultural array of different "Christian" festivals and traditions, to get the puzzle pieces of one unified idea or another. Doable, and is done.
But its nice for a change to be able to see the entire "horizon" if you will, without having to change our vantage point over and over again.
I think there is a lot to be learned here from that perspective, on top of yokai in general.
In the end, if you have even a faint interest in yokai, and you are relatively or completely new to the study, I imagine this book probably ranks high up there in areas to not only begin but get your footing.

Name: Mato J. Steger
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Highly recommended for anyone interested in Japanese folklore and/or yokai
Date: Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2018
Review: I picked up this book because I really enjoy reading and learning about the lore in all cultures and yokai themselves are such a fascinating topic. I think the thing that makes yokai so fascinating is that they continue to evolve and even to this day they are everywhere in Japan. I think it's one of the few places in the world that's really like that (maybe Iceland to an extent as well). I definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in folklore and/or yokai in general. I know that there were complaints about the lack of images in the book and their quality. However, there are 30 images in a 310 page book(that's counting the back pages of notes, references, and index) so about 10 images per 100 pages. That's pretty decent for an academic-esque book. Also, the images are drawn in a traditional style so yeah. The notes and bibliography are both incredibly useful and have given me a list of more books to buy.

Name: Ivana
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Interesting explanation about the Japanese folklore
Date: Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2021
Review: I was looking for a book in English about Yokai. This one has not a lot of illustrations, but the descriptions are very useful for me. I’m an illustrator and I wanted to understand better the Japanese folklore.

Name: Summer S. Lauffer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good book and very in depth
Date: Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2022
Review: This is a great book but its not a light read. Get read for some really intensive history of where things originate

Name: Z Peralta
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Your Textbook on the Yokais
Date: Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2021
Review: The book offers a textbook approach in presenting yokais. The book presents the creatures ranging from the peculiar up to the horrifying. Some yokais were illustrated (in black and white obviously as is with common textbooks). But what it lacks with colorful illustrations it makes up with colorful descriptions of the yokais.

Name: Wayne Rish
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: I will say I fully enjoy it. I am very interested in Japanese culture ...
Date: Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2016
Review: While I have not finished the book yet, I will say I fully enjoy it. I am very interested in Japanese culture and also the various stories/myths/etc..Also as an artist always looking to learn more about the legends and creatures of different cultures. This book is more of the academic. If you are looking for something with just a bunch of stories of youkai and pictures, then this isn't exactly the book for you. The first part of the book gives a nice look into the history of the youkai in Japanese culture, their evolution, and so on. The second part of the book has a few illustrations and a listing of various youkai with descriptions and mentions some of the tales surrounding them. I would say if you are someone who has been interested in the subject and are looking to learn more about how these various entities appear and evolved in Japanese culture you might enjoy it. If you are looking for a quick summary of youkai, or a more illustrated piece, then you may be disappointed. For me, I gave it 5 stars because I find it quite enjoyable and interesting. Although, that is just my opinion.

Name: john de la cruz
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: half is history and theories about yokai, the other half is a small encyclopedia of yokai
Date: Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2021
Review: First half has history and theories about yokai and discusses up to yokai watch.
For the origin of Gegege No Kitaro, I heard the creator of Hakaba Kitaro was Masami Itou for his kamishibai, and was based on the story of the kosodate yurei and some local folklore. The notes at the back of the book do mention Gegege No Kitaro was based based on the 1932 work of Masami Itou. The yurei parents of Hakaba Kitaro as yokai and the Yurei Tribe as a yokai tribe was probably the innovation of Shigeru Mizuki. Neko Musume was also based on kamishibai which was based on much older stories.
An american yokai artist is mentioned in the text but not sure why his name Matthew Meyer is not mentioned in the text but his name is mentioned in the notes at the back of the book. If Matthew Meyer continues to draw more yokai, maybe one day, he will be able to do more than 900 japan yokai in color. Shigeru Mizuki has done about 900 japan yokai in color.
2nd half of the book is a small yokai encyclopedia arranged by wilds, water, countryside, village/city, home and includes about 37 non color yokai art. Most of the about 37 yokai art are original drawings by manga artist shinonome kijin whose day job is a school teacher. Some entries have no art such as nurikabe, kijimunaa, ningyo, gamishiro (like an ocean version of kappa), mouryou, sunakakebabaa, yukionna, mujina, baabuu (something scary), kubikireuma, jinmenken, zashikiwarashi, so the encyclopedia has about 51 entries.

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