Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

Finally, just the book I'd been looking for for ages!

http://www.amazon.com/Great-Yokai-Encyc ... 7AWL18SSE2

This is a very comprehensive volume on yokai, Japan's folkloric creatures and spirits. I love yokai a lot and I was always sad that there really wasn't a good English-language resource for the creatures - at least not the sort that I wanted. That is, a thick book that was more comprehensive than, say, Yokai Attack and less like the other books I'd encountered - big, ponderous, academic tomes that were never about Yokai exclusively.

All I wanted was a thick book that listed the monsters and included a detailed description for each. My wish? Granted! The Great Yokai Encyclopaedia has a few hundred entries ranging from the more popular Tengu and Kitsune (with these more well-known creatures getting several pages of detail!) to far more obscure creatures such as the Atsuuikakura - a giant, flesh-eating sea cucumber that forms from the undergarments of a dead girl - which may be one of my new favorites. XD

Some minor quibbles: Several of the photographs in the book are super-pixellated, which is unfortunate, and some of the tales aren't sourced very well. I trust they're all genuine due to the extensive bibliography but some more in-text citations would make it a little easier to find more information on a particular topic, I guess.

Despite those *tiny* issues, this book is fantastic. Go buy it!

There's also The Legends of Tono, a collection of folktales that has influenced Japanese culture for more than a century... it was recently adapted as a manga and anime by Shigeru Mizuki.

An English language edition is available from Lexington Books:

http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2010 ... y-edition/

^That one's on my list too (along with Myths and Legends of Japan and Tales of Old Japan).

But first I want Kwaidan (loved the film).

In my raiding used book stores this summer I've ended up with a growing little library of world mythology and folklore books. I'm currently reading Royel Tyler's Japanese Tales.