Ancient history • 772 CE: In the , there is the statement "
Shinto purification is performed because appear very often in the imperial court," using the word to not refer to any one phenomenon in particular, but to strange phenomena in general. • Middle of the
Heian period (794–1185/1192): In
The Pillow Book by
Sei Shōnagon, there is the statement "there are tenacious ," as well as a statement by
Murasaki Shikibu that "the have become quite dreadful," which are the first appearances of the word . • 1370: In the , in the fifth volume, there is the statement, "Sagami no Nyudo was not at all frightened by ." from the by
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi The ancient times were a period abundant in literature and folktales mentioning and explaining . Literature such as the , the , and various expositioned on legends from the ancient past, and mentions of , , among other kinds of mysterious phenomena can already be seen in them. In the Heian period, collections of stories about and other supernatural phenomena were published in multiple volumes, starting with publications such as the and the , and in these publications, mentions of phenomena such as can be seen. The that appear in this literature were passed on to later generations. Despite the literature mentioning and explaining these , they were never given any visual depictions. In Buddhist paintings such as the
Hell Scroll (Nara National Museum), which came from the later Heian period, there are visual expressions of the idea of , but actual visual depictions would only come later in the Middle Ages, from the Kamakura period and beyond.
Yamata no Orochi was originally a local god but turned into a who was slain by
Susanoo. Yasaburo was originally a bandit whose vengeful spirit () turned into a poisonous snake upon death and plagued the water in a paddy, but eventually became deified as the "wisdom god of the well." and are sometimes treated as gods in one area and in other areas. From these examples, it can be seen that among Japanese gods, there are some beings that can go from god to and vice versa.
Post-classical history Medieval Japan was a time period where publications such as , , and other visual depictions of started to appear. While there were religious publications such as the , others, such as the , were intended more for entertainment, starting the trend where became more and more seen as subjects of entertainment. For examples, tales of extermination could be said to be a result of emphasizing the superior status of human society over . Publications included: • The (about an ), the (about a ), the (concerning serpent/dragon-folk oppressed by a giant centipede
yōkai), the (about ), and the (about a giant snake). These were about that come from even older times. • The , in which
Sugawara no Michizane was a lightning god who took on the form of an , and despite attacking people after doing this, he was still deified as a god in the end. • The , the , (both about
Tamamo-no-Mae), and the (about a monkey). These told of mutations of animals. • The , which told tales of thrown away, not-too-precious objects that come to have a spirit residing in them planning evil deeds against humans, and ultimately get exorcised and sent to peace. • The , depicting many different kinds of all marching together In this way, that were mentioned only in writing were given a visual appearance in the Middle Ages. In the , familiar tales such as
Urashima Tarō and
Issun-bōshi also appeared. The next major change in came after the period of warring states, in the Edo period.
Modern history Edo period • 1677: Publication of the , a collection of tales of various monsters. • 1706: Publication of the . In volumes such as (volume 1) and (volume 4), collections of tales that seem to come from China were adapted into a Japanese setting. • 1712: Publication of the by Terajima Ryōan, a collection of tales based on the Chinese . • 1716: In the specialized dictionary , there is an entry on , which states, "Among the commoners in my society, there are many kinds of (mysterious phenomena), often mispronounced by commoners as Types include the cry of weasels, the howling of foxes, the bustling of mice, the rising of the chicken, the cry of the birds, the pooping of the birds on clothing, and sounds similar to voices that come from cauldrons and bottles. These types of things appear in the , methods of exorcising them can be seen, so it should serve as a basis." • 1788: Publication of the by Masayoshi Kitao. This was a diagram book of , but it was prefaced with the statement "it can be said that the so-called in our society is a representation of our feelings that arise from fear," and already in this era, while were being researched, it indicated that there were people who questioned whether really existed or not. It was in this era that the technology of the printing press and publication was first started to be widely used, that a publishing culture developed, and was frequently a subject of and other publications. As a result, shops that handled such books spread and became widely used, making the general public's impression of each fixed, spreading throughout Japan. For example, before the Edo period, there were plenty of interpretations about what the were that were classified as , but because of books and publishing, the notion of became anchored to what is now the modern notion of .
Meiji and Taishō periods • 1891: Publication of the by
Shibue Tamotsu. It introduced folktales from Europe, such as the Grimm Tales. • 1896: Publication of the by
Inoue Enryō • 1900: Performance of the kabuki play at the
Kabuki-za in January. It was a performance in which appeared numerous such as the , skeletons, , , among others.
Onoe Kikugorō V played the role of many of these, such as the . • 1914: Publication of the by
Mitsutaro Shirai. Shirai expounded on plant from the point of view of a plant pathologist and herbalist. With the
Meiji Restoration, Western ideas and translated Western publications began to make an impact, and Western tales were particularly sought after. Things like , , and were talked about, and were even depicted in classical . Although the were misunderstood as a kind of Japanese or , they actually became well known among the populace through a called by
San'yūtei Enchō, which were adoptions of European tales such as the Grimm fairy tale "Godfather Death" and the Italian opera (1850). Also, in 1908,
Kyōka Izumi and jointly translated
Gerhart Hauptmann's play
The Sunken Bell. Later works of Kyōka such as were influenced by
The Sunken Bell, and so it can be seen that folktales that come from the West became adapted into Japanese tales of .
Shōwa period Since have been introduced in various kinds of media, they have become well known among people from all walks of life. The from before the war, the
manga industry, shops that continued to exist until around the 1970s, and television all contributed to the public knowledge and familiarity with . play a role in attracting tourism and revitalizing local mecca regions such as
Tōno in
Iwate Prefecture (where stories in
Kunio Yanagita's '''' were collected) or
Tottori Prefecture (
Shigeru Mizuki's birthplace). In this way, are spoken about in legends in various forms, but traditional oral storytelling by the elders and the older people is rare, and regionally unique situations and backgrounds in oral storytelling are not easily conveyed. For example, the classical represented by can only be felt as something realistic by living close to nature, such as with (
Japanese raccoon dogs),
foxes and
weasels. Furthermore, in the suburbs and other regions, even when living in a primary-sector environment, there are tools that are no longer seen, such as the
inkstone, the (a large cooking pot), or the (a bucket used for getting water from a well), and there exist that are reminiscent of old lifestyles, such as the and the . As a result, even for those born in the first decade of the
Shōwa period (1925–1935), except for some who were evacuated to the countryside, they would feel that those things that become are "not familiar" and "not very understandable." For example, in classical , even though people understand the words and what they refer to, they are not able to imagine it as something that could be realistic. Thus, the modernization of society has had a negative effect on the place of in classical Japanese culture. On the other hand, the introduced through mass media are not limited to only those that come from classical sources like folklore, and just as in the Edo period, new fictional continue to be invented, such as scary school stories and other
urban legends like and , giving birth to new . From 1975 onwards, starting with the popularity of , these urban legends began to be referred to in mass media as "modern ." This terminology was also used in recent publications dealing with urban legends, and the researcher on , , used this especially frequently. and Mizuki himself, through , created about 30 new . There has been much criticism that this mixing of classical with newly created is making light of tradition and legends. However, since there have already been those from the Edo period like Sekien Toriyama who created many new , there is also the opinion that it is unreasonable to criticize modern creations without doing the same for classical creations too. Furthermore, there is a favorable view that says that introducing various characters through these books nurtured creativity and emotional development of young readers of the time. == Comparison with yaoguai ==