Something Wicked from Japan: Ghosts, Demons & Yokai in Ukiyo-E Masterpieces
- Downloads：2652
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-09-05 06:55:48
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Ei Nakau
- ISBN：4756248101
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
Japanese folklore is a goldmine of terrifying supernatural Yokai monsters， demons， phantoms。 A large number of Ukiyo-e woodblock printings created in Edo period （1603-1868） depict these monstrous beings in the illustrations of popular folk tales and horror stories。 This book contains 70 Yurei （ghosts）， Oni （demons）， Kaijin （sorcerers） and Yokai （supernatural monsters） with a basic introduction to each creature's story in J/E bilingual text。 These phantoms and monsters are described vividly in 120 Ukiyo-e art pieces， all created by great masters such as Hokusai， Hiroshige， Kuniyoshi and so on， giving readers a clear and terrifying image of what such supernatural figures might look like。 These images have been passed down through the years， and many art genres in Japan today， including manga and games， are heavily influenced by them。 This is the best reference book for Japanese art lovers， folk culture lovers， as well as Japanese pop-culture lovers。 It also offers fresh ideas for those searching for new inspirations for tattoo art and design。
Reviews
Cass Kay
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As a beginner dipping into Japanese mythology， I really enjoyed this collection。 The artwork was beautiful and captured each story so vividly， I could see the tales play out like little movies。 The collection of stories were easy to read and opened my eyes into Japanese lore。Great reference book。
Dylan Rock
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A fantastic collection of Japanese artwork dealing with the spirits， demons and other supernatural creatures which populate the rich folklore of Japan
Hannah
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There are some pages in here that are really neat for Naruto fans; artwork of sages with toads and nine tailed fox demons and the like。 I do wish it was a bit more descriptive。
Eva Fajcikova
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Beautiful book！ The design is superb， I learned a lot。
Tatiana
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Collection of mesmerising， endlessly beautiful and fascinating Japanese artworks on the topic of folklore horror stories。 Bliss for the eyes。
Allysa Peck
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Very informative for anyone with an interest in yokai folklore and ukiyo-e paintings。 Also， beautiful illustrations。
Eden Wen
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Really beautiful artwork and stories。
Poe
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The book was a present from someone who knows I like monsters and ghost stories。 I loved the design and that the text is both in English and Japanese。The only small issue for me was the binding， it messes up the double-side printed pictures。
Pedro Pascoe
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Not much to say about this book other than to say it is a delightful visual romp through Japanese ukiyo-e monsters， demons and all sorts， with basic textual information accompanying each image。As such， perhaps a little more depth of explanation and background may have turned this from an impressive visual book to a greater understanding of Japanese folklore/horror。But there are other books out there that will do a better job of that。 Best to sit back and enjoy the spooks！
JaumeMuntane
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Un fascinante recorrido visual per el imaginario fantástico japonés de fantasmas， demonios y yokais en distintas representaciones de los mismos en ukiyo-e de renombrados artistas japoneses。 Contiene pequeñas descripciones para poner en antecedentes el contexto de la representación gráfica。Un libro eminentemente visual pero muy atractivo。 Fascinante la imaginación japonesa en varias obras en su mayor parte del s。 XVIII y XIX。En breve se edita la edición en castellano por parte de Satori， editoria Un fascinante recorrido visual per el imaginario fantástico japonés de fantasmas， demonios y yokais en distintas representaciones de los mismos en ukiyo-e de renombrados artistas japoneses。 Contiene pequeñas descripciones para poner en antecedentes el contexto de la representación gráfica。Un libro eminentemente visual pero muy atractivo。 Fascinante la imaginación japonesa en varias obras en su mayor parte del s。 XVIII y XIX。En breve se edita la edición en castellano por parte de Satori， editorial que siempre nos deleita con buenas obras en su catálogo。 。。。more
Darcy
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An interesting book about the ukiyo-e （woodcut prints and paintings of a certain period） focussing on demons and ghosts of Japanese culture。Exciting to see Hokusai prints in here and learn pieces of Japanese legends and folklore。 The four stars， instead of five， is because the book is beautifully printed， except many pictures cross the pages meaning the fold obscures part of the picture。 Furthermore， this is only a taster of the legends， which are not fully told， leaving me lost at times。
Sharon Barrow Wilfong
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This was such a delightful book。 All of you who like paintings of the supernatural and are interested in the Japanese concept of things that go bump in the night， will enjoy this collection of traditional Japanese art about， well， ghosts， demons and yokai （supernatural monsters）。The book is not coffee table size， more 8' by 10'， but all the paintings are in color and have both full and detailed views。 Also， each painting is accompanied by an explanation of the story depicted and the Kabuki actor This was such a delightful book。 All of you who like paintings of the supernatural and are interested in the Japanese concept of things that go bump in the night， will enjoy this collection of traditional Japanese art about， well， ghosts， demons and yokai （supernatural monsters）。The book is not coffee table size， more 8' by 10'， but all the paintings are in color and have both full and detailed views。 Also， each painting is accompanied by an explanation of the story depicted and the Kabuki actor who is painted in as the character。The subject matter is scary， exciting， and suspenseful。 The paintings are dramatic with rich color and highly expressive postures and facial expressions。Something Wicked will intrigue and spark your interest the stories behind these paintings and perhaps have you looking for books on Japanese folk lore。 。。。more
Nymeria
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As a foreigner who barely knows Japanese mythology， I have found this book amazing。 Its pages are full of ukiyo-e pieces， each one with a description about the creatures who are portrayed。 Sometimes， there are different pieces related to the same creatures because of the amount of authors who followed the ukiyo-e style。 Although the descriptions can result too plain， I think they are more suitable than long explanations to this type of book。 Otherwise， people who feel clueless about this subject As a foreigner who barely knows Japanese mythology， I have found this book amazing。 Its pages are full of ukiyo-e pieces， each one with a description about the creatures who are portrayed。 Sometimes， there are different pieces related to the same creatures because of the amount of authors who followed the ukiyo-e style。 Although the descriptions can result too plain， I think they are more suitable than long explanations to this type of book。 Otherwise， people who feel clueless about this subject can give up reading easily。 This is the reason why I believe that Something Wicked of Japan is a great introduction to Japanese mythology and ukiyo-e。 Maybe， if the reader already knows about both subjects， this book could result a bit annoying for them， but they should have a look at it anyway。 It is always impressive to see how these authors were able to copy this style， reaching the point that it's difficult to guess who is the author of each piece due to the similarities between the different copies of a same picture。 。。。more
Travis
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A somewhat random book choice I encountered at the library。 I was interested in it primarily for the monsters， but unfortunately a large chunk-- maybe the first third or so of the book-- is about ghosts。 I think ghost stories are kind of boring， and they all feel the same more or less。 And I had read Yurei Attack！: The Japanese Ghost Survival Guide so there was even less novel about them。 There were a few interesting parts to this， like the ukiyo-e with foldable flaps too reveal ghostly transfor A somewhat random book choice I encountered at the library。 I was interested in it primarily for the monsters， but unfortunately a large chunk-- maybe the first third or so of the book-- is about ghosts。 I think ghost stories are kind of boring， and they all feel the same more or less。 And I had read Yurei Attack！: The Japanese Ghost Survival Guide so there was even less novel about them。 There were a few interesting parts to this， like the ukiyo-e with foldable flaps too reveal ghostly transformations， or even to mimic the fast costume changes of kabuki plays that were the more immediate inspiration of the prints。 And that is something else I realized in reading this， that the prints are in most cases less an attempt at presenting a ghost or monster as it would have appeared， and more an attempt to depict it as it would appear in theater， already interpreted into a specific context。 Nothing too strange there， but since I don't really get the aesthetics of kabuki it is less engaging than I would hope。But after skimming through the ghosts and stuff， I found sections on sorcerers （new Japanese word for me: youjutsushi） and monsters as I had hoped。 There were actually some novelties for me， like a mountain shark and a demonic flying squirrel/bat thing that I need to look into more， as well as tales of bandit sorcerers learning magic from toads and spiders。 I just wish the English captions were better done。 As I have seen with other books like this （primarily Japanese， but published with English translations） they tend to be a bit terse， don't fully match the original Japanese text， and in some cases seem to be wrong， like a block of text that is exactly repeated in the section on toad sages; the second instance made more sense since it was text describing a scene in an image， and the first instance of the text lacked the accompanying image。 I also would have liked a more coherent explanation of the story behind many of the images; too often they were very brief and the information appeared to be spread across several different captions， much of which was repetitive， but would contain just a tiny bit more detail。 。。。more
Emmy
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