Shodoshima Yokai Art Museum

The Shodoshima Yokai Art Museum,^[1] also known as the Yokai Bijutsukan Art Museum is a small museum in Kagawa prefecture, which is focused on yōkai, supernatural entities in Japanese folklore.

Description

The museum, directed by Yagyu Chuebi, contains approximately nine hundred examples of Yokai.^[2][3] The museum is located on Shodoshima island, in the area known as the "maze district", in four wooden structures from the Meiji Era.^[2] The collection consists of works by several artists some of which have been acquired through the Yokai Art Contest annually over the past decade.^[2][1]

The origins of yokai folklore go back to the 11th century. The 18th century artist and scholar, Toriyama Sekien, brought attention to yokai folklore through his illustrated encyclopedia of monsters.^[2] Yokai have been described as the human imagination at work to process "fear, awe, and anxiety toward nature and unknown presences that writhe within the darkness."^[4] Yōkai are mischievous creatures, sometimes considered demonic, that shed light on mysterious or unexplained phenomena, for example, damaging winds or noises in the night that cannot be explained.^[2] There are three basic types of yōkai, Obake who are usually depicted as shapeshifting monsters; Yurei, that are ghosts; and the more general Yōkai.^[3]

Gallery

• 
  Far right art detail of scroll depicting Yokai betrothal, marriage, and home life, 16th century or 17th century
• 
  Yōkai artwork from "Kyōsai Kawanabe's Pictures of One Hundred Demons (1890), woodblock printed book (orihon, accordion-style); ink and color on paper.
• 
  Yokai without a head

See also

• Miyoshi Mononoke Museum
• List of museums in Japan