Dedicated to the study of fairies.                           .

Enter your search terms   Web www.zeluna.net Submit search form Fairy Tales Home Fairies Norse-Franco-German Fairy Tales Norse Franco German Fairies Gernan Fairy Tales Swedish Fairy Tales Norwegian Fairy Tales French Fairy Tales & More tales Celtic Fairy Tales Celtic Fairies Welsh Fairy Tales Irish Fairy Tales & More Tales Fairy Blog Fairy Songs Origins of Europes Fairies & More Fairy Articles Finno-Baltic-Siberian Fairy Tales Finno-Baltic-Siberian Fairies Finnish Mythology Estonian Mythology Mari-el Fairy Tales & More Tales Greco-Roman Mythology Greco-Roman Fairies Greek Fairy Tales Roman Mythology Slavic Mythology Slavic Fairies Russian Fairy Tales Polish Fairy Tales & More Tales Tales of Other Lands Fairies of Other Lands Japanese Fairy Tales Chinese Folktales & More Tales Fairy Tales for Kids Children's Dutch Fairy Tales Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know

Fairy Tale Stories      Children's Fairy Tales      Fairies       Faery Woodlands Magazine      Blog     About Fairies of Other Lands Japanese Kami and Yokai Kami - Some Kami are in many ways similar to the original fairy beliefs of Europe, and it is these Kami which this website is primarily concerned with. Kami is a complex term, one which is often translated into English as spirit, god or occasionally fairy. In truth all of these terms may fit sometimes but not all the time. Fairies might seem to fit the best if given the original place of fairies in European mythology but in modern lore the term has changed so much that most people who have not studied fairies extensively would not see this. Yokai  - Yokai are magical beings in the Japanese belief systems which exist outside the sacred space of Kami. There isn't a hard or fast definition to Yokai because of all the folklore and religions I've studied none has so many different types of beings as the Japanese do. In essence, however, Yokai can be said to supernatural beings which for whatever reason are not considered to be Kami or some other supernatural being. Kalasha and Nurastani of the Hindu Kush Wedged high in the Hindukush of North Afghanistan and Pakistan, in some of the most isolated valley’s in the world rests a series of small villages whose people have retained the roots of their Indo-European pagan faith and their belief in fairy like peoples even as the people around them converted to Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and then Islam. It was only a century ago that the Nuristani peoples of Afghanistan converted to Islam and even now some Kalasha people never have. They still live in a world of fairies with sacred lakes from which the rivers spring and mountain gods which guard each of their valleys. They create effigies to those who have passed on from whom they seek guidance and help. Their culture is filled with respect for the natural world which still holds their deities and the fairies on which their crops and lives depend as well as the fear of evil beings which live in the valleys and lakes around them, beings which resemble the fairies, giants and hags of European fairy tales.