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Fairy Tale Stories      Children's Fairy Tales      Fairies       Faery Woodlands Magazine      Blog     About Japanese Kami and Yokai 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. There are numerous types of Yokai including; Obake (shapeshifiting) Animals which are thought to have magical powers especially in their ability to create illustions or change shape. Such animals have a tendency to be mischievious or even down right dangerous. They can also be helpful however such as the rabbits which helped people get revenge or the foxes which helped a blacksmith craft a magical sword. Bakeneko (cats) Hebi (snakes) Inugami (dogs) Kawauso (otter) Kitsune (foxes) Mujina (badgers) Ōkami (wolves) Tanuki (A cannin which looks a little like a racoon and so is often translated as raccon or racoon dog) Tsuchigumo (spiders) Usagi (rabbit) Ratto (rat) Saru (Monkey) Tengu  Tengu are a little like a spirit of the forests and mountains which in many folk tales would seek to target Buddist monks above anyone else though they would often use their magical powers to cause harm to anyone.At the same time however they could become the a Kami. As with so many aspects of folklore then their nature dependend on a number of factors and they were not necessarily uniform. Tengu often take the forms of birds of prey and even in human form they have unnaturally long noses. Tsukumogami When an object turns one hundred its spirit often comes to life allowing it to move around as a Tsukumogami. Tsukumogami are generally not dangerous though they are often mischievious. However their exact nature depends on the individual, in some fairy tales of Japan a boy finds an old bowl which helps him to become a master thief by digging through the earth rapidly for him. Because essentually any object can become a Tsukumogami when it turns 100 there isn't really a limit to the number of possible classficiations of this kind. Still a few of the more common ones are Bakezōri (straw sandals) Biwa-bokuboku: (a lute) Boroboro-ton (comforter) Chōchinobake (lanterns) Furu-utsubo (archer's quiver) Kameosa (sake jars) Kasa-obake (umbrellas) Kosode-no-te (kimono robes) Kyōrinrin (scrolls and papers Morinji-no-okama (tea kettles Shirōneri (mosquito net) Ungaikyo (mirrors) Yamaoroshi (grater) Zorigami (clocks) Bowls Humans which have become Yokai During hardship, extream emotions or simply because they allowed themselves to grow increably impure humans can become Yokai. Dorotabō (a dead farmer) Futakuchi-onna (a woman who starved and so grew a mouth in the back of her head and gained hair which could feed this mouth) Rokuro-kubi (humans who elongate their necks) Oni Oni is often translated as ogre, though its also occasionally translated as Goblin or Demon. They have Red blue, brown or black skin, two hords and a fang filled mouth. They can act as a sort of nature spirit but tend as a general rule to be cruel and distructive.