Book 612
Japanese Yokai and Other Supernatural Beings: Authentic Paintings and Prints of 100 Ghosts, Demons, Monsters and Magicians
Andreas Marks
Tuttle Publishing
Other than PIE International, my two other favorite English-language publishers of Japanese culture are Kodansha and Tuttle. Both publishers make high quality books that are always very well designed and edited. This book is no exception. While this is a compendium of yokai, it is different from any of my other encyclopedias of weird in that this one takes its information almost exclusively from the original source materials. The descriptions, habits, and appearances of the yokai are all taken directly from the rich canon of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century prints, books, and paintings from public and private collections around the world. And as a highlight the book presents two painted handscrollsâA Collection of Monsters and Night Parade of One Hundred Demonsâfrom the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, which are reproduced in this book for the first time.
