Understanding Youkai

Youkai (or yōkai) are the stars of Japanese folklore and urban legends, highly integrated in the Japanese culture and psyche, going back to ancient times. While youkai is the most modern term for the concept, ayakashi, bakemono, mononoke, can also be used in the same difference.

Typical translations for “youkai” include “spook,” “spirit,” “phantom,” “monster,” with “demon” being the most commonly used. This standard “demon” translation, however, creates certain stigmas and can lead Westerners to misunderstand exactly what youkai are. “Demon” is as much a cultural idea as “youkai” is, and carries these same cultural (and Biblical) connotations. Generally, youkai are very much of earth and nature (references can be found in some of the first encyclopedias of Japan), no association whatsoever as tempters to the devil (or equivalent) corrupting humans into sin, as the West might associate with “demonic.” It is paramount to keep in mind translating is not an exact science, but ballpark estimates. Youkai are best appreciated in their own terms, in their native Japanese cultural context, free of Western implications. 

In Japanese, youkai (妖怪) is written with the word “you” (妖)—“other worldly,” “not of earth,” and “kai” (怪) meaning weird or suspicious. In another way of thinking, youkai are the ultimate “Other,” any unexplainable super-normal phenomena. Youkai is an umbrella term for anything that doesn’t make sense, can’t exist on earth in accordance with the rules of nature, and yet somehow…their presence cannot be denied. Think of mermaids, unicorns, and centaurs: highly prominent in ancient Greek lore and despite all logic and probability, creatures very much of earth.  

In being such a broad label, an extensive variety of life forms fall under the category, ranging from the (yes) demonic to the divine, to the common household object, and everything in between and combination thereof. But, so too can one find Western tales of fairies as malicious beings, regardless of their popular benign depiction. 

Way back when, before science and streetlights, humans had limited means to explain the world around them. Youkai filled this gap—it was a means to turn the horrific unto the comical. They also act as teaching examples for proper behavior: good people received blessings from youkai while evil people were punished. Youkai spirit away naughty child in the way the Western Boogieman or troll might. They are the physical(?) manifestation of human impulses.   

The fascination with youkai has gone through periods of dormancy and those of reassurances, but has never fully disappeared. From simple ghost tales swapped among the locals, to emaki (pictures scrolls) for the upper class that are the foundation of modern manga/comic books, to the ukiyo-e (woodblock prints) to present day art contests. There is something about youkai that satisfies something deep within humans.