If you've seen a talking two-tailed raccoon dog in GeGeGe no Kitaro, a one-eyed umbrella in Dandadan, or a nine-tailed fox in pretty much any shōnen, you already know yōkai — the richest and strangest category in Japanese folklore, far broader than the word "monster" suggests. This guide covers what they are, where they come from, and which anime represent them best.
What is a yōkai?
Yōkai (妖怪) is a Japanese term covering a huge range of supernatural beings and phenomena: monsters, spirits, shapeshifting animals, everyday objects that come to life after a hundred years of use, and even bodiless atmospheric oddities. Unlike the Western "monster," a yōkai isn't necessarily hostile — it can be terrifying, mischievous, protective, or straight-up funny.
Japanese folklore has been cataloguing yōkai village by village for centuries, and every region has its own. That regional diversity is why anime never runs out of material: there are literally thousands of documented yōkai, each with its own origin legend.
Types of yōkai: a quick map
| Yōkai | What it is | Where it appears in anime |
|---|---|---|
| Oni (鬼) | Ogre/demon, red or blue skin, horns and an iron club (kanabō) | Demon Slayer, Momotaro, Dandadan |
| Kitsune (狐) | Shapeshifting fox, can grow up to nine tails and deceive with illusions | Naruto (Kurama), Inari in Konohana Kitan |
| Tanuki (狸) | Trickster raccoon dog, famous for using its scrotum as a comic shapeshifting tool | Pom Poko, GeGeGe no Kitaro |
| Tengu (天狗) | Mountain spirit, long nose or bird beak, master of martial arts | Noragami, Nurarihyon no Mago |
| Kappa (河童) | Aquatic creature with a shell, beak and water-filled dish on its head | GeGeGe no Kitaro, Summer Wars |
| Yuki-onna (雪女) | "Snow woman," icy beauty who freezes lost travelers | Ranma ½, GeGeGe no Kitaro |
| Nekomata / Bakeneko (猫又) | Cat that develops powers with age, can walk upright and speak | Nurarihyon no Mago, Natsume's Book of Friends |
| Nurikabe (塗り壁) | Invisible wall that blocks the road at night | GeGeGe no Kitaro (his iconic sidekick) |
Toriyama Sekien and the Edo-period catalogue of yōkai
Much of the modern visual language of yōkai — the one we recognize in anime — comes from a single man: Toriyama Sekien (1712-1788), an Edo-period artist. His illustrated encyclopedias, titled Gazu Hyakki Yagyō ("Illustrated Night Parade of a Hundred Demons"), took oral legends scattered across Japan and gave them a fixed, catalogued visual form.
Sekien invented, adapted, or definitively fixed the design of dozens of yōkai that still appear in manga and anime almost unchanged. In many ways, he was the first "character designer" of Japanese monsters — three centuries before anime even existed.
Hyakki Yagyō: the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons
One of the most influential legends in anime is the Hyakki Yagyō (百鬼夜行): on certain nights of the year, hundreds of yōkai march together through the streets of a sleeping town. Crossing paths with the parade unprotected can be fatal; surviving it requires a talisman, a Buddhist sutra, or simply not looking. This image — a nighttime procession of impossible creatures — keeps reappearing in horror and fantasy anime as a visual set piece.
Yōkai in anime: a guide by series
GeGeGe no Kitaro (1968-present)
The foundational work. Created by Shigeru Mizuki, it follows Kitaro, the last survivor of the yōkai tribe, who mediates between humans and supernatural creatures. Practically every classic yōkai from Japanese folklore shows up in an episode somewhere across its many series (the latest, from 2018-2020, is still a perfect entry point).
Nurarihyon no Mago (2010-2011)
Rikuo is half-human, half-yōkai, and heir to the Nura clan of Tokyo yōkai. The series builds a full social world of clans, hierarchies and rivalries between folklore creatures, with Nurarihyon himself — the "supreme boss" of yōkai in the original legend — as its central figure.
Natsume's Book of Friends (2008-2017)
Natsume has been able to see yōkai since childhood and inherits a "book of friends" containing the names of dozens of them, captured by his grandmother. The series treats yōkai with unusual tenderness — they aren't threats to defeat but neighbors from a parallel world with their own sorrows and routines.
Inuyasha (2000-2004)
Set in feudal Japan (sengoku jidai), it mixes folklore yōkai with demons invented for the plot. Youkai here mostly function as action antagonists, but many designs — the kitsune, the fox spirits, the serpent demons — draw directly from the traditional catalogue.
Dandadan (2024-present)
The genre's most recent hit: it blends traditional yōkai with aliens, in a frantic teen-comedy register. Turbo Granny, one of its villains, is a free reinterpretation of modern yōkai urban legends, showing that the folklore keeps mutating and generating new creatures.
Toilet-bound Hanako-kun (2020)
Set at a school, it blends the yūrei of a school urban legend (the bathroom's "Hanako-san") with classic yōkai aesthetics — a good example of how rural folklore transplants into modern urban settings without losing its original logic.
Yōkai vs kami vs yūrei vs oni: clearing up the terms
| Term | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Yōkai | Broad category: any supernatural being or phenomenon from folklore | Kappa, tanuki, nurikabe |
| Kami | Entity venerated in Shinto, tied to shrines and formal worship | Amaterasu, Inari |
| Yūrei | Ghost of a dead person, almost always with unfinished business | Sadako (Ringu), Oiwa |
| Oni | Yōkai subtype: horned ogre/demon, symbol of evil in folk tales | Momotaro, the onis of Setsubun |
| Mononoke | Older, more generic term for "vengeful or possessing spirit" | Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke (loose use of the term) |
To dig into the religious side of this culture, read our guide to Shinto in anime — you'll see why kami and yōkai share a cultural root but don't mean the same thing.
The original GeGeGe no Kitaro manga and illustrated guides based on Toriyama Sekien are the best entry point into the complete catalogue of Japanese folklore creatures.
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Frequently asked questions about yōkai
What is a yōkai?
A yōkai (妖怪) is a supernatural creature, spirit or phenomenon from Japanese folklore. It includes monsters, shapeshifting animals, animated objects and strange natural forces; it isn't always hostile.
What's the difference between yōkai and kami?
Kami are venerated in Shinto and have shrines; yōkai belong to folk legend without formal worship. There's overlap, but they're distinct categories.
Which anime has the most yōkai?
GeGeGe no Kitaro is the foundational classic. Nurarihyon no Mago, Natsume's Book of Friends, Inuyasha and Dandadan also revolve around yōkai.
Are Jujutsu Kaisen's curses the same as folklore yōkai?
Not exactly: curses are born from modern negative human emotions, while traditional yōkai usually originate in nature or old objects.
Who was Toriyama Sekien?
An 18th-century Japanese artist who catalogued and illustrated hundreds of yōkai, fixing the visual design of many that survive to this day.
What is the Hyakki Yagyō?
The legend of the "Night Parade of a Hundred Demons": on certain nights, hundreds of yōkai march through the streets. It's a recurring image in horror anime.
What's the difference between yōkai and yūrei?
A yūrei is the ghost of a dead person. Yōkai is a broader category including animals, objects and phenomena, not only human spirits.
Are yōkai still part of Japanese culture today?
Not as formal religious belief, but they're very much alive in festivals, municipal mascots, video games and local tourism.