Yokai: The Art of Shigeru Mizuki

by Shigeru Mizuki

Manga’s most beloved creator ventures into Japan’s mythical past and emerges with a menagerie unlike any other


Shigeru Mizuki is no stranger to the supernatural and its portents. Kitaro and Tono Monogatari reimagined the obscure folktales of his youth, bringing them to life with whimsy. Mizuki the cartoonist certainly left an indelible mark on comics as world literature. Mizuki the fine artist, on the other hand, rounds out the full scope of his fascination with the otherworldly and fantastic, bringing these worlds to life in robust color.

The Art of Shigeru Mizuki showcases his expertise of not only folklore, but celebrates him as a naturalist. Elements of Mizuki’s lush compositions―flora, fauna, and everything in between―showcase his mastery of form and love for nature. These popular renderings of a disappearing, rural Japan are his contribution to the preservation of a cultural heritage that would have otherwise been forgotten. The grotesque realism central to his body of work is offset by the ingenuity of his fancy for the macabre. Pieces in this deluxe, full-color edition call to mind the playful pop-sensibility of Maurice Sendak informed by the technical prowess of traditionalists like Dürer and Doré. And like any other Mizuki classic, each oeuvre is a unique snapshot of spirit, human or otherwise, in constant transition.

The Art of Shigeru Mizuki includes supplementary writing by acclaimed Mizuki scholar and translator Zack Davisson.

Genres: Art, Manga, Nonfiction, Japan, Graphic Novels

176 pages, Hardcover

Published October 15, 2024

About the author

Shigeru Mizuki (水木しげる) was a Japanese manga cartoonist, most known for his horror manga GeGeGe no Kitaro. He was a specialist in stories of yōkai and was considered a master of the genre. Mizuki was a member of The Japanese Society of Cultural Anthropology, and had travelled to over 60 countries in the world to engage in fieldwork of the yōkai and spirits of different cultures. He has been published in Japan, South Korea, France, Spain, Taiwan, the United States and Italy. He is also known for his World War II memoirs and his work as a biographer.

Reviews

[Drew Canole · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful artbook with Yokai creatures, each paired with a short story or description of the creature. The introduction covers Mizuki's artistic career but doesn't shed much light on the origin of these drawings. I'm curious when they were done.

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Drawn & Quarterly hasn't seen fit to provide the provenance to this book; was it an original work on illustrations published by Mizuki when he was alive, or is it a posthumous collection? Each illustration is accompanied by a dictionary entry by Mizuki describing the yokai in question, but, they're not as interesting as the illustrations himself. In his adaptation of Tono Monogatari, Mizuki combined the historical facts with a comic book, which made it engaging to read, but here it's all separate and a distraction from the gorgeous illustrations. Mizuki was at the top of his powers when he made the illustrations of various yokai, and they're all in glorious full-color. This is a perfect book to check out for Halloween, and has something for all ages in it.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shigeru Mizuki is best known as a mangaka (as well a WWII survivor, although, apparently the arm he lost in the war wasn't his drawing arm), with his work GeGeGe no Kitaro having many adaptations. Along with manga, Mizuki has also done kamishibai (paper theatre) and yōkai artbook-encyclopedias, such as this one.