Status Updates From The Book of Yokai: Mysterio...

چقدر شگفتی در فولکلور ژاپن نهفته و چقدر زیبایی

This book is stunningly boring. I have been slogging through it for over a year because the information is valuable.

Little bit disappointed with this so far 🙁

“That is, yōkai are a window into something else—into popular thought and Japanese culture. Ultimately, defining yōkai is not important; rather, we should learn to read through the “yōkai-ish thing,” using it as a lens with which to explore “what is on the other side,” the “message” of the text or belief in which yōkai appear. This is a way for people to get a deeper grasp of Japanese culture”

Preparing for the deviantart Yokai art contest. Hopefully I'll find something nice in this that I can use.

"(...) the natural environment is beyond the control of humans but also, more devastatingly, that we humans have created monsters over which we have no control."

This is one of these books that make you frantically keep notes and bibliography and names and after finishing you have a whole page worth of new books to read.

[...] implicit in a question like this is the assumption, however, that there are only two possibilities: belief or doubt. One thing yokai teach us is that between belief and doubt, between the literal and the metaphorical lies a zone of ambiguity that is fertile ground for imagination.

yokai functions as fiction does
半信半疑

[...] implicit in a question like this is the assumption, however, that there are only two possibilities: belief or doubt. One thing yokai teach us is that between belief and doubt, between the literal and the metaphorical lies a zone of ambiguity that is fertile ground for imagination.

yokai functions as fiction does
半信半疑

It takes time to dive in, but still so worth it.

Finished part 1. Academic yet accessible, it was an enjoyable and informative read. Now onto the codex.

So much work, so little time to read!

Maybe I shouldn't have started a book when I know I can't find time to read it

Common and not so common yokai of folklore, inc. yokai that are just 30 years old (urban legends: kuchisake-onna, toire no hanako)

So far exactly the right mix of academic + 'popular' writing

this is a keeper; solid research; in-depth descriptions; i bought it.

researching tengu again; good historical overview.

A young woman would walk up to people on the street. She was attractive, but she wore a large white surgical mask over her mouth. She would tap a stranger on the shoulder and ask, “Am I pretty?” Then she would remove the mask. Her mouth was slit at the corners all the way up to her ears. “Even like this?

They often appear at twilight, that gray time when the familiar seems strange and faces become indistinguishable. They haunt bridges and tunnels, entranceways and thresholds. They lurk at crossroads.

I cannot begin to describe how much I love this book so far.