Shinigami Order

Lore & Background

Yōkai as part of Japanese folklore, noting they are a vast range of beings including ghosts, demons, and tricksters. They are also referred to as ayakashi, mononoke, or mamono. In the Edo period (1603 to 1868), artists like Toriyama Sekien (1712-1788) invented new yōkai by taking inspiration from folktales or purely from their imagination. The concept of yōkai varies throughout Japanese culture and historical periods; typically, the older the time period, the higher the number of phenomena deemed to be supernatural and the result of yōkai. According to Japanese ideas of animism, spirit-like entities were believed to reside in all things, including natural phenomena and objects. Such spirits possessed emotions and personalities: peaceful spirits known as nigi-mitama brought good fortune; violent spirits, known as ara-mitama, brought ill fortune. Neither type of spirit was considered to be yōkai. Rituals for converting ara-mitama into nigi-mitama were performed, known as chinkon (鎮魂, lit. 'the calming of the spirits' or 'requiem'). Chinkon rituals for ara-mitama that failed to achieve deification as benevolent spirits became yōkai. Over time, depictions of yōkai in picture scrolls and paintings began to standardize, evolving more into caricatures than fearsome spiritual entities. During and following the Edo period, the mythology and lore of yōkai became more defined and formalized. In Japan before the Meiji period, supernatural beings were rarely referred to as yōkai; most were called by other names, such as oni or bakemono. The word yōkai became the standard term due to Meiji-era scholar Inoue Enryō, who established an academic discipline called yōkaigaku (yōkaiology) in an effort to eradicate superstitions.

Did You Know?

• The kanji representation of the word yōkai comprises two characters that both mean 'suspicious, doubtful'.
• In the Heian period, collections of stories about yōkai were published in multiple volumes, starting with the Nihon Ryōiki and the Konjaku Monogatarishū.
• Yamata no Orochi was originally a local god but turned into a yōkai who was slain by Susanoo.