'Rice swindler,' 'Face thief': Worried citizens invent new monsters

Japan Times

13-06-2025

Set within a maze of streets in sleepy Tonosho, a large bug-eyed creature painted on a building corner points out directions to confused pedestrians. The odd beast Michi-shirubei doesn't always get it right, but he means well.
The yōkai, a creation of artist Chubei Yagyu, is one of about 900 folk spirit artworks collected at the Yokai Art Museum on Seto Inland Sea's Shodoshima in Kagawa Prefecture. Yagyu, the museum's director and a yōkai artist from the island, and his team run an open competition for sculptures of original, contemporary yōkai. The submissions from Japan as well as an increasing number from abroad are exhibited across four spaces that make up the museum. Last year, they were compiled into the book 'Pop Yokai: Contemporary Character Art of Japan.'
Aspects of daily life have long been imbued with spirits and gods to explain mysterious phenomena, and yōkai dwell within things that provoke fear and anxiety. The sometimes bloodthirsty, aquatic kappa is well known, as is the fearsome jorōgumo, or woman spider. In the Edo Period (1603-1868), these spirits were to be feared, often referred to as 'bakemono' (monsters), but as folklorist Masabu Kagawa writes in 'Pop Yokai,' modern yōkai have evolved from the dreadful and spooky bakemono — today, they include creatures that are cute, humorous and playful.
The new imps created by yōkai enthusiasts reflect the times, surfacing larger themes in the public consciousness. Last year, the museum called for ideas for a 'yōkai of the year.' Of the 3,575 form submissions it received, a clear theme emerged.
'Right now in Japan, (people are saying), 'There's no rice! There's no bichikumai (government stockpiled rice). Rice is expensive. What's happened? It must be yōkai's fault!'' says Atsushi Nomura, who runs PR at the museum.
The "Kome kakushi" (rice swindler) monster is meant to represent concerns over the high price and inaccessibility of rice amid contemporary market upheavals. |
YOKAI ART MUSEUM
So the kome kakushi (rice swindler) yōkai was born, imagined by Yagyu based on the rice-shortage related entries.
Through the museum and book, bigger themes emerge from the last decade. A number of yōkai sculptures related to anxiety over nuclear disaster have been submitted to the contest, which began in 2013, two years after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. 'Yokai josen' (decontamination yōkai), for one, licks away radioactive waste, perhaps a reference to the creepy but helpful akaname, a folk creature said to lick away bathtub scum. The 'Futakuchi to nanakuchi' (two mouths and seven mouths) brothers have multiple mouths in order to take in and purify radioactive air.
Nomura says a lot of yōkai submissions come dotted with eyes.
'We live in a world where we're being watched by an overwhelming number of eyes — in town, at home, outside in the streets. There are video cameras everywhere, creating a surveillance society,' says Nomura. 'People have a sense of fear about being constantly watched.'
Failures in interpersonal communication is another common theme among the yōkai. 'Nohazama' (in between) fills the space between figures on a bench, responding on behalf of a person who's speaking nonsense. 'Kao nusubito' (face thief) is a spirit that steals people's true feelings, which is maybe why everyone on the train seems to be wearing an expressionless mask.
"Pop Yokai: Contemporary Character Art of Japan" compiles a number of new spirits, creatures and monsters that reflect modern Japan's anxieties. |
ROCKBOOK
A number are related to climate change and ecological fears. 'Naraku' (black hole), for example, 'maintains the world's balance by absorbing the products of excess.' But naraku, for all its efforts, is being destroyed by the overwhelming volume of waste. 'Yukionna tominchu' (hibernating snow woman) shows the old yōkai known as 'yukionna' staying dormant out of fear of a warming planet.
Even people's tiniest stressors are reflected at the museum. Outside the main building, visitors can write on ema, wooden plaques typically hung at shrines with people's hopes and prayers. Here, visitors write down their vices and regrets in hopes a new yōkai will be born to whisk away things they'd rather forget. 'I threw out my good friend's winning horse race ticket.' 'I still cry in front of other people, even though I'm an adult.' 'I misspelled the name of my girlfriend of one year.'
In the future, Nomura says, he expects to see new yōkai addressing fears about AI.
'People everywhere are very concerned that AI might end up ruling over us,' he says, 'so I hope that yōkai will appear who can support us by doing things AI can't do.'
The modern yōkai collection shows what's keeping people up at night in Japan. But these aren't passive worrywarts being subsumed by a hopeless morass of fear; through humor and creativity, they attempt to transform their lives full of anxiety into creatures of discomfort.
'Rather than yōkai that trap people, punish them or defeat them, I personally hope for gentle yōkai that quietly stay close to foolish and shallow humans, offering them comfort,' Nomura says.
The Yokai Art Museum is open everyday except for Wednesdays. For more information, visit yokaimuseum.on-the-trip.com/en.html . 'Pop Yokai: Contemporary Character Art of Japan' was released in September 2024. For more information, visit mononokedo.thebase.in/items/90380997.