The Shodoshima Yokai Art Museum, [1] also known as the Yokai Bijutsukan Art Museum is a small museum in Kagawa prefecture, which is focused on yōkai, supernatural entities in Japanese folklore.
The museum, directed by Yagyu Chuebi, contains approximately nine hundred examples of Yokai. [2] [3] The museum is located on Shodoshima island, in the area known as the "maze district", in four wooden structures from the Meiji Era. [2] The collection consists of works by several artists some of which have been acquired through the Yokai Art Contest annually over the past decade. [2] [1]
The origins of yokai folklore go back to the 11th century. The 18th century artist and scholar, Toriyama Sekien, brought attention to yokai folklore through his illustrated encyclopedia of monsters. [2] Yokai have been described as the human imagination at work to process "fear, awe, and anxiety toward nature and unknown presences that writhe within the darkness." [4] Yōkai are mischievous creatures, sometimes considered demonic, that shed light on mysterious or unexplained phenomena, for example, damaging winds or noises in the night that cannot be explained. [2] There are three basic types of yōkai, Obake who are usually depicted as shapeshifting monsters; Yurei, that are ghosts; and the more general Yōkai. [3]
Xu, Wang. Painting the different sides of Setouchi, China Daily
The Shodoshima Yokai Art Museum, [1] also known as the Yokai Bijutsukan Art Museum is a small museum in Kagawa prefecture, which is focused on yōkai, supernatural entities in Japanese folklore.
The museum, directed by Yagyu Chuebi, contains approximately nine hundred examples of Yokai. [2] [3] The museum is located on Shodoshima island, in the area known as the "maze district", in four wooden structures from the Meiji Era. [2] The collection consists of works by several artists some of which have been acquired through the Yokai Art Contest annually over the past decade. [2] [1]
The origins of yokai folklore go back to the 11th century. The 18th century artist and scholar, Toriyama Sekien, brought attention to yokai folklore through his illustrated encyclopedia of monsters. [2] Yokai have been described as the human imagination at work to process "fear, awe, and anxiety toward nature and unknown presences that writhe within the darkness." [4] Yōkai are mischievous creatures, sometimes considered demonic, that shed light on mysterious or unexplained phenomena, for example, damaging winds or noises in the night that cannot be explained. [2] There are three basic types of yōkai, Obake who are usually depicted as shapeshifting monsters; Yurei, that are ghosts; and the more general Yōkai. [3]
Xu, Wang. Painting the different sides of Setouchi, China Daily