Japan has mysterious shrines to yokai, or ghosts, one of which is the island of Shodoshima.

Most Japanese schoolchildren know the kappa – a frog-turtle hybrid with a concave head that can drag people into a river and drown. There are also tengu – a monster with a scarlet face and long nose, often lurking in the woods – and tanuki – the supernatural variant of raccoon dogs, said to have the power to make a person look silly .

All of them are yokai – or demons in traditional Japanese folklore. These creatures were once used to explain mysterious night phenomena, such as strange noises, lack of food or rain and wind damage to property. Now, as a cultural heritage, yokai are ubiquitous in fairy tales, cartoons, commercials, television and movies.

In Shodoshima, it’s easy to meet mythical creatures lurking around the island. (Photo: James Whitlow Delano/The New York Times)

What makes yokai truly special , however, is that these stories are not frozen in classical lore or confined to a narrow list of familiar characters of Japanese culture. Instead, each generation invents new yokai , aiming to reflect the collective unconscious anxiety about today’s problems.

“Goblin Island”

This shrine of creatures is evident on Shodoshima, a small island in Japan. Here, residents often hold art competitions and invite participants to unleash their imagination to create new youkai for today.

One of the winners of last month’s contest was a blue-haired creature with glowing bright red hearts in its eye sockets. Its creator, Rika Nakamichi, says the image showing the phobia attracts attention and acceptance on social media.

Another piece, now housed in a museum on the island, is a pair of high heels studded with spikes that look like teeth. This “creature” recalls a recent campaign to urge Japanese employers to stop requiring female workers to wear high heels. Another youkai is a lizard with a long tongue that licks subway riders’ faces while engrossed in cell phones.

A drawing of youkai created by local artist Chubei Yagyu, on the wall of the Youkai Art Museum, which has more than 900 depictions of mystical creatures. (Photo: James Whitlow Delano/The New York Times)

“Anything is possible,” said Kazuhiko Komatsu, emeritus professor of cultural anthropology at the International Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto and author of “Introduction to Youkai Culture” become youkai, even things we don’t know exist yet.”

Professional artists and hobbyists from all over Japan submitted 75 spooky and hilarious sculptures to this year’s competition, down from 243 entries in 2013, the first year of the competition. exam.

Along with the monster that “likes” blue, among the finalists is a sickly green youkai that will invade your mouth if you don’t brush your teeth. A yōkai that looks like a piggy bank covered in kanji, pictograms used in Japanese writing, expressing the artist’s fear that these characters might disappear from the culture where people type according to phonetic transcription on smartphone.

Chubei Yagyu, 46, a local artist and contest judge, said: “Different artists have their own rules about what they think is yokai. Creating a new youkai is the best thing about this competition.”

Animist belief

Scholars trace the origins of yokai in literary or artistic references as early as the 11th century. In addition to providing explanations for strange events, yokai can be thought of as physical objects. has life, consistent with early Japanese animist beliefs.

(Ảnh: James Whitlow Delano/ The New York Times)

“Japanese people feel relieved when you name something,” says Mitsuo Takeda, judge of the Shodoshima competition and artist who designed a large installation featuring a bug-eyed youkai. “If you’re weeding and you cut your hand, you wonder what happened,” he said, “but if you think, oh, that’s just a goblin, then you feel calmer.”

A famous 18th-century scholar and artist named Toriyama Sekien compiled an encyclopedia of creatures drawn from his imagination.

In the modern era, manga artist Shigeru Mizuki’s “Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro” series has created a new world of youkai characters that have inspired generations of youkai manga artists and fans alike. next grave.

Japanese pop culture is now filled with descendants of early yōkai, including characters from the Pokémon universe and ghostly creatures of Hayao Miyazaki’s imagination, such as Totoro or goddesses The bathroom in the famous Ghibli movie “Spirited Away”. More recently, the influence of yokai can be seen in the monsters of “Demon Slayer”.

Looking closely, this 1,600-year-old juniper tree in Shodoshima might look like a fire-breathing dragon. (Photo: James Whitlow Delano/The New York Times)

In Japanese folklore, it is said that youkai live among humans in various forms. For example, there are types of yokai that occupy abandoned houses. (Photo: James Whitlow Delano/The New York Times)

Entries from previous yokai competitions at the museum. (Photo: James Whitlow Delano/The New York Times)