Youkai: Difference between revisions

{{Useful Notes}}

[[File:Yoshitoshi The Heavy Basket.jpg|thumb|300px|"Various Yokai Flying out of Wicker Clothes Hamper" from the "Omoi Tsuzura" (おもゐつづら), Yoshitoshi]]

 

Supernatural creatures drawn from Western sources often turn out to seem more like youkai in Japanese works.<ref>Fun fact -- the Japanese word for vampire contains the character for oni.</ref> For instance, vampires. In the West you've got Nosferatu—a grotesque, undead monster who burns in sunlight and murders to preserve his hideous unlife.<ref>Notably, this may be used to refer both to the classic film character and to one of the clans in ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'', which features other kinds of vampires, with the same powers and weaknesses, but characteristics that set them apart into clans</ref> In Japan you've got [[Cute Monster Girl|exceptionally cute]] [[Fan Service]] protagonist [[Rosario + Vampire|Moka Akashiya]], who is not undead, harbors no ill-will towards the sun, and drinks tiny amounts of blood that leave her "victim" light-headed at worst, but who has a [[Super-Powered Evil Side]] who can (and will if you look at her the wrong way) kick your ass thoroughly.

== Nekomata ==

A seemingly ordinary cat that develops magical nature through long life. It looks like an ordinary house cat, except for the tail, which splits into two at half-length. While much smarter than it used to be, a nekomata remains just as whimsical, which may be dangerous with its new found powers of illusion and [[Necromancy]]. It's said a cat will become a nekomata after turning 100 years old, where upon its tail splits, it starts using human speech, some how gains [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|transformation]] powers, a greater intelligence, and other [[Screw the Rules, I Have Supernatural Powers|odd abilities]]. The name is often used and confused for [[catgirl]]s. May be a [[Mega Neko]].

* The two-tailed demon-beast in ''[[Naruto]]'' is a two-tailed cat.

* Natsuki, the [[Catgirl]] protagonist of ''[[Hyper Police]]'' is revealed to be a nekomata in a moment of anger (her tail splits in two)

* Tora of ''[[Ushio and Tora]]'' is named for his tiger-like appearance.

* Kirara in ''[[Inuyasha]]''.

* In ''[[Mokke]]'', one episode centers around a nekomata.

* The X-Antibody version of Tailmon from ''[[Digimon]]'' is two-tailed.

* One of the protagonists of ''[[Omamori Himari]]'' is a shapeshifting cat.

* Rin's familiar in ''[[Blue Exorcist]]'' is one, and can grow to become [[Mega Neko|gigantic]].

* ''[[Nekogami Yaoyorozu]]'': Mayu and Sasana as well as their family are [[Catgirl|cat]] gods.

 

==Tsukumogami==

* The Anthology ''[[Border Town]]'' contains the short story "Demon" which has a tsukumogami in the form of a teapot.

* This can be the only explanation for a good half of the [[So Bad It's Good|monstrosities]] strewn throughout Steve Moraff's [http://bimshwel.com/renk/moraff/unforgiven.htm Dungeons of the Unforgiven].

 

==Oni==

=== Examples ===

* A few side characters (The Ogre Triad, the winner of the final tournament, etc.), and probably Jin and Shishiwakamaru, of ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]''.

* Appear as enemy assassins in ''[[Guild Wars]]: Factions''. They serve the greater demon Kanaxai who dwells in [[Dug Too Deep|The Deep]].

* [http://soulcalibur.wikia.com/wiki/Kamikirimusi Kamikurimusi] is essentially ''[[Monster Girl Encyclopedia]]'' version considering [[Defeat Means Friendship|she beats up the game's endboss]] and lives out the rest of her life with him. D'aaaw.

* Ririchiyo and Shoukin from ''[[Inu x Boku SS]]''

* ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' has not only the basic Oni footsoldier, but even several of the more powerful named Oni, such as Ongyo-Ki and his gang.

Literally meaning "snow woman", Yuki-onna appear as beautiful women in snowy, cold, or mountainous regions. Some incarnations sleep with lone travelers to steal valuable body warmth, others will simply make them get lost during their travels to freeze to death, yet others will kill travelers by tricking them into touching them or a baby they hold in their hands. More benevolent Yuki-onna will either lead the victims to safety or leave them alone; the more wicked ones will lead them astray to begin with and use them.

=== Examples ===

* Letty Whiterock from the ''[[Touhou Project]]''

* Yukina of ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', technically Hiei, Toya may be some relation.

* The Tengu from ''[[Guild Wars]]'' are native both to the European-style Tyria(where they are universally hostile) and to the Eastern-themed Cantha(where one clan is friendly). A branch family modeled after the quetzal bird can be found in the Tarnished Coast.

** The tengu clans have reunited in the sequel and formed a neutral nation of their own, the Dominion of Winds. Due to years of being treated as monsters and their recent forced exile from Cantha, the nation is understandably reluctant to make allies.

* ''[[Achaea]]'' has wild Tengu in one of the forests. They appear as winged black kittens, and are about as cute as you'd expect flying kittens to be.

* ''[[Bleach]]'' has Love's zanpakuto modeled after a Tengu's nose, being [[BFS|absurdly large]] and being named [[Meaningful Name|Tengumaru]].<ref>-maru is a common ending for a Japanese male name.</ref>

** [[In Name Only]]: the fact that its a [[Carry a Big Stick|huge Kanabo]] and Love's mask make him modeled more after the Oni (see above).

* [[SCP Foundation]]-[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-746 746].

* One of the first story arcs in ''[[Yaiba]]'' features a village which is infested by a mischievous Tengu who steals their food. It's actually revealed to be [[Miyamoto Musashi|Musashi]] with a Tengu mask on.

* The Mountain God in ''[[Hell Teacher Nube]]'' has several Tengu as his minions, and he often uses them to sever Nube and Yukime's bonds to one another. One of them almost succeeded in killing Nube using its giant wind-blowing leaf, which it first used to blow bad daydreams into Nube's mind and then went for the more direct approach of blowing Nube onto the train tracks as a train sped by.

** There is also a [[Monster of the Week]] in the third season of ''MMPR'' (Professor Long Nose) whose design adheres more to the classic tengu image.

* ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'', like the oni example above, has several types of Tengu running around: from tiny annoyances (Koppa Tengu), to evil corruptive spirits (Karasu Tengu) to competent, powerful warriors (Kurama Tengu), each modelled after a different branch of Tengu.

 

==Baku==

==Tsuchinoko==

A snake-like creature with a long, wide body. It is mostly harmless to most people, unless awoken from its sleep as its venom can fell a man instantly.

* You can catch a tsuchinoko if you're lucky in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]''. [[Fridge Logic|Which is odd]], since it takes place in Russia. The team congratulates you when you do and you get an achievement (in the [[Updated Rerelease|HD remake]]).

* The [[Pokémon]] Dunsparce is a tsuchinoko.

* A particularly elusive enemy that serves as a [[Metal Slime]] in ''[[Castlevania Aria of Sorrow]]''. Not because it drops a lot of money if killed, but because possessing its soul reduces prices at the shop.

* In ''[[Touhou]]'' canon, specifically ''Strange and Bright Nature Deity'', Marisa adopted a rather cute tsuchinoko as a pet after chasing it out of a fairy's house.

==Nurikabe==

A monster that takes the form of an animate section of wall. It has the power to turn invisible, and likes to use this power to impede travelers.

* During one of the [[School Festival]] episodes of ''[[Azumanga Daioh]]'', as the girls ponder Osaka's idea of an ''obakeyashiki kisaten'' ("haunted cafe"), they imagine Chiyo dressed as a nurikabe.

* In ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'', the Demon Wall you encounter in the Temple of the Ancients acts like a nurikabe, aggressively impeding the exit for our heroes (as opposed to acting as an [[Advancing Wall of Doom]] like its other incarnations throughout the series).

* Wall Face and Doom's Wall from ''[[Secret of Mana]]''

* Whomp from the ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' franchise are based on the nurikabe.

 

==Rokurokubi and Nukekubi==

* The [[Fighting Fantasy]] gamebook ''Sword of the Samurai'' had the protagonist visit an entire village of nukekubi, though the book mistakenly referred to them as rokorokubi.

* In the ''[[Punky Brewster]]'' episode "The Perils of Punky," Cheri is taken by the Spirit and turned into either a rokorokubi or a nukekubi (you cannot really tell),

* Kubinashi from ''[[Nurarihyon no Mago]]'' is a nukekubi.

 

* The first boss of ''[[Okami]]'' is based on the Jorogumo (translated as Spider Queen). You later meet the Tsuchigumo (Bandit Spiders) as [[Bonus Boss]].

* One appears in ''[[Hellboy Animated]]: Sword of Storms''

* ''[[Throne of Blood]]'', [[Akira Kurosawa|Kurosawa Akira's]] adaptation of ''[[Macbeth]]'', exchanges [[Lost Woods|Birnam Wood]] for Spider's Web Forest, possibly invoking these creatures from Japanese folklore.

* Though it may have been entirely unintentional, the eponymous creature of Stephen King's ''[[IT]]'' has much in common with this particular brand of youkai. Its (It's?) true form is a gigantic spider, and throughout the story appears in several humanoid shapes, most notably [[Monster Clown|Pennywise the Clown]]. The balloons are strictly of King's invention, though.

* The [[Inuyasha|Raiju Brothers]] [[Psycho Electro|Hiten]] and [[Fat Bastard|Manten]]. They're both humanoid (with Hiten being totally human-like while Manten has a monstrous head) and they [[Villainous Valor|do care for each other]]. The anime filler also introduces their little sister [[Cute Bruiser|Soten]].

* [[Evil Sorcerer|Shiro Amakusa]] in ''[[Yaiba]]'' turns in a giant, six tailed weasel with huge claws for his showdown with the [[Kid Samurai]]. However, it doesn't sport any thunder-related ability.

* Raiju is one of the summoning in ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]''.

* The manifestation of the Thunder card in ''Cardcaptors/[[Cardcaptor Sakura]]'' is Raiju, the Thunder Beast. It looks like a big electric wolf.

 

{{examples|Works that feature youkai include:}}

* ''[[Amatsuki]]'' features many various different kinds of youkai, known here as "ayakashi", including spirits, and ghosts. In fact, about half the main cast are ayakashi.

* The villain in Disney's animated film ''[[Big Hero 6 (Disney film)|Big Hero 6]]'' is a figure in a [[Kabuki]] mask known as "Yokai". Although not a literal youkai, he actively styles himself upon them.

* ''Demon's World'', an obscure arcade game also known as ''Horror Story'', features many enemies from various mythologies, and in the Japan-esque stage you get to fight kappa, karakasa, rokurokubi, and other youkai.

* ''[[Digimon]]'', like ''[[Pokémon]]'', has many youkai-based creatures.

** [[Pathfinder]] as [[Fan Nickname|D&D 3.75]], features many similar monsters and has simply decided to call Ogre Magi Oni and be done with it. They have also expanded to include more types of Oni as well.

* ''[[Gantz]]'' features every youkai ever as aliens in the Osaka arc.

* ''[[Okami]]''

* ''[[Omamori Himari]]'' features several other Youkai in addition to the aforementioned, including an water serpent in a leading role, a Shutendoji and many others in minor parts. Most of the major ones are [[Cute Monster Girl]]s.

* ''Petopeto-san'': Most of the cast are youkai of one kind or another, if not [[Half-Human Hybrid|Half Human Hybrids]].

* ''[[Princess Mononoke]]''

* ''[[Ranma ½]]'' frequently exploited Japanese folklore to provide their [[Monster of the Week]].

* ''[[Saiyuki]]'', in which three out of the four main characters are at least part youkai, as are most of their opponents. Unfortunately, the majority are generic 'demons' - i.e., pointy-eared humanoids with claws - rather than Japanese folkloric Youkai.

* ''[[Samurai Sentai Shinkenger]]'': The enemies are based on Youkai, but not really the Youkai themselves. According to [[Word of God]], they serve as the base of Youkai inspiration.

* ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' has lots and lots of these, in addition to nearly every other culture's demons and spiritual beings, in the main series of games, as well as spin-offs.

* ''[[Shonen Onmyouji]]''

* ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]''

* ''Tactics'', unsurprising since the show chronicles the adventures of a Japanese folklorist who practices Shinto and does exorcisms to make a little on the side.

* ''[[Usagi Yojimbo]]'' has featured nearly every monster from Japanese tradition, from Oni to Kappas to Nues ([[Mix-and-Match Critters|chimera-like]] beasts) and an Obakeneko (vampire cat).

* ''[[Wagaya no Oinari-sama.]]'' has spirits like these, including an entire arc with oni.

* ''Youkai Monsters'', a Japanese movie series.

* ''[[Yozakura Quartet]]''

* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' has many cards based on youkai, particularly the Spirit Monsters who, when summoned, return to your hand at the end of the turn.

* ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]''

* The ''Obake Karuta'', a set of cards with Yokai themes which were used in the Edo Period. An ancestor of the modern [[Pokémon]] and [[Yu-Gi-Oh!]] card games.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Japanese Media Tropes]]

[[Category:Useful Notes/Japan]]

[[Category:Index of Fictional Creatures]]

[[Category:Oral Tradition]]