Yokai Parade: Supernatural Monsters from Japan

This exhibition introduces Japan’s Yokai culture that has been depicted in picture scrolls and Nishiki-e (“brocade picture,” a type of Japanese multi-colored woodblock print) since ancient times. Presenting the way in which the image of Yokai came to change from a subject of fear to a more charming and friendly presence along with transitions in media from picture scrolls to Nishiki-e, books and toys which would gradually become familiar to the masses, the exhibition showcases the charm of Yokai culture that continues to live within people’s imagination until the present day.

Curated by Yumoto Koichi – Director Emeritus of the Yumoto Koichi Memorial JAPAN YOKAI MUSEUM (Miyoshi Mononoke Museum). Organized by the Japan Foundation.

This presentation of the exhibition at Oglethorpe University Museum of Art (OUMA) was facilitated by Japan Foundation New York in collaboration with the Consulate General of Japan to Atlanta and OUMA.

Image Credit: Minamoto no Yorimitsu Slashes the Tsuchigumo (New Forms of the Thirty-Six Ghosts) Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 1892. Courtesy of the Japan Foundation of New York.