The Yokai Benches of Fukusaki, Himeji, Japan

Just 25 minutes north of Himeji City by train lies the town of Fukusaki. Surrounded by mountains with the Ichikawa flowing through it, it’s just far enough off the beaten path to feel like you’re in the countryside. And, well, you kind of are. Fukusaki is best known for producing mochimugi, or Japanese pearl barley, which has been cultivated here for many generations. But Fukusaki is also the hometown of the folklorist, Yanagita Kunio (1875-1962), and so it has come to be known as a yokai town.

In Japanese, yokai refers to a wide range of supernatural beings, including monsters, demons, spirits, goblins, and ghosts, but also transformed humans, animals, or objects. This is linked to animism, a common belief in Japan that is rooted in Shinto. It holds that all things, from mountains and rivers to pencils and potted plants, possess spirits or life forces, called kami. But yokai can also refer to urban legends or any strange, unexplained phenomena, so the term is quite broad.

So broad, in fact, that it’s possible to dedicate your entire life to studying yokai, which is exactly what Yanagita Kunio did. He started his career as a bureaucrat, but after developing an interest in the folk traditions of rural Japan, he decided to pursue that instead. This led to the establishment of Japanese folklore, or minzokugaku, as a new academic field, and so Yanagita is often called the father of Japanese folklore. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).