The is an

18th century The 18th century lasted from 1 January 1701 (represented by the Roman numerals MDCCI) to 31 December 1800 (MDCCC). During the 18th century, elements of Enlightenment thinking culminated in the Atlantic Revolutions. Revolutions began to ch ...

collection of depicting Japanese ''

yōkai are a class of supernatural entities and Spirit (supernatural entity) , spirits in Japanese folklore. The kanji representation of the word comprises two characters that both mean "suspicious, doubtful", and while the Japanese name is simply ...

'' by poet and painter

Yosa Buson was a Japanese poet and Painting, painter of the Edo period. He lived from 1716 – January 17, 1784. Along with Matsuo Bashō and Kobayashi Issa, Buson is considered among the greatest poets of the Edo Period. He is also known for completing ...

. The whereabouts of the original work are presently unclear; its contents are known from a reprinting released by the Kitada Shisui Collection in 1928. It is thought that the collection was made during the period between 1754 and 1757, when Buson was studying painting in Miyazu,

Tango Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of northern Kyoto Prefecture. Tango bordered on Tanba Province, Tanba to the south, Tajima Province, Tajima to the west, and Wakasa Province, Wakasa to the east. Its abbreviated form name ...

, at the

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

. In total, eight different kinds of are depicted. Some of the works are annotated with just the name of the being portrayed, whereas others include a more detailed story. It has been surmised that, whilst Buson was travelling across Japan, he picked up various stories about different kinds of regional ''yōkai'', and that the ''yōkai emaki'' contains his realisation of those stories. Buson, who excelled in the ''

haiga is a style of Japanese painting that incorporates the aesthetics of ''haikai''. ''Haiga'' are typically painted by haiku poets (''haijin''), and often accompanied by a haiku poem. Like the poetic form it accompanied, ''haiga'' was based on simp ...

''-style, forsook realism, and instead painted his ''yōkai'' in a manner that uniquely resembles modern Japanese ''

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

''. Most traditional paintings of ''yōkai'' from Japan's mediaeval period (1185–1568) portrayed them as supernatural beings, the fearful harbingers of disaster, but works from the Edo period (1603–1868), including Buson's, paint them as familiar, funny, creatures that can be enjoyed as

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...

. This trend continues in modern ''yōkai'' manga, which have their origins in Edo period works like Buson's.

Excerpts of the ''emaki''

File:Buson Bakeneko.jpg, "''

Bakeneko The (, "changed cat") is a type of Japanese , or supernatural entity; more specifically, it is a , or supernatural cat. It is often confused with the , another cat-like . The distinction between them is often ambiguous, but the largest difference ...

'' of the Sasakibara Family" File:Buson Akago-no-kai.jpg, "''Akago no kai''" File:Buson Nopperabo.jpg, "The ''

Noppera-bō The or 野箆坊, or faceless ghost, is a Japanese yōkai that looks like a human but has no face. They are sometimes mistakenly referred to as a '' mujina'', an old Japanese word for a badger or raccoon dog. Although the ''mujina'' can assume ...

'' of

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

" File:Buson Ubume.jpg, "The ''

Ubume are Japanese yōkai of pregnant women. They can also be written as '. Throughout folk stories and literature the identity and appearance of ubume varies. However, she is most commonly depicted as the spirit of a woman who has died during childbi ...

'' of Yokote" File:Buson Yonaki-babaa.jpg, "The ''yonakibabā'' of Enshū" File:Buson Oriental Melon.jpg, "The oriental melon

monster A monster is a type of imaginary or fictional creature found in literature, folklore, mythology, fiction and religion. They are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive, with a strange or grotesque appearance that causes Anxiety, terror ...

of Yamashiro" File:Buson Watermelon.jpg, "The watermelon

of Kizu"

References

{{Reflist 18th-century manuscripts Emakimono