Pandemonium and Parade

by Foster, Michael Dylan

• ISBN13: 9780520253629
• ISBN10: 0520253620
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-11-17
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr

Summary

Water sprites, mountain goblins, shape-shifting animals, and the monsters known asyocirc;kaihave long haunted the Japanese cultural landscape. This history of the strange and mysterious in Japan seeks out these creatures in folklore, encyclopedias, literature, art, science, games, manga, magazines, and movies, exploring their meanings in the Japanese cultural imagination and offering an abundance of valuable and, until now, understudied material. Michael Dylan Foster tracksyocirc;kaiover three centuries, from their appearance in seventeenth-century natural histories to their starring role in twentieth-century popular media. Focusing on the intertwining of belief and commodification, fear and pleasure, horror and humor, he illuminates different conceptions of the "natural" and the "ordinary" and sheds light on broader social and historical paradigms--and ultimately on the construction of Japan as a nation.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Note on Japanese Names and Terms

Introduction to theWeird

Natural History of theWeird: Encyclopedias, Spooky Stories, and the Bestiaries of Toriyama Sekien

Science of theWeird: Inoue EnryO, Kokkuri, and Human Electricity

Museum of theWeird: Modernity, Minzokugaku, and the Discovery of YOkai

Media of theWeird: Mizuki Shigeru and Kuchi-sake-onna

YOkai Culture: Past, Present, Future

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.