세모괴(세상의 모든 괴이)

Its name literally translates to 'bean washer,' and it's a yokai that makes wave-like sounds late at night by rivers or under bridges while washing beans in a sieve. It's usually depicted as a bald old man with only hair on the sides, wearing ragged clothes, bent over and washing beans in a sieve, but sometimes it's also described as a child or a monkey. There are tales that if you approach it upon hearing the sound of beans being washed, the sound suddenly stops. Others say that people are mesmerized by the sound and fall into the river, or that they stumble and fall into the river while trying to see where the sound is coming from. The folklore from Gunma Prefecture is particularly unique. It's said to sing a song while washing beans, "Shall I wash beans or eat people?" Hearing this song supposedly clouds one's mind, causing them to fall into the water, or they might flee in surprise only to find their underwear missing when they return home. In the Edo-period ghost story collection 'Ehon Hyaku Monogatari,' it's depicted as a child with an obsessive personality, able to correctly guess the number of beans from one 'go' to one 'sho' without error.

Literally translating to 'two-mouthed woman,' she appears as an ordinary woman but has a large mouth on the back of her head or crown of her head, which eats food with her hair. She is also called 'Kuwa-zu Nyōbō' (the wife who doesn't eat). There was a charcoal seller in a village. He was an extreme miser and married a woman who claimed she didn't eat. His wife truly didn't eat, but as the rice dwindled day by day, the charcoal seller pretended to go to work and hid on a beam. When her husband wasn't visible, the wife made a large amount of rice balls and ate them with the big mouth on the crown of her head. Angered by being deceived, the charcoal seller confronted her, and the wife revealed her true nature and tried to kill him. As the charcoal seller fled, he found an iris, tore off a leaf, and threw it. It pierced his wife's eyes like a blade, and she stumbled, falling into a ravine and dying. Afterward, the charcoal seller completely reformed his stingy ways, married a diligent woman without regard for how much she ate, and lived happily ever after. From that time on, the Japanese are said to have hung iris leaves in front of their houses every May (lunar calendar) to ward off evil spirits.

The name literally translates to 'red foot.' It appears between sunset and midnight on mountain paths or secluded roads, startling people by showing only a red foot. Depending on the region, it's said that without revealing its true form, it tangles the feet with dry cotton or spiderwebs, hindering movement and causing people to fall. While the damage isn't fatal, it was feared as a cause of falls and getting lost. In some areas where the latter occurs, methods to resolve it are passed down, such as taking deep breaths and adjusting stride, sitting down to retie straw sandal laces, or shaking off the feet or ankles. In the Shiaku Islands of Kagawa Prefecture, there's a legend that a red foot suddenly appears at mountain path intersections to block the way. In Fukuoka Prefecture, it's said that while no form is seen, cotton-like substances wrap around the feet, making it difficult to walk. It's sometimes associated with or considered the same entity as the 'Akateji' (red-handed child) from Hachinohe, Mutsu Province, but the exact relationship is unclear due to differing regional legends about these two yokai.

This is a folktale where a person's soul turns into a mouse and wanders around while they sleep, and they perceive these experiences as dreams. Since it's the soul of a living person leaving the body, it's classified as a 'saengryeong' (living spirit). A wife follows a mouse that emerges from her napping husband's nostril. The wife lays down a ruler as a bridge for the mouse when it encounters a door threshold or a puddle. When the mouse digs in a field and then returns to enter the husband's nostril, the husband wakes up. The husband recounts that in his dream, he crossed a difficult path with the help of a fairy, found a golden pot, but returned without it due to lack of strength. The couple later found the golden pot in the field and became rich. There's also a variation where ordinary people have two soul mice, but thieves have three. When the wife killed one soul mouse, the husband became timid and stopped stealing. Mice are animals that steal grain, but they also symbolize fertility and abundance. They are perceived as divine creatures that travel between the earth and the surface, understanding the secrets of nature. Therefore, the soul mouse is interpreted as having a dual nature: bringing hidden wealth from underground and stealing from others.

This is a yokai said to appear in the mountains of the Amakusa Islands in Kumamoto Prefecture. 'Abura' in its name means 'oil,' and 'sumashi' is an Amakusa dialect word for 'to squeeze.' Therefore, it is considered a yokai whose origins are tied to the local custom of extracting oil from camellia seeds. For this reason, there are also tales that it is the transformed spirit of someone who stole oil. While its exact appearance is not clearly passed down in folklore, its image became established after Shigeru Mizuki featured an Aburasumashi with a potato-shaped head, large eyes, wearing a straw raincoat and holding a staff in his manga 'GeGeGe no Kitaro.' According to Amakusa folklore, an old woman taking her grandson through the mountains recalled, "I heard a yokai carrying an oil bottle used to appear here in the past." To which a voice immediately replied, "It still appears~." This brief local legend from Amakusa was later recorded in a magazine by Kunio Yanagita, becoming known throughout the country. It is said that author Shigeru Mizuki then gave it its current form as described above.

The name literally translates to 'mud wall.' It's a yokai that suddenly appears before someone walking on a dark night road and blocks their path. It can appear as a giant wall with sleepy eyes, or as a four-legged beast with three eyes and large ears, or sometimes its form is invisible, and only the smooth texture of a wall can be felt. Even if you try to go around it, it's said to stretch endlessly, making it impossible to pass no matter how far you walk. When encountering a Nurikabe, it's said to disappear if you tap the lower part of the wall. Conversely, tapping the upper part is said to be useless. According to some legends, you can escape by stopping for a break or by taking a different route altogether. Nurikabe was considered a nuisance yokai that didn't directly harm people but rather blocked their path, preventing them from moving forward or causing them to get lost. In Fukuoka, a story is told of a person returning home late at night who was blocked by an invisible wall and couldn't take a single step forward, along with the tip of escaping by taking a detour or fumbling their way out by feeling the ground.

Known as 'Karakasa', 'Kasabake', or 'Kasa-obake', this is an umbrella yokai commonly depicted with one eye on the umbrella, a long red tongue, and arms attached to a single leg. In Muromachi period scrolls of the Hyakki Yagyō (Night Parade of One Hundred Demons), it's shown as a human-like oni wearing a folded umbrella on its head. The form we know today was popularized in Edo period art and kabuki, and has been passed down since. It simply hops around on one leg at night, startling people, but doesn't directly attack them. Despite being a well-known yokai appearing in various Japanese media, there are few specific legends or folktales passed down in particular regions, apart from brief records like 'an umbrella yokai appeared in a certain area'. Yokai researchers apparently regard it as the endpoint of yokai that have 'been freed from the fear of ghost stories and started to be consumed as characters'.

Using the Chinese characters for 'great' (거, 巨) and 'silkworm' (잠, 蠶), it means 'giant silkworm'. It is said that if someone kills the Geojam, silkworms from all over the world will mourn its death and flock to the place where it died to continue its lineage. Related legends are recorded in the Dongsa-gangmok, compiled during the Joseon Dynasty, and the Chinese collection of tales, Taepyeong Gwanggi. The content is as follows: In the Silla era, there was a man named Bang who was extremely obsessed with and greedy for wealth. His brother was driven out by Bang and lived as a beggar. Feeling pity, the people of the country gave the brother one 'du' (a unit of land) of surplus land. The brother planned to farm and raise silkworms on that land and asked Bang for silkworm and grain seeds, but Bang steamed them before giving them. For some reason, one silkworm survived and began to grow rapidly. Its body length reached about 1 chon (approx. 3cm), and after about ten days, it grew as large as an ox, and no amount of leaves could satisfy its hunger. When Bang learned of this and, out of jealousy, killed the silkworm, silkworms from all directions within a hundred ri flew to his house.

The name means 'dog with three eyes'. The legend is passed down at Haeinsa Temple. During the Silla Dynasty, a man named Igeoin, who lived in Hapcheon, found a three-eyed puppy wandering lost. Igeoin took the puppy home, cared for it diligently, lived with it for 3 years, and when it died, he held a funeral for it. Two years later, Igeoin died of illness and went to the underworld, where he met King Sammok. The king revealed that he was Sammokgu, who had committed a wrongdoing in the past and was banished to the mortal world for 3 years. He then instructed Igeoin to tell King Yeomra, 'I intended to create the Tripitaka Koreana in the mortal world, but my life ended before I could accomplish it.' When Igeoin met King Yeomra and relayed the message, King Yeomra was impressed and sent him back to the mortal world. When Igeoin woke up, he truly created the Tripitaka Koreana and placed it at Haeinsa Temple. The following year, twin princesses of Silla fell ill, and it was said in a dream that they could only be cured if Igeoin came. Following the command, Igeoin entered the palace, and King Sammok, who was possessing the princesses, left, curing their illness. Igeoin then married a princess and is said to have attained enlightenment.

A mythical creature from Scotland, written as 'Kelpie'. Its etymology is unclear, but it is speculated to be related to the Gaelic word 'colpa', meaning horse or cattle. It has the upper body of a horse and the tail of a fish, and usually lurks underwater, luring people into the water. It is said to devour those it drowns. There are legends that the victim's liver washed ashore, and a tale where nine children rode a horse by the water, but the last child realized that the horse's back grew longer with each rider, escaped, and the remains of the other children were found the next day. There is also a legend that a lord captured a kelpie and forced it to work, but the kelpie's curse led to the lord's family's downfall. In the folklore of the Celtic people of northern Scotland, there is a similar mythical creature called 'Each-uisge', which some consider to be the same as the kelpie, while others view it as a different being due to its ferocious nature and ability to transform into a man.