Mononoke

Shigeru Mizuki

Éditions Cornélius

Yokai are those supernatural beings who inhabit shady corners, forgotten places or the lofts of houses. These ghosts, benevolent or hostile, appear on rare occasions to stick to people's backs, bring good luck or even scare them by throwing red beans on the ground. Few are those who see them, even fewer are those who know them. Shigeru Mizuki is not only the one who saved the yokai from oblivion when Japan, eager to earn its place among the post-war nations, turned its back on its legends. No, Shigeru Mizuki is simply the greatest yokai fighter the world has ever known. He is the one who flushed them out even in the most remote countryside, listing them and drawing them with sometimes photographic precision. His work has sparked a new interest in these forgotten legends, which has evolved over time into a real popular craze. Without his drawings, Totoro and the Magical Creatures of Miyazaki would never have seen the light of day. Many studies have been based on Mizuki's work, and a chair in yokai studies has even been opened at the University of Tokyo. This book lists incredible drawings that Shigeru Mizuki has dedicated to yokai and presents, in black and white or in color, each of the monsters by name. A preface restores the historical and cultural dimension of the yokai, and details the major contribution of Shigeru Mizuki to the knowledge of these invisible beings.