Kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, mythological, spiritual, or natural phenomena, or holy powers that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, beings and the qualities that these beings express, and/or the spirits of venerated dead people. Many kami are considered the ancient ancestors of entire clans. Traditionally, great leaders like the Emperor could be or became kami.
Spirited Away is a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Tohokushinsha Film, and Mitsubishi and distributed by Toho. The film features the voices of Rumi Hiiragi, Miyu Irino, Mari Natsuki, Takeshi Naito, Yasuko Sawaguchi, Tsunehiko Kamijō, Takehiko Ono, and Bunta Sugawara.
Yōkai are a class of supernatural entities and spirits in Japanese folklore. The word yōkai is composed of two kanji characters which both mean "suspicious, doubtful" and while it may be regarded as a loanword from the Chinese term yaoguai, the word yōkai has taken on multiple different meanings peculiar in Japanese context.
Kodama are spirits in Japanese folklore that inhabit trees. The term is also used to denote a tree in which a kodama supposedly resides. The phenomenon known as yamabiko, when sounds make a delayed echoing effect in mountains and valleys, is sometimes attributed to this kind of spirit and may also be referred to as "kodama".
Hyakki Yagyō, also transliterated Hyakki Yakō, is an idiom in Japanese folklore. Sometimes an orderly procession, other times a riot, it refers to a parade of thousands of supernatural creatures known as oni and yōkai that march through the streets of Japan at night. As a terrifying eruption of the supernatural into the real world, it is similar to the concept of pandemonium in English.
Gazu Hyakki Yagyō is the first book of Japanese artist Toriyama Sekien's famous Gazu Hyakki Yagyō e-hon tetralogy, published in 1776. A version of the tetralogy translated and annotated in English was published in 2016. Although the title translates to "The Illustrated Night Parade of a Hundred Demons", it is based on an idiom, hyakki yagyō, that is akin to pandemonium in English and implies an uncountable horde. The book is followed by Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki, Konjaku Hyakki Shūi, and Gazu Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro.
Konjaku Hyakki Shūi is the third book of Japanese artist Toriyama Sekien's Gazu Hyakki Yagyō tetralogy, published c. 1781. These books are supernatural bestiaries, collections of ghosts, spirits, spooks and monsters, many of which Toriyama based on literature, folklore, and other artwork. These works have had a profound influence on subsequent yōkai imagery in Japan. Konjaku Hyakki Shūi is preceded in the series by Gazu Hyakki Yagyō and Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki, and succeeded by Gazu Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro.
The Egypt Game (1967) is a Newbery Honor-winning novel by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. Set in a small college town in California, the novel follows the creation of a sustained imaginative game by a group of six children.
In English, to "spirit away" means to remove without anyone's noticing.
The Underneath is a children's book by Kathi Appelt. It tells the story of an abandoned cat who goes to live with a maltreated hound dog underneath a crooked old house in a bayou on the border between Louisiana and Texas. Published in 2008, The Underneath is a John Newbery Honor book, ALA Notable Children's Book and a National Book Award Finalist.
The Nuribotoke (塗仏) is a yōkai found in Japanese yōkai emaki such as the Hyakkai Zukan by Sawaki Suushi. They are also depicted in the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by Toriyama Sekien.
Jennifer Anne Nielsen is an American author known primarily for young adult fiction. Her works include the Ascendance Series, Behind Enemy Lines, The Mark of the Thief, A Night Divided, and the Underworld Chronicles.
Carol Weston is an American writer. The author of sixteen books, both fiction and non-fiction, she has been the "Dear Carol" advice columnist at Girls' Life since the magazine's first issue in 1994. Her newest book is Speed of Life, which received starred reviews in Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, and Booklist. The New York Times Book Review called it "perceptive, funny, and moving."
It's About a Little Bird is a 2013 children's picture book written and illustrated by American actress-photographer Jessica Lange. The fairy tale includes elements of fantasy, adventure novels, and mystery fiction. The tale revolves around friendship, love and family determination, imagination and exploration. The author has stated that it is based on incidents in her own life, and is illustrated with photographs that she took of her granddaughters.
Japanese haunted towns are towns legendarily inhabited by ghosts (yōkai). These include Yōkai Street, in Kyoto and the Yōkaichi of Shiga Prefecture.
Kathryn Tanquary is an American juvenile fiction author who lives and works in Japan. She is from Highlands Ranch, Colorado, and currently works as an editor for Edelman Japan.
The furaribi is a fire yōkai that appears in Japanese classical yōkai pictures such as in the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by Sekien Toriyama, the Hyakkai Zukan by Sawaki Suushi, and the Bakemonozukushi by an unknown author.
Starlight Kid is a Japanese professional wrestler. She is currently signed to World Wonder Ring Stardom, where she a member of Oedo Tai.
Julián Is a Mermaid is an American children's picture book by Jessica Love. It tells the story of a boy who wants to become a mermaid and participate in the Coney Island Mermaid Parade. Love first began writing the book in 2014 while she worked as an actress, and it was published in 2018 by Candlewick Press.
Watercress is a children's book written by Andrea Wang, illustrated by Jason Chin, and published on March 30, 2021 by Neal Porter Books.
