The Japanese sea lion was an aquatic mammal that became extinct in the 1970s. It was considered to be a subspecies of the related California sea lion until 2003. They inhabited the western North Pacific and its marginal seas including the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan, especially around the coastal areas of the Japanese Archipelago and the Korean Peninsula. They generally bred on sandy beaches which were open and flat, but sometimes in rocky areas. They were hunted commercially in the 1900s, leading to their extinction.
Toriyama Sekien, real name Sano Toyofusa, was a scholar, kyōka poet, and ukiyo-e artist of Japanese folklore. Born to a family of high-ranking servants to the Tokugawa shogunate, he was trained by Kanō school artists Kanō Gyokuen and Kanō Chikanobu, although he was never officially recognized as a Kanō school painter.
Edo meisho zue is an illustrated guide describing famous places, called meisho, and depicting their scenery in pre-1868 Tokyo, then known as Edo. It was printed using Japanese woodblock printing techniques in 20 books divided among seven volumes. Initially published in 1834 and republished in 1836 with slight revisions—i.e., all during the late Edo period (1603–1867), it became an immediate hit and prompted a “boom” in the publication of further meisho zue.
In Japanese, encyclopedias are known as hyakka jiten (百科事典), which literally means "book of a hundred subjects," and can trace their origins to the early Heian period, in the ninth century. Encyclopedic works were published in Japan for well over a thousand years before Japan's first modern encyclopedias were published after Japan's opening to the West, during the Meiji Period (1868–1912). Several encyclopedias have been published in Japan since World War II, including several children's encyclopedias, and two major titles are currently available: the Encyclopedia Nipponica, published by Shogakukan, and the Sekai Dai-Hyakka Jiten, compiled by the Heibonsha publishing company. A Japanese Wikipedia is also available.
Sancai Tuhui, compiled by Wang Qi and his son Wang Siyi (王思義), is a Chinese leishu encyclopedia, completed in 1607 and published in 1609 during the late Ming dynasty, featuring illustrations of subjects in the three worlds of heaven, earth, and humanity. The work contains a large number of posthumous and contemporary depictions of Chinese emperors.
Jinmenju or Ninmenju is a type of Yōkai and Yaoguai in Japanese and Chinese folklore. It is commonly depicted as a tree bearing flowers that resemble human heads. It notably appears in the Edo period Konjaku Hyakki Shūi by Toriyama Sekien.
Ningyo, as the name suggests, is a creature with both human and fish-like features, described in various pieces of Japanese literature.
The Tale of Tawara Tōda is a Japanese heroic tale recounting the legendary exploits of Fujiwara no Hidesato. It is part of the otogi-zōshi genre of tales dating to the Edo Period or earlier. Some of the fabulous accounts are also told in the military pseudo-chronicle, Taiheiki.
Satori in Japanese folklore are mind-reading monkey-like monsters ("yōkai") said to dwell within the mountains of Hida and Mino.
A shōjō is the Japanese reading of Chinese xing-xing (猩猩) or its older form sheng sheng, which is a mythical primate, though it has been tentatively identified with an orangutan species.
Onibi is a type of atmospheric ghost light in legends of Japan. According to folklore, they are the spirits born from the corpses of humans and animals. They are also said to be resentful people that have become fire and appeared. Also, sometimes the words "will-o'-the-wisp" or "jack-o'-lantern" are translated into Japanese as "onibi".
Ashinaga-tenaga are a pair of yōkai in Japanese folklore. One, Ashinaga-jin (足長人), has extremely long legs, while the other, Tenaga-jin (手長人), has extremely long arms. They were first described in the Japanese encyclopedia Wakan Sansai Zue. They are said to be found in Kyūshū.
A shuihu or shui hu, is a legendary creature said to have inhabited river systems in what is now Hubei Province in China.
Yamabiko is a mountain god, spirit, and yōkai in Japanese folklore; the term "yamabiko" also refers to the echo that occurs in mountains, after which the yōkai is named. Literally translated, the term means "mountain boy". It is the yōkai responsible for the natural phenomenon in mountains or canyons. Living deep in the mountains, direct encounters with the yamabiko are rare. Often they are heard, but never seen. The small and elusive yokai wasn't officially classified until the Edo period in Japan. Instead the bizarre noises coming from the mountain were attributed to a natural phenomenon, like birds, and not given any spiritual significance. It is usually depicted with gray fur, peach-colored belly, floppy ears, large grin, and arms outstretched as though it is caught mid-shrug.
Fengli is a legendary or mythified flying mammal of China, whose descriptions from various sources were collated in the Taiping Yulan encyclopedia and the Bencao gangmu compendium of materia medica.
Jué yuán (玃猿) is a legendary animal in the legends of China. They are also called Jué (玃), Jué fù (玃父), Jiā (猳), Jiā guó (猳國), and mǎ huà (馬化). They are similar to monkeys, and thus possess a characteristic of carrying away human females and violating them.
Chimei wangliang, or Chimimōryō is a term that refers to monsters of the mountains and monsters of the rivers. The term originated in China roughly 2,500 years ago in ancient chronicles such as the Zuo Zhuan. It originates from ancient Chinese legends about the spirits that harm people in the mountains and swamps, and its original meaning is "all kinds of Yaoguai ".
Owari meisho zue is an illustrated guide describing famous places, called meisho, and depicting their scenery in pre-1868 Owari province in central Japan. It was printed using Japanese woodblock printing techniques in books divided among volumes.
Yamawaro is a yōkai (spirit) said to appear in mountains in Western Japan, starting in the Kyūshū region. According to mythology, it is sometimes said that they are kappa that have come to dwell in the mountains.
The Guhuoniao is a legendary bird from Chinese folklore. It is described in ancient books such as Western Jin natural history book 玄中記, and the Ming period herbology book Bencao Gangmu, and in the Edo Period Japan book Wakan Sansai Zue.
