Jessica Craven (Saitama) Most people from abroad probably got their first taste of Japanese horror from the smash-hit horror movie The Ring, or the spine-chilling manga of Junji Ito. These works are just the tip of the iceberg. Japan has a long and vibrant history of supernatural folklore and classic horror. Although Japan’s spooky season is actually in the middle of August, when the Obon festival is held, October is the perfect time for Western audiences to dive into the history of Japan’s haunting images. Visual depictions of supernatural beings and horrifying, bloody scenes first emerged in Japanese painted scrolls during the medieval period. During the Edo period, such pictures eventually developed into the yurei-zu: a genre of painted or woodblock print (ukiyo-e) images depicting vengeful ghosts, demon spiders, and other supernatural creatures (1). Japanese folklore and the related yurei-zu are so packed with various supernatural creatures: yurei, yokai, bakemono, and mononoke, to name a few. To make things even more
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