Motherboard

Monsters are getting a lot of attention these days, lulling us into a world where they have become boyfriends and bedfellows and are being neutered of any and all bloodthirsty inclinations. The Japanese artist Shigeru Mizuki is doing his part to put the fear back in you. In his book “Yōkai Daizukai”, Mizuki clearly lays out the anatomical information for 85 scourges of Japanese folklore.

Such as the Kuro-kamikiri (”black hair cutter”), a large, black-haired creature prone to sneaking up on unsuspecting women in the night and cutting off their hair. Anatomical features include a brain wired for stealth and trickery, razor-sharp claws, a long, coiling tongue covered in tiny hair-grabbing spines, and a sac for storing sleeping powder used to knock out victims.

Or the Makura-gaeshi (”pillow-mover”), a soul-stealing prankster who takes it a little too far as it is best known for moving around pillows as one sleeps. In addition, the monster has two brains — one for devising pranks, and one for creating rainbow-colored light that it emits through its eyes.

The Doro-ta-bō (”muddy rice field man”) is a monster found in muddy rice fields and said to be the restless spirit of a hard-working farmer whose lazy son sold his land after he died. Forget the horror of a blood-chilling banshee shriek, this monster is often heard yelling, “Give me back my rice field!”. Anatomical features include a gelatinous lower body that merges into the earth, a ‘mud sac’ that draws nourishment from the soil, and an organ that converts the Doro-ta-bō’s resentment into energy that heats up his muddy spit.

Wanna party? Not with the Fukuro-sage, a raccoon-dog that has the ability to shape shift into a sake bottle which is typically seen rolling down sloping streets, leading its victims into ditches. Anatomical features include a stomach that turns food into sake and a sac for storing poison that it mixes into drinks (spring break!)

Mazuki may not have made it easier to sleep at night, but now if your pillow goes missing at least you will not be stricken for answers in the eternal mystery of where it went.