Pandemonium and Parade: Japanese Monsters and the Culture of Yokai - Hardcover

Foster, Michæl Dylan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0520253612 ISBN 13: 9780520253612

Publisher: University of California Press, 2008

Synopsis

Water sprites, mountain goblins, shape-shifting animals, and the monsters known as yôkai have long haunted the Japanese cultural landscape. This history of the strange and mysterious in Japan seeks out these creatures in folklore, encyclopedias, literature, art, science, games, manga, magazines, and movies, exploring their meanings in the Japanese cultural imagination and offering an abundance of valuable and, until now, understudied material. Michael Dylan Foster tracks yôkai over three centuries, from their appearance in seventeenth-century natural histories to their starring role in twentieth-century popular media. Focusing on the intertwining of belief and commodification, fear and pleasure, horror and humor, he illuminates different conceptions of the "natural" and the "ordinary" and sheds light on broader social and historical paradigms—and ultimately on the construction of Japan as a nation.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

"At once playful and profound, scholarly and scintillating, Pandemonium and Parade not only records but also enacts the uncanny presence of yokai in Japanese history. Seen through the lens of yokai, this book richly considers how the passing of time evokes both awe and anxiety."—Anne Allison, author of Millennial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination

About the Author:

Michael Dylan Foster is Assistant Professor of Folklore and East Asian Cultures at Indiana University.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0520253612
• ISBN 13: 9780520253612
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 312