I wanted to make a point of placing the monsters within the daily life of Tokyo,” says the photographer Tess Ayano, who spent ...

Japanese people know all about the Kappa - a slippery water demon from ancient folklore. The pond and river-dwelling monsters are typically depicted as human-like but with the scaly green or blue ...

For the Japanese, summer is when the border between the real world and the spirit world becomes weak, and the legendary yōkai can walk among the living. The yōkai are a complex amalgamation of ...

It’s worth noting, though, that “Demons don’t like kids who misbehave!” has been part of Japanese folklore for centuries, and that despite their imposing appearance, oni can, according to legend, be ...

and half-demons coexist, drawing heavily from Japanese mythology. The titular character, Inuyasha, is a half-demon with the ...