From the mists of prehistory to the present day, Japan has always had stories of fantastic monsters. There are women with extra mouths in the backs of their heads, water goblins whose favorite food is inside the human anus, elephant-dragons which feed solely on bad dreams, baby zombies, talking foxes, fire-breathing chickens, animated blobs of rotten flesh that run about the streets at night, and of course the dreaded night parade of one hundred demons—when all of the yokai leave their homes and parade through the streets of Japan in one massive spectacle of utter pandemonium. What are yokai? Put simply, they are the supernatural creatures of Japanese folklore. The word literally means "bewitching" and "strange." It encompasses monsters, demons, gods, ghosts, magical animals, transformed humans, urban legends, and strange phenomena. It is a broad and vague term. Nothing exists in the English language that quite captures the essence of yokai. This field guide contains over 100 illustrated entries covering a wide variety of Japanese yokai. Each yokai is described in detail, including its habitat, diet, origin, and legends based on translations from centuries-old Japanese texts.

The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons: A Field Guide to Japanese Yokai

Politics & Social Sciences

Matthew Meyer

Social Sciences

In Japan, it is said that there are 8 million kami. These spirits encompass every kind of supernatural creature; from malign to monstrous, demonic to divine, and everything in between. Most of them seem strange and scary—even evil—from a human perspective. They are known by myriad names: bakemono, chimimoryo, mamono, mononoke, obake, oni, and yokai. Yokai live in a world that parallels our own. Their lives resemble ours in many ways. They have societies and rivalries. They eat, sing, dance, play, fight, compete, and even wage war. Normally, we keep to our world and they keep to theirs. However, there are times and places where the boundaries between the worlds thin, and crossing over is possible. The twilight hour is when the boundary between worlds is at its thinnest. It is the easiest time for yokai to cross into this world, or for humans to accidentally cross into theirs. Our world is still awake and active, but the world of the supernatural is beginning to stir. Superstition tells people to return to their villages and stay inside when the sun sets in order to avoid running into demons. This is why in Japan twilight is known as the hour of meeting evil spirits. This encyclopedia contains over 125 illustrated entries detailing the monsters of Japanese folklore and the myths and magic surrounding them. Each entry is described in detail, including its habitat, diet, origin, and legends based on translations from Japanese texts.

The Hour of Meeting Evil Spirits: An Encyclopedia of Mononoke and Magic (Yokai)

Arts & Photography

Nietzsche's work was heavily influenced by ancient Greek philosophy. Meyer shows how Nietzsche attempted to revive the Heraclitean-Protagorean position that is critically analyzed by both Plato and Aristotle in the Theaetetus and Metaphysics IV, and establishes Nietzsche as a naturalist who believes that there are objective facts. The book not only highlights the foundations of his thought, but also restores order to Nietzsche's work.

Reading Nietzsche Through The Ancients

De Gruyter Gmbh, Walter

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Matthew Meyer. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Matthew Meyer

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Matthew Meyer. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons: A Field Guide to Japanese Yokai

The Hour of Meeting Evil Spirits: An Encyclopedia of Mononoke and Magic (Yokai)

Reading Nietzsche Through The Ancients