The yokai world is vast, and although it is becoming more popular than ever, it is easy to get lost in the repackaging of Japanese yokai culture to charm modern audiences. Sydney-based artist Marie Antuanelle captures the beauty of the unspoiled oceans in her swirling epoxy resin art. He holds a golden mallet, which grants the child good fortune. The painting above shows a typical expression of the Daikokuten, with his beaming smile and exaggerated, gigantic ears. He is often described as the Japanese equivalent of the Hindu deity Mahakala, and as a god of wealth. The Daikokuten in this early, twentieth century painting, is an example of a benevolent ijin.
These types range from religious figures, to craftsmen, to beggars and pilgrims. While there are many types of ijin, some pleasant and others malicious, most are said to be harmless. They are outsiders that have crossed the boundary that stands between two separate worlds, often to complete a task. A popular choice for decorating cauldrons was the savage, sharp-beaked griffin, which reappeared in Greek art with ferocious flair and an oriental flavour having disappeared from view for. Ijin are people from what is called Ikai, a world that is beyond our own.
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How many yokai are there? The series was known as Gazu Hyakki Yagyo series, meaning Illustrated Night Parade of a Hundred Spirits, although in this context, one hundred just means many! These three texts illustrate more than two hundred of these Japanese demons, each with its own brief description and commentary. Using the newly developed technologies of woodblock printing, Sekien was able to mass-produce yokai illustrations in his own catalogs of the monster parade. This formed the basis for Japan’s first definitive encyclopedia of yokai characters through the work of 18th century printmaker Toriyama Sekien. One of the oldest examples of yokai art was the Hyakki Yagyo Zu, a 16th century scroll that portrayed a pandemonium of Japanese monsters. It is no coincidence that their rise to the forefront of artistic culture began at a time when the printing press and publishing technology became widespread. See more ideas about wearable art, studio living, original designs.
Yokai had existed in Japanese folklore for centuries, but was during the Edo period (17th-19th centuries) that they began to be widely seen in art.
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