Morphologies of mystery: Yokai and discourses of the supernatural in Japan, 1666--1999

This dissertation examines notions of the "mysterious" in Japan. Specifically focusing on supernatural creatures known as yokai , it considers intellectual discourses and popular practices from the late seventeenth century through the end of the twentieth. By exploring folkloric materials, literature, scientific writings, art, mass media, and games, my objective is to trace continuities and changes over time, interrogating the meanings attributed to y6kai during different periods, and demonstrating how the mysterious is constructed in divergent ways vis-a-vis shifting cultural contexts.; Chapter One discusses the Edo Period, examining how mysterious phenomena were handled in illustrated encyclopedias as well as in recreational storytelling sessions known as hyaku-monogatari. In the 1770s, artist Toriyama Sekien skillfully fused the "seriousness" of academic encyclopedias with a spirit of "playfulness" to visually document yokai in a series of popular catalogs.; Chapter Two considers the discourse surrounding a fortune-telling "game," called Kokkuri, which was extremely popular in the 1880s. While philosopher Inoue Enryo worked to debunk its practice as a form of superstition incommensurate with a modernizing nation, others applied the new science of electricity to portray Kokkuri as simultaneously modern and enchanted.; Chapter Three examines the place found for yokai in the modernizing Japan of the early twentieth century. While writers such as Natsume Soseki and Mori Ogai dealt with issues of supernatural belief in their stories, historian/folklorist Ema Tsutomu explicitly attempted to document different historical manifestations of monsters. To Yanagita Kunio, as he developed folklore studies (minzokugaku), yokai represented nostalgic cultural commodities evocative of an "authentic" Japan.; Chapter Four explores the discourse of yokai during the second half of the twentieth century, focusing on how they came to be portrayed in the popular media. Specifically, this chapter examines the manga and anime of Mizuki Shigeru, as well as a popular "urban legend" known as Kuchi-sake-onna.; By considering yokai within different contexts, this dissertation explores how notions of the mysterious thrive in the interaction between belief and commodification, fear and pleasure, horror and humor, informing everyday lives in ways not yet sufficiently investigated by scholars in Japan and abroad.