MYTHOLOGY / YŌKAI & LEGENDS
Japanese Mythology: Gods, Yōkai & Legends
Explore Japan’s kami and gods, classical myths and legendary figures, then discover yōkai, ghosts and urban legends. Browse the stories and their cultural context, whether you are planning a visit or reading out of curiosity.
Kami, gods, legends, yōkai & living tradition.
Genbu
玄武
Genbu is the northern guardian of the Four Divine Creatures: a black tortoise, often entwined with a snake, whose clearest ancient Japanese image survives on the north wall of the Kitora Tumulus.
Komainu
狛犬
Komainu are threshold guardians of Japanese sacred space, descended from imported lion imagery and transformed in Japan into paired protectors whose forms changed from indoor wooden sculpture to familiar outdoor stone sentinels.
Ame-no-Uzume
天宇受売命
Ame-no-Uzume is the fearless kami of the rock-cave episode whose ecstatic performance draws laughter and helps return Amaterasu to the world, then reappears as the one willing to confront the unknown figure Sarutahiko.
Benzaiten
弁財天
Benzaiten is Japan’s richly transformed Sarasvatī: a Buddhist deity whose river origins, eloquence, music, water cults, serpentine forms, and later place among the Seven Gods of Good Fortune accumulated across centuries of Japanese worship.
Bishamonten
毘沙門天
Bishamonten is the Japanese form of Vaiśravaṇa, the armored Buddhist guardian of the north whose roles in temple protection, warrior devotion, and the Seven Gods of Good Fortune reveal several distinct layers of Japanese religious history.
Daikokuten
大黒天
Daikokuten is Japan’s transformed form of Mahākāla: once a fierce Buddhist protector and kitchen tutelary, later blended with Ōkuninushi and recast as the smiling, mallet-bearing god of household and commercial fortune.
Ebisu
恵比寿
Ebisu is Japan’s many-layered god of fortunate arrivals: first rooted in fishing and the sea, then adapted to markets, agriculture, commerce, and the Seven Gods of Good Fortune.
Fūjin
風神
Fūjin is both a name for Japan’s wind divinity and the famous bag-carrying Wind God of art, linking ancient weather rites, agricultural anxieties, Buddhist imagery, and one of Japan’s most enduring painted pairings.
Hachiman
八幡神
Hachiman grew from the ancient cult at Usa into a national protector, Buddhist Great Bodhisattva, imperial guardian, and Minamoto patron whose worship helped shape Japan’s shrine-temple and warrior history.
Jizō
地蔵菩薩
Jizō is the Japanese form of Kṣitigarbha, the monk-like bodhisattva whose compassion reaches the six realms and who became especially beloved as a rescuer from hell and protector of travelers and children.
Kannon
観音菩薩
Kannon is Japan’s Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva of compassion whose promise to answer suffering produced a remarkable family of forms, pilgrimage traditions, and temple cults across the country.
Ōkuninushi
大国主神
Ōkuninushi, the “Great Land Master” of Izumo, moves through healing, death, trials, land-making, and the surrender of earthly rule before becoming the focus of one of Japan’s most important shrine traditions.
Raijin
雷神
Raijin is the thunder kami of Japanese belief: a power of lightning, rain, agricultural fertility, and sudden disaster whose later drum-ringed image became one of the most recognizable figures in Japanese art.
Sarutahiko
猿田彦大神
Sarutahiko is the formidable earthly kami who meets the heavenly descent at a cosmic crossroads, faces Ame-no-Uzume, and guides Ninigi - an episode that later supports a strong Ise tradition of guidance and “opening the way.”
Fukurokuju
福禄寿
Fukurokuju is the long-headed member of Japan’s Seven Gods of Good Fortune whose name joins happiness, prosperity, and longevity, drawing Chinese astral and Daoist ideas into an Edo-period Japanese cult of auspiciousness.
Hotei
布袋
Hotei is Japan’s version of Budai, the cheerful sack-carrying Chinese monk who became associated with Maitreya and Zen imagery before joining the Seven Gods of Good Fortune as a figure of contentment and abundance.
Jurōjin
寿老人
Jurōjin is the Shichifukujin figure most directly centered on longevity, a Chinese/Daoist-derived old sage whose elongated head, deer, crane, and tortoise imagery overlaps so strongly with Fukurokuju that early modern Japan sometimes merged them.
Kagutsuchi
火之迦具土神
Kagutsuchi is the classical fire kami whose birth kills Izanami and whose violent death at Izanagi’s sword generates still more deities, making fire a force of catastrophe, transformation, and later ritual protection.
Tsukuyomi
月読命
Tsukuyomi is the moon-associated kami among the three noble children, important in the classical divine order but unusually elusive in narrative, with Kojiki silence, Nihon Shoki variants, and a continuing cult at Ise.
Abura-akago
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Akaname
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Amanojaku
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Amaterasu
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Aoandon
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Bake-kujira
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Bakeneko
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Baku
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Basan
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Betobeto-san
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Chōchin-obake
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Dodomeki
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Funayūrei
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Futakuchi-onna
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Gaki
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Gashadokuro
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Gozu
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Gozu Tennō
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Hachishakusama
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Hanako-san
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Hari-onago
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Hitotsume-kozō
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Hoderi
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Hone-onna
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Hyakki Yagyō
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Hyakume
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Inari
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Inugami
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Ittan-momen
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Izanagi
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Izanami
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Jinmenken
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Jishin-Namazu
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Jorōgumo
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Kaguya-hime
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Kamaitachi
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Kappa
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Karakasa-kozō
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Kichijōten
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Kintarō
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Kitsune
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Kodama
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Kubikajiri
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Kuchisake-onna
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Kuzenbo
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Mezu
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Mokumokuren
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Momotarō
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Namahage
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Nekomata
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Ningen
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Noppera-bō
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Nue
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Nukekubi
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Nurarihyon
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Nurikabe
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Oiwa
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Oni
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Onryō
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Raijū
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Rokurokubi
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Samebito
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Shinigami
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Shuten-dōji
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Susanoo
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Tanuki
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Teke Teke
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Tengu
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Tsukumogami
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Ubume
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Umibōzu
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Wanyūdō
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Yamata no Orochi
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Yamauba
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Yuki-onna
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.
Zashiki-warashi
An entry in the Unmapped Japan member mythology library.