Yokai Open Call — Design Category
Sixteen works selected from the 218 entries received from across Japan.
Last year’s open call for yokai drew 218 entries from all over Japan, from Hokkaido in the north to Fukuoka in the south — far more than we had anticipated. Our sincere thanks to everyone who entered.
218works
ENTRIES RECEIVED
16works
DESIGN CATEGORY WINNERS
NATIONWIDE
HOKKAIDO TO FUKUOKA
With so many more works than expected, the administrative work took longer than planned, and the results were announced considerably later than the autumn 2024 date we had originally set. We apologise sincerely for the delay.
The winning entries in the design category were judged by Fukui Prefecture, Fukui City, our illustrators and the directors of Creative ASUWA, and 16 works were selected.
Judging in the concept category is still under way. We expect to be able to announce the results by around spring. Thank you for your patience.
The “Concept” sections below are quoted from the material submitted with each entry. Some kana have been rendered as kanji in the original Japanese, with care taken not to alter the ideas themselves.
Winners
Iwanari-sama
Matta-san, the shogi-loving yokai
Kasa-onago, the umbrella girl
Ido-taro
Shogi-garasu, the shogi crow
Menuki no Shishiwaka
Karamon Choro, the Karamon elder
Kidomaru
Suwamaru
Kenarui
Karamon-modoki, the false Karamon
Koshiginchaku, the purse at your hip
Okusune
Rinrin
Koyo-kun
Kufuku-Mashitaro
Works
Inspired by: Shimokido
A yokai in the shape of a stone wall made of face-bearing rocks. By day it is just stone; at night the faces emerge and begin to talk. It enjoys startling passing travellers - but it will also quietly call out to help someone who has lost their way. At heart it is kind.
A yokai who teaches children shogi. For all its love of the game, it has never once won. Attacked with the drunken elephant, it immediately cries "Wa- wait!" When it runs out of moves it says "Oh dear..." and when it is put in check it says "Oh no!" and turns first pale, then red.
| Size | About 100 cm |
|---|---|
| Personality | Bold and innocent |
| Features | A wagasa umbrella Large blue eyes A hydrangea hair ornament |
| Favourite food | Warabimochi |
A yokai in the form of a little girl, who calls out "Come under my umbrella" to people sheltering from the rain in the castle town. She appears in the rainy season, when the hydrangeas bloom in Ichijodani. Refuse her umbrella and water-related misfortune follows: you step in a puddle, the ceiling starts to leak. Accept, and she will see you home.
The yokai of the wells at the Asakura ruins. When it rains, it shelters living things from the rain. The villagers were grateful, and a spirit formed out of that gratitude. It is always watching over everyone.
A crow yokai that came and went from the residence of the Asakura lord. It lived in the Eiroku era, when shogi was played with the "Asakura koma" pieces. Long ago, watching the samurai play shogi from the eaves, it longed to play itself - and so it became a yokai. Today it slips through the dark to the homes of children who stay up late, teaching them shogi and challenging them to a game. It favours shogi played with the drunken elephant, uncommon in the modern game, and spreads the word among the children. It cannot resist anything that glitters, and wears its favourite glass beads about its body. It is a formidable player and shows no mercy, child or not. To any child who gives it a good game, it presents one of the glass beads it wears.
Inspired by: Shogi pieces and glass beads excavated from the site
A lively, mischievous yokai. Adores wagashi. A yokai that ran through the Sengoku era; nothing pleases it more than settling into a sword. It travelled with its owner, and has wandered alone since their death. It seems to have companions, but they have been scattered. Endlessly curious, it is always running about. It can change size freely, up to about 130 cm, and has the form of a boy.
Inspired by: The Karamon gate
A yokai that has possessed the Karamon gate. It is the head of all Ichijodani and the strongest in sorcery of any yokai. It rarely shows itself to people.
| Width | 130 cm |
|---|---|
| Height | 50 cm |
| Length | 3 m |
In the mornings it plays around the Karamon gate. To sleep it returns to Kamido. It watches over everyone without ever being noticed. Its spirit formed out of a wish to protect them all. When enemies come, it stands its ground.
| Size | About 150 cm (varies with the length of the branch on its head) |
|---|---|
| Personality | Gentle and guileless |
| Looks | Asymmetric work clothes and a branch on its head |
| Favourite food | Kashiwamochi |
A yokai that once quietly kept the gardens of the castle town beautiful. These days it runs a flower shop in the castle town said to lie underground. It still puts its old skills to use as a gardener, and while tending flower beds or building gardens it often digs up relics of the castle town that once stood above - some of which become yokai in the act of being unearthed. Each time, the castle town grows livelier, so nobody minds; but there is a rumour that it is "really a yokai that makes yokai." The branch on its head changes with the seasons, flowering with cherry blossom in spring. When the cherries bloom it falls strongly under Hanamaru's influence, and is apparently a great deal of trouble to keep tidy.
Eat a snack alone and a voice comes from nowhere: "Kenarui. Kenarui." That is the yokai's voice, and you must not answer it. Legend has it that a child who once answered "You shan't have any" found the yokai before them, and lost the snack. Note: kenarui is Fukui dialect for "I'm envious."
Inspired by: The Karamon gate
Night after night it stands there looking exactly like the Karamon gate. Mistake it for the real thing and pass through, and you are thrown back in time to the Sengoku era. Watching people reel at the shock, it breaks into a cheerfully eerie song: "Karakara-monmon, karamonmon!"
What's the trouble? Short of the coins you had in your purse? That'll be the Koshiginchaku's doing. Jingle your coins about and before you know it there it is, hanging at your hip - helping itself to a little something. That's the Koshiginchaku for you.
A yokai that pilfers things. It likes what is beautiful and vivid, and steals it. Seen by a human, it vanishes, so it moves at night. It often slips into wealthy houses, and lives in old, tumbledown ones. Sometimes a gold coin turns up in a poor household - and so it is said to bring good fortune, and some people call it Okusune-sama.
She was originally a wind chime hanging at the Asakura residence. If you catch a gentle breeze and the sound of a wind chime as you walk through the town, that is her doing. In a summer she visits, the greenery grows well and the town prospers. Her favourite place is the garden of the Asakura residence.
| Height | 102 cm |
|---|---|
| Favourite food | Dead leaves |
I drew him thinking of the autumn leaves of Ichijodani, and coloured him in the colours they were at the time; I imagined his clothes the same way. He appears if you look to your side while watching the autumn leaves of Ichijodani. As autumn approaches, the colour of his clothes and hair changes. He makes nutrients.
He appears while you are dieting, especially in the middle of the night, and takes hold of you. He has you open the fridge without thinking, reach for the snacks you know you should not, eat until you are full when you had firmly decided to stop at eighty per cent - and he feeds on the guilt this brings. A thoroughly villainous yokai. When you give in to the temptation of food, Kufuku-Mashitaro may well be beside you, laughing. He looks rather like Kintaro. The rucksack on his back is crammed with food and with human guilt. His catchphrases: "Eat it," "There's more," "Delicious."
Thank you
The open call brought us a great many entries. So many were appealing that it is a shame we cannot introduce them all here. Works arrived from inside and outside the prefecture, and every one had been written with close attention to Ichijodani. The judges struggled over every choice. Thank you all, truly!
We are planning to exhibit the winning works at events and to develop merchandise from them. We will keep sharing news on the website and social media — please look forward to what comes next.
