요괴 성하마을
프로젝트

The only yokai who knows where the fabled Asakura treasure lies. Its ears are huge and keenly tuned to sound: whenever someone comes to steal the buried gold, those ears twitch and the bells on them ring. Anyone who tries is dealt with. It guards the villagers' savings from wrongdoers, and quietly turns the money of the very rich, and of the wicked, into money of its own. It hides its nest-eggs where nobody would think to look: down wells, under floorboards. It calls itself "oira."

A messenger of Inari Myojin. As a god of agriculture, it loves rice above all. Among the yokai it apparently goes by "Gon-chan." It guards a sword with supernatural power and bestows that blade upon a saviour. It is also the one the other yokai come to for advice when they visit Abaka Kasuga Shrine.

A yokai that emerges when the cherries flower. It adores scattering blossom storms, and leaves the villagers despairing over the sheer volume of petals to sweep up. Dumplings over flowers, every time — it has been known to help itself to people's snacks. When Asakura Yoshikage and Ashikaga Yoshiaki held a poetry gathering, it brought the weeping cherries into full bloom and made the occasion. It cannot bear the cold and hibernates through winter. Anyone who meets it outside spring is said to be blessed with good fortune.

Its stronghold sits atop a great tree at the mountain castle of Ichijodani. It flies where it pleases and sees to the heart of things with far-reaching sight. When enemies or danger draw near, that trademark nose twitches and it knows. It loves sake; the masu cup in its hand is always full and never empties, however much it drinks. Past the age of 1,000 it took to drinking Ranja, the medicinal sake that originated with the Asakura clan, for its health.

A yokai who dwells in the great Echizen jars used by the town's dyers. She moves between the jars of the castle town, producing whatever colour of dye the townspeople need. She is said to have been born from the clear spring water of Ichijodani. Robes dyed with her liquor took colour so beautifully that in the Sengoku era they changed hands in Kyoto and elsewhere at high prices, as goods almost too rare to be real.

Originally a rooster kept by Kobayashi Gonnokami, a retainer of Lord Yoshikage. Just before Oda Nobunaga's forces arrived, it fled Echizen by boat from Sanribahama together with Yoshikage's son, Aiomaru. The boat drifted off the coast of Etchu and Niigata until roosters on land, answering Keiomaru's long tail, began to crow. Following those calls, the boat made landfall. It saved Aiomaru's life. The place where they landed was named Echizenhama, and the rooster is enshrined at Torinoko Shrine.

A Jizo enshrined during the Sengoku era, watching over the townspeople with a kind face. It once appeared in their dreams along with the other Jizo statues, all long exposed to the rain, asking for a roof. The people built one — and in thanks, it has been giving them important dreams ever since.

The yokai who brings the snow. When Yukimaru is truly in earnest, they say, Echizen is buried. It seems to feel bad about the trouble heavy snow causes, and has been known to pitch in with the shovelling using the banba scoop it carries. More than anything it loves to dance in the falling snow; with its hair unbound it moves like a fairy. The townspeople passed down the story of "a great blue flower blooming in the snowfall."

Since ancient times it has appeared around Ichijodani on June and July nights. Sometimes it moves in a swarm ringed by fireflies; sometimes it draws pictures in light across the night sky, trying to tell us something. The fireflies wheeling around it are the given form of countless nameless soldiers who fell in the wars. Hotarubi leads those souls, wishing that the same mistakes are never made again, and each year in this season it takes to the air to carry that wish to us.

Each of the five Asakura lords had a Kamekichi of his own; they are reckoned to be some 10,000 years old. They live in the ponds still, and are said to live too in the castle town believed to lie underground. They watched over the lords around the residence, and played their part at the crucial moment — leading Yoshikage's son Aiomaru along a hidden path as danger closed in.

A rare and deeply learned presence who has known everything about Ichijodani from the Sengoku era to the present day. The townspeople have called him Chairman since ancient times, and he goes on offering them advice and wisdom. In the Sengoku era he would share cups of sake with Lord Asakura Yoshikage and talk of their dreams. Much about him is unknown; he is said to visit, now and then, the Ichijodani castle town that still lies quietly underground.

A runaway boar that tore up the fields and plagued the people until the lord of the Asakura put a stop to it and turned it into a mouse. It was supposed to have mended its ways, but the mischief never left: spot a child up past bedtime and it will talk them into slipping out to play. Once a year, on 5 May, it reverts to a boar, and the whole castle town has to turn out to hold it down. "Is it true you can hear something at Eirinzuka? Let's go and listen!"

A snow clog, reborn in the present day and rather more delicious than before. Like snow packed underfoot, its cutlet is made from fine, smooth, springy meat — and it is superb. Its selling points are its flatness and its cheerful lack of concern. Now and then, like the sauce itself, it shows a sweet and spicy side. Its catchphrase: "So-ssu ka?"

A greedy red panda that has possessed a hagama rice pot. So absorbed was it in scavenging the scraps around the kitchen that it fused with the pot without noticing. Which is why any leftovers send it into a blazing fury, and why it grieves over an age of too much food. It has nothing to do with the crew over at Nishiyama Park, though it considers itself the senior party. "There are seven gods in a single grain of rice! Leave three and that's twenty-eight! You'll be punished for it!"

A masked yokai said to appear on the Asuwa River during the sweetfish season. Placid as a rule, it shows no mercy to those with bad manners or a poacher's habits. Catch its eye and your boots may turn to stone, or the lid of your flask simply cease to exist. Rumour is divided on the face beneath the mask: a terrible demon, or a rather handsome old gentleman. "That's your punishment for bad manners — sit still for three days and three nights."

A mysterious, handsome foreigner who sits by the well night after night, sighing. He wears a mask of broken glass, and is apparently searching for the shard-siblings he was parted from. Lonely, disarmingly needy and undeniably good-looking, he is forever chatting someone up. Take care: those he particularly likes get taken down to the bottom of the well. "I'd love to play a little catch with your heart." (Inspired by a Venetian glass goblet.)

Itchorai is Fukui dialect for one's very best. This one is convinced it is the finest vase in all Ichijodani. It turns up in the tokonoma alcove before anyone notices, and vanishes the moment flowers are arranged in it. Arrange nothing and it will steal every flower in the garden — hence its nickname, Hana-nussutto, the flower thief. Rather proud and rather wilful, it sees no wrong in taking flowers at all.

It warms anyone and everyone without distinction. In winter the townspeople are delighted to see it; in summer it is an absolute nuisance. Anger it and it will throw the charcoal from inside itself at you. It hails from Mount Asuwa. Wet it and it turns a beautiful deep green — though it hates the water.

Solid and imperturbable, with a playful streak underneath. It can summon water at will; when it is away, they say, the garden's water runs dry. It is perpetually wet, and leaves a trail of water wherever it passes. In one hand it carries a Japanese maple branch, which it uses as a walking stick.

"Ura" — Fukui dialect for "me" — is its catchphrase, drawn out into a long "ura-a." Wrapped in moss, it is wonderfully soft to the touch. It likes damp places and lives at Abaka Kasuga Shrine. It and Kingitsune are said to be great friends. Rumour has it a stone Buddha of Shakudani stone is enshrined inside. Nobody knows for certain. You would have to reach right in to touch the stone — and unless the yokai itself allows it, the soft moss bounces your hand straight back. That moss is growing, little by little.

Newt yokai who guard the wells: the Imori clan, watching over wells all over the town. Their weapons are whatever has fallen down a well, or whatever they have borrowed from the residents. The one in the middle is the eldest (chachatto — Fukui dialect for "get on with it"), and a little impatient. The newt on the right with the scissors is the second brother (onbori — "easy-going"), who takes every day slowly. The one on the left with the hairpin is the youngest (koppena — "cheeky"). Rumour has it they passed a shard of glass they found in a well to the Phantom at the Bottom of the Well.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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."