- [Narrator] As night falls, come into the shadows
of the spirit realm to find the wild
and mysterious beings of supernatural Japan.
Over centuries, Japanese artists
have brought magical animals, ghosts, and monsters to life.
Stories of these creatures
and spirits have traveled down the years with works of art,
making this otherwise unseen world appear before our eyes.
So who are these supernatural beings?
How have they survived through the ages,
and which artists are responsible for how we see them?
The supernatural art boom began
in Edo-period Japan, 1606 to 1868.
Changes in culture saw a new focus on entertainment,
art and leisure activities,
such as Hyaku Monogatari, or one hundred stories.
Scary or strange tales were told
by the light of gradually extinguished lanterns
until everyone was left in an enjoyably eerie darkness.
The evolving technology of woodblock prints
also made art more accessible for everyone,
and a focus on fashion meant accessories
were required in intriguing styles.
Soon the artists of the period
were illustrating legends from Japanese tradition
and summoning spine-chilling spirits into visual form.
The Hyakki yagyō, or night parade of one hundred demons,
was a key subject for these artists
and featured a procession of yōkai.
Shape-shifting monsters from folklore,
yōkai include
kitsune, a trickster fox,
tanuki, a raccoon-dog
with a mischievous sense of humour,
and tsukumogami,
enchanted objects that have come to life.
From 1776, Toriyama Sekien published illustrated guidebooks
to yōkai,
becoming the visual standard.
Other superstar artists of Edo Japan,
Kawanabe Kyōsai, Katsushika Hokusai,
and Tsukioka Yoshitoshi also entertained audiences
with uncanny scenes.
Haunting ghost stories.
Legendary figures like the gruesome Ibaraki witch,
and the Hell-Courtesan Jigoku-dayū;
and captivating portraits of yūrei,
Japanese ghosts fuelled by injustice
and a hunger for vengeance.
These artworks were widely admired and copied,
cementing their images in the public imagination.
As Japan underwent huge changes
at the close of the Edo period,
art of the supernatural fell from favour.
It wasn't until the mid-20th century
that the lights truly began
to come back on for the oni demons,
the Tsuchigumo earth spider,
the tengu
and the entire fiendish night parade,
when manga artists and filmmakers began
to explore this rich artistic heritage through new mediums.
The work of these earlier artists then led to that
of contemporary Japanese creative stars Chiho Aoshima,
Miwa Yanagi, and Takashi Murakami,
who also drew on the past
to reimagine monsters for the present
and explore their many fascinating faces.
The yōkai
and yūrei
of Japanese folklore have since come
to haunt new forms of technology,
video games, animation, and augmented reality
and are enjoyed by today's audiences
just as they were hundreds of years ago.
And as the powerful stories
of supernatural Japan evolve into a new era,
artists continue to find ever more inventive ways
to make the invisible visible.
Ready or not.