Bakemono no e

Bakemono no e

The Bakemono no e (化物之繪 – Illustrations of Bakemono) is a Yōkai picture scroll which dates to the Edo Period, and was likely made in the 17th Century. The creator of this work is not known. These ‘indexes’ of supernatural creators were extremely popular during the Edo Period, listing creatures, their names, and at times short annotations alongside these creatures. This scroll in question has no annotations and is stored in the Bringham Young University in Utah.

The hand painted scroll itself contains depictions of 35 ‘bakemono‘ it is in a remarkable state of preservation, measuring 44x1525cm in size. There is also extensive use of gold pigment throughout within the ‘background mists’ of the scroll. Most of the creatures on the scroll are well known, however some of them, such as the Umibōzu, Umiotoko , Nurikabe , Nakibisu , and the three-eyed Tsuchigumo are seldom seen.

This piece is also listed with the name of Bakemonozukushie (化物尽繪 – Index of Supernatural Creatures), however, in this context it comes in the form of a book and not a picture scroll. Only one copy of it in book form exists and again contains no name for it’s creator.¹

Furaribi	Uwan
Akaguchi	Shokera
Hyosube	Kappa
Nureonna	Gagoze
Nurarihyon	Kasha
Ubume	Nuppeppo
Waira	Otoroshi
Yamabiko	Nuribotoke
Ouni	Yume no Seirei
Yamamba	Inugami
Nukekubi	Yurei
Umibozū	Umiotoko
Nurikabe	Yamawaro
Mehitsubo	Ushioni
Yukionna	Yako
Nekomata	Kamikiri
Nakibisu	Tsuchigumo
Daisō

External Links

You can see the entire scroll online here: Bakemono no e Scroll Online

Footnotes

1. Brigham University Online LIbrary. Accessed 26/09/2019.

	Check out the Japan Archives, our Japanese History Podcast. Instagram (Japan): @japan_archives
	Check out our Gaming Channel on Youtube. Instagram (Minecraft): @mycenria
	Find the website useful? Please consider donating to help up keep the website running.