I ran into a book recently, The Book of Japanese Folklore: An Encyclopedia of the Spirits, Monsters, and Yōkai of Japanese Myth. I became more and more intrigued as I flipped through the pages, and I knew I needed to explore folklore and folktales and learn some more. What better place than a library!

What is folklore?
Folklore covers a wide span of traditional beliefs and stories of a community, such as myths, legends, practices, superstitions, etc.  Folklore is commonly passed from generation to the next by word of mouth.

What is a folktale?
Folktales focus on the stories that have been passed down from the ancestors of a particular group of people on to their younger generations.  Folktales vary widely in genre, ranging from fairy tales, historical, adventure, to ghost tales.  Like folklore, folktales pass along generations through word of mouth.

Culture plays an important part in both folklore and folktales, but this does not make them interchangeable.  Folklore captures a large range, from beliefs to superstitions, and is told in more of an informative, and even instructive way to the listener.  Whereas folktales are only the stories passed down to younger generations.  Here are a few books on different folklore and folktales that are on our shelf at Mead Public Library.

The Book of Japanese Folklore: An Encyclopedia of the Spirits, Monsters, and Yōkai of Japanese Myth by Thersa Matsuura, Illustrated by Michelle Wang

I have always been intrigued by Asian Folklore, but not to the point where I’ve pushed to learn more.  Seeing this book gave me the push I needed.  I’ve heard of yōkai (the Japanese word for supernatural beings, like ghosts, demons, etc.), but was far from understanding.  This book is a wonderful teacher!  The writing is very light and entertaining, and the illustrations are vibrant and colorful, fitting each yōkai perfectly.
Each section starts with an overview of the yōkai, then it gives a nice background and popular stories the yōkai is found in, and then finishes with modern stories.