{Context|date=November 2011}}
is the first book of Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese artist Toriyama Sekien

Toriyama Sekien

thumb|200px| was an 18th century scholar and ukiyo-e artist of Japanese folklore. He was the teacher of Utamaro and, before taking up printmaking, a painter of the Kanō school. Toriyama is most famous for his attempt to catalogue all species of yōkai in the Hyakki Yakō series.-References:...

's famous Gazu Hyakki Yakō e-hon

E-hon

E-hon or Ehon is the Japanese term for picture books. It may be applied in the general sense, or may refer specifically to a type of illustrated volume published from at least the mid-Edo period onwards, often as chapter-books in series...

 series, published 1776. These books are supernatural bestiaries

Bestiary

A bestiary, or Bestiarum vocabulum is a compendium of beasts. Bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals, birds and even rocks. The natural history and illustration of each beast was usually accompanied by a moral lesson...

, collections of ghosts, spirits, spooks and monsters, many of which Toriyama based on literature

Japanese literature

Early works of Japanese literature were heavily influenced by cultural contact with China and Chinese literature, often written in Classical Chinese. Indian literature also had an influence through the diffusion of Buddhism in Japan...

, folklore

Japanese folklore

The folklore of Japan is heavily influenced by both Shinto and Buddhism, the two primary religions in the country. It often involves humorous or bizarre characters and situations and also includes an assortment of supernatural beings, such as bodhisattva, kami , yōkai , yūrei ,...

, other artwork

Japanese art

Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture in wood and bronze, ink painting on silk and paper and more recently manga, cartoon, along with a myriad of other types of works of art...

. These works have had a profound influence on subsequent yōkai

Yōkai

are a class of supernatural monsters in Japanese folklore. The word yōkai is made up of the kanji for "otherworldly" and "weird". Yōkai range eclectically from the malevolent to the mischievous, or occasionally bring good fortune to those who encounter them...

imagery in Japan. (See also: Hyakki Yakō

Hyakki Yako

thumb|300px|"Hyakki Yakō" by [[Kawanabe Kyōsai]], collected in [[British Museum]]Hyakki Yakō was a Japanese folk belief. The belief holds that every year yōkai, the Japanese supernatural beings, will take to the streets during summer nights. Anyone who comes across the procession will die, unless...

)

Second Volume - 陽

is the infamous, cannibalistic hag of Adachigahara. http://park.org/Japan/CSK/hyakki/zukan/yakou/you/kurozuka.html http://linet.gr.jp/~kojima/Kyogokudou/Sekien/kuroduka.jpg http://www.robynbuntin.com/ukiyo-e/PrintDetail.asp?ProductID=3418
is a woman who suffers from a supernatural illness, causing her head to float away from her body at night while her neck stretches indefinitely. http://park.org/Japan/CSK/hyakki/zukan/yakou/you/rokuroku.html http://linet.gr.jp/~kojima/Kyogokudou/Sekien/rokurokubi.jpg
is a pillar that has been installed upside down, which causes the house to become haunted. http://park.org/Japan/CSK/hyakki/zukan/yakou/you/sakabasi.html http://linet.gr.jp/~kojima/Kyogokudou/Sekien/sakabashira.jpg
is a spirit that takes your pillow out from under your head while you sleep and places it by your feet instead. http://park.org/Japan/CSK/hyakki/zukan/yakou/you/makuraga.html http://linet.gr.jp/~kojima/Kyogokudou/Sekien/makuragaeshi.jpg
is a pale female spirit who appears in the snow, who sometimes causes people to freeze to death. http://park.org/Japan/CSK/hyakki/zukan/yakou/you/yukionna.html http://linet.gr.jp/~kojima/Kyogokudou/Sekien/yukionna.jpg
is a "living ghost", a spirit which appears outside of its body while its owner is still alive. It often belongs to a woman motivated by jealousy. http://park.org/Japan/CSK/hyakki/zukan/yakou/you/ikiryo.html http://linet.gr.jp/~kojima/Kyogokudou/Sekien/ikiryou.jpg
is the spirit of a dead person. http://linet.gr.jp/~kojima/Kyogokudou/Sekien/shiryou.jpg
is a ghost. http://linet.gr.jp/~kojima/Kyogokudou/Sekien/yuurei.jpg

Third Volume - 風

is a long-necked creature whose height increases as fast as you can look up at it. http://park.org/Japan/CSK/hyakki/zukan/yakou/kaze/mikosi.html http://linet.gr.jp/~kojima/Kyogokudou/Sekien/mikoshi.jpg
is a creature which peeks in through the skylight of an old house. http://park.org/Japan/CSK/hyakki/zukan/yakou/kaze/syokera.html http://linet.gr.jp/~kojima/Kyogokudou/Sekien/shoukera.jpg
is a monkey-like creature which is kin to the kappa. http://park.org/Japan/CSK/hyakki/zukan/yakou/kaze/hyosube.html http://linet.gr.jp/~kojima/Kyogokudou/Sekien/hyousube.jpg
is a large beast that lurks in the mountains, about which little is known. http://park.org/Japan/CSK/hyakki/zukan/yakou/kaze/waira.html http://linet.gr.jp/~kojima/Kyogokudou/Sekien/waira.jpg
is a hairy creature sitting on top of a torii

Torii

A is a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the profane to the sacred...

gate, thought to be a guardian of the shrine. http://park.org/Japan/CSK/hyakki/zukan/yakou/kaze/otorosi.html http://linet.gr.jp/~kojima/Kyogokudou/Sekien/otoroshi.jpg
　（not to be confused with Oni 鬼)