Japanese yokai, cryptids, urban legends, UFOs, mythical beasts and ancient mysteries, translated into English.
Entries: 431
A form of divination and spirit summoning in which a 10-yen coin moves across a sheet of written characters to answer questions. It became popular when Western "table turning" reached Japan in the Meiji era, and it was a huge craze among children in the 1970s.
A member of the bear family known for its black-and-white coat. It became known to Western science only in 1869 and was long considered a "phantom animal." It is one of the world's three great rare animals; we explain its discovery and what we know today.
An egg-laying mammal with a duck's bill. When a specimen reached Britain in 1798, it was so strange that scientists suspected it was a stitched-together fake. We explain how it came to be accepted as real.
A wild cat found only on Iriomote Island in Okinawa Prefecture. Long known to the islanders, it was scientifically confirmed only in 1965. We explain the story of this 20th-century discovery in Japan.
An ancient fish thought to have gone extinct about 66 million years ago. A living one was found off South Africa in 1938, astonishing the world; it is the classic "living fossil." We explain how it was discovered.
A giant deep-sea squid that can exceed 10 meters in total length, said to be behind the legendary sea monster the kraken. In 2004, Japanese researchers photographed a living giant squid for the first time in the world.
The world's largest lizard, living on islands in Indonesia. It was told of in rumors as a "land crocodile," confirmed by Europeans in 1910 and described as a new species in 1912.
A relative of the giraffe with zebra-like stripes. Rumored as a "phantom animal" of the Congo rainforest, it was discovered in 1901. It is one of the world's three great rare animals.
An ape very similar to the chimpanzee. Long not distinguished from chimpanzees, it was recognized as a different animal from a museum skull only in 1929. We explain the story of "the last ape to be discovered."
A deep-sea shark that retains a primitive form. Long and slender like an eel, it has been suggested as the true identity of sea serpents. It was described as a new species in 1884 from specimens from Sagami Bay, Japan.
An ape long told of in legends and rumors as a hairy giant of the forest. It was scientifically described in 1847. Its name comes from "Gorillai," a word in an ancient Carthaginian voyage account.
The leader of the oni who made Mount Oe his stronghold and abducted people from the capital. He is known from the legend in which Minamoto no Raiko and his Four Heavenly Kings, disguised as mountain ascetics, defeated him with poisoned sake.
A giant underwater rock formation resembling steps and terraces off Yonaguni Island, Okinawa. Discovered by a diver in 1986, it is a popular dive site where debate continues over whether it is a man-made ruin or a natural formation.
A legendary underground world said to spread through the interior of the Earth. People with an advanced civilization are said to live there, with a capital called Shambhala. It spread through the writings of a 19th-century mystic.
An imaginary continent covering much of the Southern Hemisphere on world maps of the 16th–18th centuries. Named after Magellan, it was shown not to exist by voyages such as Cook's.
A phantom continent hypothesized to have once existed in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Proposed in the 1920s to explain the shared culture of the Polynesian islands, it has no geological evidence and has been rejected.
A fox yokai with nine tails. Legend says it took the form of the beautiful Tamamo-no-Mae to win over the retired Emperor Toba, was unmasked and killed on the plain of Nasu, and turned into the "Killing Stone". The stone split in 2022.
The term "unidentified anomalous phenomena" used by the U.S. government and others in place of UFO. In 2020 the Department of Defense released Navy footage, and in 2022 a dedicated investigative office, AARO, was established.
Clay figurines of the final Jomon period known for their huge eyes. The one from the Kamegaoka site in Tsugaru, Aomori Prefecture, is an Important Cultural Property of Japan. They became famous through the theory that they depict aliens in spacesuits.
Mysterious balls of light seen by Allied pilots during World War II, which seemed to follow their aircraft. Suspected of being new enemy weapons, they remained unexplained.
