Mononoke — Shigeru Mizuki's Catalogue of Yōkai
Mononoke gathers Shigeru Mizuki's drawings of yōkai—supernatural beings that inhabit shadows, forgotten corners, attics, and the edges of everyday life. In Japanese folklore, yōkai can be benevolent or hostile. They appear rarely, sometimes to bring luck, sometimes to frighten, sometimes simply to unsettle the ordinary with small, strange acts.
This artist edition presents Mizuki as a patient observer and classifier. He did not merely popularize yōkai in modern Japan; he documented them with an attention that often feels almost photographic. Mononoke lists the creatures by name and shows them in both black-and-white and color. The book is completed by an index that adds contextual notes on each yōkai—its nature, period, and the cultural setting in which it emerged.
For readers interested in yōkai as visual culture and collectors of Éditions Cornélius, Mononoke functions as both an image archive and a reference object. The tone is encyclopedic rather than narrative: it is about looking, naming, and preserving forms that once belonged to oral legend and regional memory. As an artist publication, it occupies a distinct position between folklore documentation and the illustrated book tradition.
Shigeru Mizuki (1922–2015) was a Japanese manga artist and one of the most influential modern chroniclers of yōkai folklore. His work brought renewed attention to regional legends and supernatural figures by combining storytelling with careful visual documentation. Mizuki's drawings helped shape contemporary popular imagery of yōkai and informed later creators across manga, animation, and illustration.
