水墨画

Umashika (Horse-Deer Yokai)oo-MAH-shee-kah

In a misty waterside landscape, a horse-faced figure in robes spreads both arms. Protruding eyes, cloven hooves and a strangely pleased stance sit apart from the pale ink world around it. Umashika survives only as an image in Edo-period yōkai scrolls; no source explains its origin or deeds. Perhaps it began as a visual pun on the word baka, but even that answer remains just out of reach.

Ushi-oniushi-oni

From a washed-ink bank, the massive shape of Ushi-oni seeps toward the water with its horns lowered. Spider-like forelegs skim the surface while its dark coat gathers in heavy strokes. Ushi-oni was feared on coasts and in deep pools, where it devoured people and spread a deadly miasma. The unpainted space makes its unseen body below the water feel larger still.

BakotsuBakotsu

Amid pale hills and open water, a horse skeleton walks slowly with an old robe trailing behind. A loose bone hangs from one foreleg; only a narrow ink shadow remains on the surface. Bakotsu is the skeletal apparition said to have risen from a horse killed by fire, preserved in the Tosa Obake Zōshi. It needs no loud lament: the walking bones themselves ask to be remembered.