im back

hey im sorry iv been busy lately i promise ill update as soon as schhol starts bye *gomenasai gomenasai*

THYME - forever we can make it!

                                To honor the families in the month of togetherness (also labor)
NOT MY VIDEO

Holidays of the Month

November 3 (national holiday)
Culture Day (bunka no hi):
A day for promotion of culture and the love of freedom and peace. On culture day, schools and the government award selected persons for their special, cultural achievements.

November 15
Seven-Five-Three (shichigosan):
A festival for children, Shichigosan is not a national holiday.

November 23 (national holiday)
Labour Thanksgiving Day (kinro kansha no hi):
A national holiday for honoring labour.

OKAMI PICTURES

new member(shes sooo nice)

                                                           paola junior member (shes so adorable)

                                                new member (he's called brittney spears)

                                              josh& new member (john is his "brother")

                                                     new member ( supper funny)

                                                new member ( she REALLY good at games)

                                                             our president

                                                               our senior member (hes old)

                                               gaby our senior member(she so badass)

                                                     here is our president(she gets 2 pics)

                                                    Luis our senior member(is trying to talk)

                                                        john can't eat even 1 marrshmaro*

                                              josh looking at pizza(target locked)

                                                    new member (shes sweet and is an otaku!^^)

                                                bunny graduated member

                                                  new member (she looks lost or freaked out O.o)

                                                  brittney and his (my) hat ^^

                                               laura,john&.....................................josh

                                                         First Okami chubby bunny Games ()__()
                                                                                                            (=^ ^=)!

Bakemonogatari

Bakemonogatari (化物語, "ghostory," a portmanteau of bakemono (化物, ghost or monster) and monogatari (物語, story)) is a Japanese light novel series written by Japanese novelist Nisio Isin and illustrated by Taiwanese illustrator Vofan; the series is published by Kodansha under the Kodansha Box imprint. The story centers on Koyomi Araragi, a third year high school student who has recently survived a vampire attack, and finds himself mixed up with all kinds of apparitions; gods, ghosts, mythological beasts, and spirits. An anime adaptation by Shaft started airing on July 3, 2009 and went through a total of 15 episodes. The prequel novel, Kizumonogatari was recently announced as being green-lit for anime production.

Bakemonogatari centers on Koyomi Araragi, a third year high school student who is almost human again after briefly becoming a vampire. One day, a classmate named Hitagi Senjōgahara, who never talks to anyone, falls down the stairs into Koyomi's arms. He discovers that Hitagi weighs next to nothing, in defiance of physics. Despite being threatened by her to keep away, Koyomi offers his help, and introduces her to Meme Oshino, a strange middle-aged man living in an abandoned building, who cured him of being a vampire.
The series tends to introduce only one new heroine per chapter, each involved with a different "apparition". Most of them have an item which symbolises their spectres, such as Hitagi's stapler - the claw of a crab, Mayoi's back pack - the shell of a snail, Suruga's leggings - SARUMATA (猿股, the Japanese traditional underclothing. 'SARU' means monkey), and Nadeko's big hat and baggy jacket - the head and skin of a snake. The events of the previous chapters play an important role in the subsequent ones. The series primarily focuses on conversations between characters; it contains a fair number of parodies of other series, as well as Nisio Isin's trademark word play and metahumor.

Koyomi Araragi (阿良々木 暦, Araragi Koyomi)

Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya

Koyomi, the main character of the story, is a third year high school student who is close to failing every class except math. Shortly before the first novel begins, he was attacked by a vampire during spring break, and became a vampire himself. Although Meme Oshino helped him become human again, there are several lingering side effects; he can see in the dark, his eyes turn red when he gets angry, and he heals much faster than the average human. He remains scared of morning sunlight despite the fact that it no longer has any negative effects on him. He started dating Hitagi at the end of Mayoi Snail.

Hitagi Senjōgahara (戦場ヶ原 ひたぎ, Senjōgahara Hitagi)

Voiced by: Chiwa Saitō

Hitagi, the main character of Hitagi Crab, is a weak-looking girl with an "incurable disease". She is in the same class as Koyomi, but he has almost never heard her speak. When she was in the first year of high school, she encountered a mysterious crab, after which she became weightless. Ever since, she has avoided contact with everyone else, threatening everyone who discovers her secret. She called herself a tsundere and always speaks in an abusive style. At the end of Mayoi Snail, she admits that she loves Koyomi, and subsequently enters into a relationship with him. In the original, she overcame all of her trauma, and finally became a completely common cheerful girl. She starts calling Araragi with a cute nickname, chuckling at small things and sending e-mails full of Emojis.

Mayoi Hachikuji (八九寺 真宵, Hachikuji Mayoi)

Voiced by: Emiri Katō

Mayoi, the main character of Mayoi Snail, is the ghost of a fifth-grade elementary school girl. She was killed in a traffic accident while trying to reach her mother's home, and has since unsuccessfully attempted to do so. She can only be seen by people who do not want to reach their destination. Koyomi met her in a park on Mother's Day and offered to help her find her mother's home. She makes a lot of spelling mistakes and has a habit of mispronouncing Koyomi's family name. Her family name before her parents got divorced was Tsunade (綱手) She graduates to become a "Wandering Spirit" after Araragi and Senjōgahara help her reach her destination.

Suruga Kanbaru (神原 駿河, Kanbaru Suruga)

Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro

Suruga, the main character of Suruga Monkey, is Koyomi's underclassman, ace of the school's basketball team and one of Hitagi's acquaintances from back in junior high school. Immediately after she entered senior high school, she became aware of Hitagi's secret and was threatened by her, just like Koyomi was. She's an admitted lesbian, fujoshi, lolicon and masochist. Back in elementary school, she inherited what she thought was a Monkey's Paw but was actually a Rainy Devil from her mother. She started stalking Koyomi after she discovered he was dating Hitagi. She became friends with Koyomi and Hitagi after Koyomi rids her of the Rainy Devil.

Nadeko Sengoku (千石 撫子, Sengoku Nadeko)

Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa

Nadeko, the main character of Nadeko Snake, is Tsukihi’s friend back in elementary school. She always wears a waist pouch, always casts her eyes downward, has her bangs covering her eyes, has a shy personality, and can be easily amused. Koyomi played with her a lot whenever she visited his house after being invited by his sisters. She was put under a curse and was going to die until Koyomi found out and offered her his help. She refers to Koyomi as Koyomi-onii-chan.

Tsubasa Hanekawa (羽川 翼, Hanekawa Tsubasa)

Voiced by: Yui Horie

Tsubasa, the main character of Tsubasa Cat, is Koyomi's classmate and the class president. Koyomi describes her as "the class president of all class presidents." Prior to the novel's beginning, she was possessed by a bakeneko during Golden Week due to stress over her family. Although it has since been resolved with the help of Shinobu and at a cost of her own memories, the problems emerge again right before the school festival because of different stress. It was revealed by the bakeneko at the end of episode 14 of the anime that the source of the aforementioned stress was her feelings for Araragi.

Meme Oshino (忍野 メメ, Oshino Meme)

Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai^[

Meme is a middle-aged man who lives in an abandoned building. Koyomi calls him "psychedelic aloha guy". Being an expert in the apparitions field, he solves Koyomi and others' problems, although with compensation.

Shinobu Oshino (忍野 忍, Oshino Shinobu)

Voiced by: Aya Hirano

Shinobu is a girl who lives with Meme in the abandoned building. She appears to be an eight year old girl, but she was originally a beautiful vampire who had lived for more than 500 years. After the events at the end of Koyomi Vamp, she was left in a weakened condition with no powers or traces of her original personality, and therefore had to abandon her "Kiss-shot Acerola-orion Heart-under-blade" (キスショット・アセロラオリオン・ハートアンダーブレード) name. She was named Shinobu by Meme at the beginning of Hitagi Crab, suggesting her kanji name Shinobu (忍), having "heart" (心) under "blade" (刃), matches with her original personality.

Karen Araragi (阿良々木 火憐, Araragi Karen)

Voiced by: Eri Kitamura

Karen, the main character of Karen Bee, is one of Koyomi's sisters. She's older than Tsukihi and always doing outdoor activities. In Karen Bee, her hot-headed personality and her habit of acting before thinking lead her to be stung by a bee which leads to being poisoned with a terrible fever that lasted for 3 days. Like Hitagi, she refused any help from anyone which eventually leads to her and Koyomi fighting each other. Later it was revealed that it was set up by Kaiki. Karen and Tsukihi are nicknamed Tsuga no Ki Nichū no Fire Sisters (栂の木二中のファイヤーシスターズ^?, lit. Fire Sisters of Tsuga no Ki 2nd Junior High).

Tsukihi Araragi (阿良々木 月火, Araragi Tsukihi)

Voiced by: Yuka Iguchi

Tsukihi, the main character of Tsukihi Phoenix, is one of Koyomi's sisters. She's the youngest of Araragi family. Unlike her sister, Karen, she is always doing indoor activities. Contrary to her personality, she constantly changes her hair style and is short-tempered to the point that Koyomi describes her as having hysteria. She is actually the reincarnation of a phoenix and has been since before she was even born. The phoenix entered the baby's body when it was still in the womb and by now both beings' minds have become one. She is immortal and the only thing that end her life is a natural death from old age. It was hinted that Kaiki was the one who sent Kagenui and Ononoki to go after Tsukihi. Tsukihi and Karen are nicknamed Tsuga no Ki Nichū no Fire Sisters (栂の木二中のファイヤーシスターズ).

Deishū Kaiki (貝木 泥舟, Kaiki Deishū)

Deishū was first introduced in Karen Bee.

Yozuru Kagenui (影縫 余弦, Kagenui Yozuru)

Yozuru was first introduced in Tsukihi Phoenix. She is an onmyōji and one of Meme's acquaintances.

Yotsugi Ononoki (斧乃木 余接, Ononoki Yotsugi)

Yotsugi was first introduced in Tsukihi Phoenix. She always address herself with the masculine first-person pronoun boku and thinks of Yozuru as her sister.

List of Bakemono

A

• Abumi-guchi - a furry creature formed from the stirrup of a mounted military commander
• Abura-akago - an infant ghost who licks the oil out of andon lamps
• Abura-bō - a spook fire from Shiga Prefecture, in which the shape of a monk can often be seen
• Abura-sumashi - a spirit who lives on a mountain pass in Kumamoto Prefecture
• Akabeko - a red cow involved in the construction of Enzō-ji in Yanaizu, Fukushima
• Akamataa - a snake spirit from Okinawa
• Akaname - the spirit who licks the bathroom
• Akashita - a creature that looms in a black cloud over a floodgate
• Akateko - a red hand dangling out of a tree
• Akki - another name for a wicked oni
• Akkorokamui - an Ainu monster resembling a fish or octopus
• Akuma - an evil spirit
• Akurojin-no-hi - a ghostly fire from Mie Prefecture
• Amaburakosagi - ritual disciplinary demon from Shikoku
• Amamehagi - ritual disciplinary demon from Hokuriku
• Amanojaku - a small demon which instigates people into wickedness
• Amanozako - a monstrous goddess mentioned in the Kujiki
• Amazake-babaa - an old woman who asks for sweet sake and brings disease
• Amefurikozō - a little boy spirit who plays in the rain
• Amemasu - an Ainu creature resembling a fish or whale
• Ameonna - a female rain spirit
• Amikiri - the net-cutting spirit
• Amorōnagu - a tennyo from the island of Amami Ōshima
• Anmo - ritual disciplinary demon from Iwate Prefecture
• Aoandon - the spirit of the blue paper lantern
• Aobōzu - the blue monk who kidnaps children
• Aonyōbō - a female ghost who lurks in an abandoned imperial palace
• Aosaginohi - a luminescent heron
• Asobibi - a spook fire from Kōchi Prefecture
• Arikura-no-baba - an old woman with magical powers
• Ashiaraiyashiki(足洗邸) - the story of a huge demon which demands that its leg be washed
• Ashimagari - a spook which entangles the legs of travelers
• Ashinagatenaga - a pair of characters, one with long legs and the other with long arms
• Ato-oi-kozō - an invisible spirit that follows people
• Ayakashi - another name for the ikuchi
• Ayakashi-no-ayashibi - a spook fire from Ishikawa Prefecture
• Azukiarai - a spirit which makes the sound of azuki beans being washed
• Azukibabaa - azukiarai's more vicious cousin, a bean-grinding hag who devours people
• Azukitogi - another name for azukiarai

B

• Betobeto-san - an invisible spirit which follows people at night, making the sound of footsteps
• Bake-kujira - a ghost whale
• Bakeneko - a shapeshifting cat
• Bakezōri - a sandal spirit
• Baku - an auspicious beast who can devour nightmares
• Basan - a large fire-breathing chicken monster
• Binbōgami - the spirit of poverty
• Biwa-bokuboku - the spirit of a biwa lute
• Bunbuku Chagama - a famous story about a tanuki in the form of a teakettle
• Buruburu - a spirit which causes the shivers
• Byakko - the white tiger of the west

C

• Chōchinobake - a haunted paper lantern
• Cho Hakkai - Zhu Bajie, the pig spirit from Journey to the West

D

• Daidarabotchi - a giant responsible for creating many geographical features in Japan
• Daitengu - the most powerful tengu, each of whom lives on a separate mountain
• Datsue-ba - an old woman who steals clothes from the souls of the dead
• Dodomeki - the ghost of a pickpocket, her arms covered in eyes
• Dorotabō - the ghost of an old man whose rice fields were neglected and sold

E

• Enenra - a monster made of smoke
• Enkō - the kappa of Shikoku and western Honshū
• Eritate-goromo - the tengu Sōjōbō's enchanted clothes

F

• Fūjin - the god of wind
• Funayūrei - ghosts of people dead at sea
• Futakuchi-onna - the two-mouthed woman

G

• Gagoze - a demon who attacked young priests at Gangō-ji temple
• Gaki - the hungry ghosts of Buddhism
• Gangi-kozō - a fish-eating water-monster
• Garappa - a kind of kappa from Kyūshū
• Gashadokuro - a giant skeleton, the spirit of the unburied dead
• Genbu - the black tortoise of the north
• Goryō - vengeful spirits of the dead
• Guhin - another name for the tengu
• Gyūki - another name for the ushi-oni, the ox demon

H

• Hakutaku - the wise Bai Ze beast of China, who reported on the attributes of demons
• Hakuzōsu - a fox who disguised himself as a trapper's uncle
• Hannya - a noh mask representing a jealous female demon
• Harionago - a female monster with deadly barbed hair
• Hayatarō - the dog that killed the sarugami
• Heikegani - crabs with human-faced shells, the spirits of the warriors killed in the Battle of Dan-no-ura
• Hibagon - the Japanese Bigfoot
• Hiderigami - the god of drought
• Hihi - a baboon monster
• Hitodama - a fireball-ghost that appears when someone dies
• Hitotsume-kozō - a one-eyed boy
• Hoji - the wicked spirit of Tamamo-no-Mae
• Hōkō - a dog-like tree spirit from China
• Hone-onna - a skeleton woman
• Hō-ō - the mythical Fenghuang bird of China
• Hotoke - a deceased person
• Hyakki Yakō - the demons' night parade
• Hyakume - a creature with a hundred eyes
• Hyōsube - a kind of hair-covered kappa
• Hyōtan-kozō - a gourd spirit

I

• Ibaraki-dōji - the oni of the Rashomon gate, Shuten-dōji's accomplice
• Ichimoku-nyūdō - a one-eyed kappa from Sado Island
• Ikazuchi-no-Kami - a thunder god
• Ikiryō - a living ghost
• Ikuchi - a sea-serpent that travels over boats in an arc while dripping oil
• Inugami - a dog-spirit created, worshipped and employed by a family via sorcery
• Ippon-datara - a one-legged spirit of the mountains
• Isonade - a fish-like sea monster with a barb-covered tail
• Itsumaden - a monstrous bird that appeared over the capital in the Taiheiki
• Ittan-momen - a cloth-like monster which attempts to smother people by wrapping itself around their faces
• Iwana-bōzu - a char which appeared as a Buddhist monk

J

• Jakotsu-babaa - an old woman who guards a snake mound
• Jatai - an obi which has transformed into a snake
• Jibakurei 地縛霊, 自縛霊 - a ghost that is bound to a certain place
• Jikininki - ghosts that eat human corpses
• Jinmenju - a tree with human-faced flowers
• Jinmenken - a human-faced dog appearing in recent urban legends
• Jishin-namazu - the giant catfish that causes earthquakes
• Jorōgumo - a spider woman
• Jubokko - a vampire tree

K

• Kage-onna - the shadow of a woman cast on the paper doors of a haunted house
• Kahaku 河伯 - another name for a kappa
• Kamaitachi - the slashing sickle-weasel that haunts the mountains
• Kamikiri - the hair-cutting spirit
• Kameosa - a bottle that never runs dry
• Kanbari-nyūdō - a bathroom spirit
• Kanedama - the spirit of money
• Kappa - a famous water monster with a water-filled head and a love of cucumbers
• Karasu-tengu - a tengu with a bird's bill
• Kasa-obake - a paper umbrella monster
• Kasha - a cat-like demon which descends from the sky and carries away corpses
• Kashanbo - kappa who climb into the mountains for the winter
• Katawa-guruma - a woman riding on a flaming wheel
• Katsura-otoko - a handsome man from the moon
• Kawa-akago - an infant monster that lurks near rivers and drowns people
• Kawa-uso - a supernatural river otter
• Kawa-zaru - a smelly, cowardly kappa-like creature
• Kerakera-onna - a giant cackling woman who appears in the sky
• Kesaran-pasaran - a mysterious white fluffy creature
• Keukegen - a creature made of hair
• Kijimunaa - a tree sprite from Okinawa
• Kijo - a witch or ogress
• Kirin - the Qilin of China, part dragon and part hoofed mammal, sometimes called the "Chinese unicorn"
• Kitsune - a supernatural fox
• Kitsune-Tsuki - fox possession
• Kiyohime - a woman who transformed into a serpent-demon out of the rage of unrequited love
• Kodama - a spirit that lives in a tree
• Kokakuchō - the ubume bird
• Koma-inu - another name for the shishi, the pair of lion-dogs that guard the entrances of temples
• Konaki-Jijii - an infant spirit that cries until it is picked up, then increases its weight and crushes its victim
• Konoha-tengu - a bird-like tengu
• Koropokkuru - a little person from Ainu folklore
• Kosode-no-te - a short-sleeved kimono with its own hands
• Kuchisake-onna - the slit-mouthed woman
• Kuda-gitsune - a small fox-like animal used in sorcery
• Kudan - a human-faced calf which predicts a calamity and then dies
• Kurabokko - the guardian spirit of a warehouse
• Kurage-no-hinotama - a jellyfish which floats through the air as a fireball
• Kyōkotsu - the ghost of a corpse discarded in a well
• Kyūbi-no-kitsune - a fox with nine tails
• Kyūketsuki - a Japanese vampire

L

N/A

M

• Maikubi - the quarreling heads of three dead miscreants
• Makura-gaeshi - the pillow-moving spirit
• Mekurabe - the multiplying skulls that menaced Taira no Kiyomori in his courtyard
• Miage-nyūdō - a spirit which grows as fast as you can look up at it
• Mikoshi-nyūdō - another name for miage-nyūdō
• Mizuchi - a dangerous water-dragon
• Mokumokuren - a swarm of eyes that appear on a paper sliding door in an old building
• Momonjii - an old-man who is waiting for you at every fork in the road
• Morinji-no-kama - another name for Bunbuku Chagama, the tanuki teakettle
• Mōryō - a long-eared, corpse-eating spirit
• Mujina - a shapeshifting badger
• Myōbu - a title sometimes given to a fox

N

• Namahage - ritual disciplinary demon from the Oga Peninsula
• Namazu - a giant catfish that causes earthquakes
• Nando-baba - an old-woman spirit who hides under the floor in abandoned storerooms
• Narikama - a kettle spirit whose ringing sound is a good omen
• Nebutori - a spook-disease which causes a woman to grow immensely fat and lethargic
• Nekomata - a bakeneko with a split tail
• Nekomusume - a cat in the form of a girl
• Nikusui - a monster which appears as a young woman and sucks all of the flesh off of its victim's body
• Ningyo - a fish person or "mermaid"
• Nobusuma - a supernatural wall, or a monstrous flying squirrel
• Noppera-bō - a faceless ghost
• Nozuchi - Another name for the tsuchinoko serpent
• Nue - a monkey-headed, tiger-bodied, snake-tailed monster which plagued the emperor with nightmares in the Heike *Monogatari
• Nukekubi - a vicious human-like monster whose head detaches from its body, often confused with the rokurokubi
• Nuppefuhofu - an animated lump of decaying human flesh
• Nure-onna - a female monster who appears on the beach
• Nuribotoke - an animated corpse with blackened flesh and dangling eyeballs
• Nurikabe - a ghostly wall that traps a traveler at night
• Nurarihyon - a strange character who sneaks into houses on busy evenings
• Nyūbachibō - a mortar spirit

O

• Obariyon - a spook which rides piggyback on a human victim and becomes unbearably heavy.
• Oboro-guruma - a ghostly oxcart with the face of its driver
• Ohaguro-bettari - a female spook lacking all facial features save for a large, black-toothed smile
• Oiwa - the ghost of a woman with a distorted face who was murdered by her husband

O*kiku - the plate-counting ghost of a servant girl

• Ōkamuro - a giant face which appears at the door
• Ōkubi - the face of a huge woman which appears in the sky
• Okuri-inu - a dog or wolf that follows travelers at night, similar to the Black dog or Barghest of Anglo-Saxon myth.
• Ōmukade - a giant human eating centipede that lives in the mountains
• Oni - the classic Japanese demon, an ogre-like creature which often has horns
• Onibi - a spook fire
• Onikuma - a monster bear
• Onmoraki - a bird-demon created from the spirits of freshly-dead corpses
• Onryō - a vengeful ghost
• Otoroshi - a hairy creature that perches on the gates to shrines and temples

P

N/A

Q

N/A

R

• Raijin - the god of thunder
• Raijū - a beast which falls to earth in a lightning bolt
• Rokurokubi - a person, usually female, whose neck can stretch indefinitely
• Ryū - the Japanese dragon

S

• Sakabashira - a haunted pillar, installed upside-down
• Sagari - a horse's head that dangles from trees on Kyūshū
• Sa Gojō - the water-monster Sha Wujing from Journey to the West, often interpeted in Japan as a kappa
• Samebito - a shark-man from the undersea Dragon Palace
• Sarugami - a wicked monkey spirit which was defeated by a dog
• Satori - an ape-like creature that can read minds
• Sazae-oni - a turban snail which turns into a woman
• Seiryū - the azure dragon of the east
• Seko - a kind of kappa, which can be heard making merry at night
• Senpoku-Kanpoku - a human-faced frog which guides the souls of the newly deceased to the graveyard
• Sesshō-seki - the poisonous "killing stones" which Tamamo-no-Mae transformed into
• Setotaishō - a warrior composed of discarded earthenware
• Shachihoko - a tiger-headed fish whose image is often used in architecture
• Shibaten - a kind of kappa from Shikoku.
• Shikigami - a spirit summoned to do the bidding of an Onmyōji
• Shiki-ōji - another name for a shikigami
• Shikome - wild women sent by Izanami to harm Izanagi
• Shiro-bōzu - a white, faceless spirit
• Shin 蜃 - a giant clam which creates mirages
• Shinigami - the "god of death", the Japanese name for the Western Grim Reaper
• Shiro-uneri - an old, rotten dishcloth appearing in the form of a dragon
• Shiryō - the spirit of a dead person
• Shisa - the Okinawan version of the shishi
• Shishi - the paired lion-dogs that guard the entrances of temples
• Shōjō - red-haired sea-sprites who love alcohol
• Shōkera - a creature that peers in through skylights
• Shōki - the fabled demon-queller Zhong Kui
• Shunoban - a red-faced ghoul that surprises people
• Shuten-dōji - an infamous princess-kidnapping, bloodthirsty oni
• Sodehiki-kozō - an invisible spirit which pulls on sleeves
• Sōjōbō - the famous daitengu of Mount Kurama
• Sōgenbi - the fiery ghost of an oil-stealing monk
• Son Gokū - the monkey king Sun Wukong from Journey to the West
• Soragami - a ritual disciplinary demon in the form of a tengu
• Soraki-gaeshi - the sound of trees being cut down, when later none seem to have been cut
• Sorobanbōzu - a ghost with an abacus
• Sōtangitsune - a famous fox from Kyoto
• Sunakake-baba - the sand-throwing hag
• Sunekosuri - a small dog- or cat-like creature that rubs against a person's legs at night
• Suppon-no-yūrei - a ghost with a face like a soft-shelled turtle
• Suzaku - the vermilion bird of the south

T

• Taimatsumaru - a tengu surrounded in demon fire
• Taka-onna - a female spirit which can stretch itself to peer into the second story of a building
• Tamamo-no-Mae - a wicked nine-tailed fox who appeared as a courtesan
• Tankororin - an unharvested persimmon which becomes a monster
• Tanuki - a shapeshifting raccoon dog
• Tatami-tataki - a poltergeist that hits the tatami mats at night
• Tengu - the infamous bird-man demon of the mountains
• Tenjōname - the ceiling-licking spirit
• Tennin - a heavenly being
• Te-no-me - the ghost of a blind man, with his eyes on his hands
• Tesso - the ghost of the priest Raigō, who transformed into a swarm of rats
• Tōfu-kozō - a spirit child carrying a block of tofu
• Toire-no-Hanakosan - a ghost who lurks in grade school restroom stalls
• Tōtetsu - the Taotie monster of China
• Tsurara-onna - an icicle woman
• Tsuchigumo - a giant spider which was defeated by Minamoto no Raikō
• Tsuchikorobi - a tumbling monster which rolls over travelers
• Tsuchinoko - a legendary serpentine monster, now a cryptid resembling a fat snake
• Tsukumogami - inanimate objects that come to life after a hundred years
• Tsurube-otoshi - a monster that drops out of the tops of trees

U

• Ubume - the spirit of a woman who died in childbirth
• Uma-no-ashi - a horse's leg which dangles from a tree and kicks passerbies
• Umibōzu - a giant monster appearing on the surface of the sea
• Umi-nyōbō - a female sea monster who steals fish
• Ungaikyō - a mirror monster which can display assorted wonders in its surface
• Ushi-oni - a name given to an assortment of ox-headed monsters
• Uwan - a spirit named for the sound it shouts when surprising people

V

N/A

W

• Wanyūdō - a flaming wheel with a man's head in the center, which sucks out the soul of anyone who sees it.

X

N/A

Y

• Yagyō-san - a demon who rides through the night on a headless horse
• Yakubyō-gami - spirits who bring plagues and other unfortunate events
• Yadōkai - monks who have turned to mischief
• Yama-biko - a creature that creates echos
• Yama-bito - the wild people who live in the mountains
• Yama-chichi - a mountain spirit resembling a monkey
• Yama-inu - the fearsome mountain dog
• Yama-otoko - the giant mountain man
• Yama-oroshi - a radish-grater spirit, a pun on a word for "mountain storm"
• Yamata-no-Orochi - the eight-headed serpent slain by the god Susanoo
• Yama-uba - the mountain hag
• Yama-waro - a hairy, one-eyed spirit, sometimes considered a kappa who has gone into the mountains for the winter.
• Yanari - poltergeists which cause strange noises
• Yatagarasu - the three-legged crow of Amaterasu
• Yato-no-kami - deadly snake-gods which infested a field
• Yomotsu-shikome - the hags of the underworld
• Yōsei - the Japanese word for "fairy"
• Yosuzume - a mysterious bird that sings at night, sometimes indicating that the okuri-inu is near
• Yukinko - a child-like snow-spirit
• Yuki-onna - the snow woman

Z

• Zashiki-warashi - a protective child-like house spirit.
• Zennyo Ryūō - a rain-making dragon
• Zunbera-bō - another name for the noppera-bō

BAKEMONO

Japanese: 化け物 (bakemono)
Bakemono are the traditional monsters of Japanese culture. The word itself means "changing things", and many bakemono are thus the results of bizarre transformations, from things that are common and normal to things that are mysterious and abnormal. These transformations are not thought of as supernatural, but merely natural though strange and mysterious (Chambers 16). The term is sometimes given as obake or obakemono, though the latter is somewhat uncommon.
A bakemono is usually a living thing (Mayer 89), though it can sometimes be used to signify yûrei, a ghost of a human being, or as a blanket term for all mysterious phenomena synonymous with yôkai, of which it is normally a subset. However, the term bakemono in standard usage means a transformation of another living thing, usually a fox or tanuki or even a tengu. Many animals were traditionally believed to have shape shifting powers, and these included snakes, boars, turtles (Tyler xlvii), snails, birds, frogs, clams and even some plants (Mayer 88). The strange shapes that these creatures took were either normal human forms, or some sort of monstrous aberration such as hitotsume-kozô, ônyûdô, or noppera-bô. When a human form is taken, it is usually with intent to either seduce a man or to show gratitude for some previously performed good deed. The term bakemono can apply to either the transformation or to the creature’s original form.
Bakemono often appear in folktales, usually in the form of monstrous antagonist (though also at times as animal wife) and in this role they are usually not described in any detail. And so while Bakemono are a type of yôkai, the term can be used in a more general sense as well (yôkai individually are almost always named and have more or less set descriptions). The main difference between bakemono and yôkai is that the former, in the usual sense, is a living creature while the latter can be a ghost or a phantom. Yet again, the line can be easily blurred. Also, bakemono is a purely Japanese term, while yôkai derives from the Chinese yaoguai.
The most well known of bakemono are the tengu, the kappa, the fox (狐, kitsune), the raccoon-dog (狸, tanuki) or badger (mujina), and the oni, a horned human-shaped ogre often carrying an iron club.
Bakemono also include tsukumogami, the animated spirits of everyday household objects. The term tsukumogami originally meant “seaweed hair”, and was used to describe the thin and ragged appearance of people who had reached unusually great ages. It was applied to these transformed objects because of their association with age; it was believed that when an object of any kind had achieved one hundred years of age, the power that it had gathered over its many years of use became a conscious soul. If these objects, at any period of their existence, had been unceremoniously thrown out for any reason, they had the potential to become vengeful creatures who delighted in tormenting the humans that had neglected them.

What distinguishes the Bakemono from creatures such as the Yokai is that, rather than born-and-bred creatures of a certain species which in some cases happen to appear human (mostly in order to prey upon or mock them), the Bakemono are initially ordinary humans or objects. However, the residue of strong emotions, particularly violent ones such as hatred, causes these creatures to develop in strange ways. In the case of humans this emotion is one that drove it in life or tainted its death. While objects can’t feel these emotions, they can, in certain circumstances, absorb them.

Battlefields

As you can imagine, the Battlefield is one such circumstance where both objects and humans both experience these kind of emotions. A couple of Bakemono particularly associated with these paces include:

Abumi-Guchi

Wandering alone or in groups in remote fields late at night are small furry creatures that shuffle around in the long grass. On closer inspection, these creatures have torn ropes for limbs and the footplate of a sirrup for a mouth. The Abumi-Guchi are in fact these stirrups, broken off in the heat of some ancient battle and never collected by their slain masters. These abandoned objects crawl around the battlefields to this day.

Odokuro

Occurring not only in battlefields but also in other places where one finds large heaps of anonymous corpses. The bones of these beings, left stewing in their own rage and rotting remains eventually become one collective entity, driven by their hatred of the living. These bones join together, as one colossal skeleton or a construction of individual bones, hunting and devouring living humans, adding their bones to their bodies. One of these creatures famously occurs in Kuniyoshi’s painting “Mitsukuni defying the skeleton spectre invoked by princess Takiyasha”. Here, it is an apparition of a single, large skeleton, which looms over the horizon similar to the Kerakera-onna (more on her next time).

Jubokko

While the Odokuro was formed from the bones of dead soldiers, the blood of those slain and wounded in battle can also transmit their rage. Soaking into the soil, taking the anguish and battle-lust with it, it is soaked up into the roots of trees, infecting them in turn. These trees outwardly show no sign of change, and indeed appear fully nourished. However, should one seek shelter underneath this tree, its branches will snatch you up and drain you of your own blood, your bones left to feed its roots.

Me-kurabe

Similar to the Odokuro we have discussed, this being has only been seen once, and for a very good reason. Taira no Kiyomori, a warlord of the 12^th Century, rose to power through a series of bloody battles, famously warring against the Minamoto clan and establishing what would go on to be the Shogunate government system. All this war, however, produced a lot of casualties, and upon one occasion it seems some of them took it upon themselves to highlight this, appearing in his garden in a great horde before rolling together and staring at him ominously. Taira, unperturbed, stared right back until they left. Hiroshige depicted these skulls as appearing from the very trees and rocks of the garden itself – see if you can spot ‘em all.

Humans

While furious death in battle are the surest way to an unhappy afterlife, there are other means of becoming a Bakemono. Some even become these entities while still alive, and appear to be human to outward appearances.

Dorotabo

Unlike many Bakemono, the man who becomes one of these creatures is entirely a victim of circumstance. All his life, this farmer lovingly tilled his fields of crops, putting his sweat and tears of effort into it to produce crop after healthy crop until the day he dies. Trouble is, his descendents have fingers far less green, and promptly let the field go to waste. However, the furious spirit of the farmer returns to the field it tended, rising from the waist up from the mud and howling in its fury for the return of its land.

Futa-kuchi-onna

This female Bakemonois primarily fuelled by greed. Throughout Japanese history, large portions of the population were living in deep poverty, and for some women (and in a few stories men) their own hunger was more important to them than that of their families, particularly any stepchildren or foster-children. This hunger never truly leaves them, however, as a second mouth, ravenously hungry, grows from the back of their head. Long snaking tendrils of hair will reach out as the creature sleeps, devouring the piles of food that it otherwise ceases to eat during the day.

Hari-onago

Walking the road at night, one might encounter a woman brushing her long, long hair. If you strike her fancy, she may laugh at you. Laugh back, and she will chase you down and dismember you with the razor-sharp hooks on the end of her long hairs.

Ohaguro-bettari

Ohaguro means Blackened Teeth, a common practice amongst soon-to-be-Brides, and a mouthful of blackened teeth is the distinguishing feature of this female creature, and indeed the only feature on its blank, smooth face. Unlike the Nopperabo we looked at last time, this creature’s appearance is a result of its own resentment of married women – in some stories it is the merchant who sells the squid ink for blackening, in others an unattractive (therefore unmarried) woman.

A similar creature, the Ao-Nyōbō lurks in abandoned castles. Like the Ohaguro-bettari, she has blackened teeth, but also dresses in Heian courtly robes, and devours any young men who pass her way. Curiously, lends its name to a sexual slang term for a woman faint from, *ahem*, “over-activity” with a well… equipped husband.

Rokuro-kubi

Another predominantly female variety of Bakemono, and another one that has suffered a mis-labeling (once again, blame Lafcadio Hearn). Of the two similar types of creature, the Rokuro-kubi is the better known. While otherwise a normal woman, who perhaps is a little shy, but can have families and children in the usual fashion, at night the sleeping head reawakens, and stretches itself out via its long, rubbery neck in order to explore. It feeds on insects at night, though in some tales it absorbs the Qi energy from other sleeper's breath.

The other variety of note is the Nuekubi - this being is the same, but in local legend these women detach their heads entirely and float about their business. Hearn noted that, if the body was moved from its sleeping place and hidden, the head could not find it, and would dash its head against the ground until it died.

Tesso

This Bakemono, literally the "Iron Rat", dates back to the Heian period and a monk named Raigo. Raigo died as a result of a hunger strike - the local Lord promised the temple would be refurbished if the monks prayed for a royal son, but the due reward was stalled by political rivalries. The end result was that the monk's gnawing hunger and anger at the rival temples led to his rebirth as Tesso, a huge, mansized Rat in monk's clothing, who also commanded swarms of normal rodents. These rats proceeded to devour their way through a large portion of the Enryaku temple's Buddhist artifacts before being sealed underground. However, rats are nothing if not born survivors.

Wanyudo

Originally found in Kyoto during the Heian period, but encounters have been reported across Japan since then. A certain local Baron, corrupt and tyrannous, was assassinated one day as he was traveling in a horse-drawn carriage. His sheer indignant fury at being cut down led to his being reincarnated as a burning cartwheel with a roaring human head in the centre. He now tears down from the mountains on certain nights and speeds through the main street of town in the dead of night, and any who cross his path or even look upon him are instantly incinerated.

Tsukumogami

The clue to these being’s natures are in the name, the characters of which (付喪神) can also be read as “99 Gods”. When a well used and/or beloved household object reaches 100, or in some cases when it is thrown away, the emotions invested in that object of love and respect lead to it taking on a life of its own. Usually merely choosing to embark on a campaign of mischief, enjoying their new-found lives, sometimes they bear a grudge against the people who threw them away. They are often drawn out for the Night Parades through the city at certain times of the year (See last month’s article). Dolls, being the most humanlike of these objects, have for many years been taken to the Kiyomizu Kannondo Temple in Tokyo for the Ningyo Kuyo ceremony. Here, they are thanked for a lifetime of happy memories, before being burned and sent on to the afterlife, and into the arms of the Bodhisattva of compassion, Kannon.

Many of these creatures occur often in artwork and stories throughout the years. Some of the more frequent include:

Bake-Zori – A discarded sandal which scampers through the house muttering to itself.

Biwa-bokuboku – An enchanted Biwa lute that can only be played by certain people.

Boroboro-Ton - A ratty old bedding sheet, which presses down upon the sleeper and suffocates them.

Bura-bura – A ripped, ragged lamp which floats in the air spewing fire.

Kameosa – A bottle of Sake which, having received a good life from its many owners, is benevolent to humans, providing an unlimited amount of whatever fluid is put in.

Kara-kasa - A battered umbrella with a hairy leg for a pole, a long tongue and a cyclopean eye.

Kosode no Te - A child's Kimono, handed down for years but often the first thing to be pawned in hardship, it channels the will of those who used to wear it.

Koto-furunushi – Another enchanted instrument, a doglike creature born from a Koto (slide-guitar).

Mokumoku Ren – A battered screen door in abandoned houses, which glares at those who sleep behind it with eyes in its holes.

Seto Taisho – Soldiers made of cutlery which attack Kitchen staff. Mostly harmless, and prone to dashing itself apart when it charges, only to piece it together and start again.

Shamisen-choro -

There are, however, some which are unique. These two panels come from a children’s book featuring the Hyakki Yako night parade. From what we can tell, one of the creatures on the left is born from a Calligraphy brush, and one of the two on the right from rolls of Yen coins. They don’t appear to have a name, and since they come from a children’s book, we wouldn’t hold out much hope on their being from Ancient Lore or Legend, just perhaps from a house where people don’t take enough care of their things.