Obake, also called "obakemono", are the traditional ghosts, goblins and monsters from Japanese folklore; the term includes "yōkai" (goblins and monsters) and "yūrei" (vengeful spirits of the dead). The term obake derives from the Japanese verb bakeru, meaning "to change"; thus obake are preternatural beings who have undergone some sort of change, from the natural realm to the unnatural.
Obake can range from animals (kitsune, tanuki, mujina) that are thought to have shapeshifting powers, to mythological creatures, to inanimate objects that have come to life (called "tsukumogami"). Popular examples of obake are the kappa, a water-dwelling imp who drowns humans and animals if he can get his hands on them; the tengu, a long-nosed mountain goblin skilled at martial arts and having the wings and sometimes beak of a bird; kasa-obake, an umbrella that has come to life; the obakeneko and kitsune, cats and foxes, respectively, that can shapeshift to the form of a human (usually female).
Obake also constitutes Yurei, the spirits of dead humans who have died in a great fit of rage or sorrow. Their spirit lingers on in the physical world, until their last desire has been fulfilled.
Stories and legends of these Japanese apparitions have also been imported to other languages and cultures, such as the Hawaiian Pidgin of native Hawaiians. In Hawaii, some of the original lore concerning obake has been altered or misunderstood; the most common example is the mujina, originally a badger-like shapeshifter, which has been confused in Hawaii for the noppera-bō, a faceless human apparition. The source of this confusion was a story by Lafcadio Hearn called "Mujina". Hearn neglected to explain the reasoning behind his title: in Japan, mujina are often known to shapeshift into the faceless noppera-bō.
Obake in Popular Culture
Various kinds of obake are encountered in folklore and folklore-inspired art and literature, particularly manga and Japanese horror. The man to whom most of the credit should go for keeping youkai and obake in the popular imagination (at least in Japan) is Shigeru Mizuki, the manga creator of such series as Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro and Sanpei no Kappa. With the exception of Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro, however, Mizuki's works have yet to be translated into English.
In the English-speaking world, knowledge of obake is slowly, but surely, developing a dedicated following. Hawaiian folklorist Glen Grant was known for his "Obake Files", a series of reports he developed about supernatural incidents in Hawaii; the grand bulk of these incidents and reports were of Japanese origin or concerned obake. However, it should be noted that he was not the first; in the 1950s, Mexican-American folklorist and author Alfred Avila wrote about "La Japonesa", a purported nekomusume said to exist in the Los Angeles suburb of El Monte.
