Reunited After Four Years, We Went to See Some Yokai – The “Night Parade of One Hundred Demons” at the Yamagata Museum of Art

The other day I went to see “Shigeru Mizuki’s Yokai: The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons,” currently on at the Yamagata Museum of Art.

I’ll be honest — I’m not someone who is especially into yokai. I know GeGeGe no Kitaro, of course, being of that generation, but I wouldn’t call myself a fan.

And yet I ended up enjoying the day many times more than I’d imagined — and that is exactly what I want to write about here 😊

Meeting Up in Yamagata After Four Years

That day I met up with a friend who lives in Sendai.

It had been four years since we’d last seen each other, and I headed there absolutely buzzing with excitement 😊

And when we actually met, it felt nothing like a four-year gap — we relaxed right away, and the conversation never let up. Once again I thought, there really is nothing like an old friend.

There was one thing we kept coming back to that day.

If you don’t decide to meet, you never do.

If you live nearby, you probably just run into each other naturally. But when there’s distance between you, unless someone actually says “let’s meet up,” years can slip by just like that. So we promised each other to really make the effort to meet.

There are still a few months left in the year, and plenty of “I want to go here” and “let’s check out there” came up, so I’m sure we’ll see each other again soon. I can’t wait 💕

Far More Crowded Than I Expected

Now, on to the exhibition itself.

It was, honestly, far busier than I’d imagined. So many people. My first surprise was simply realizing what a crowd Shigeru Mizuki still draws.

On display are around 100 original yokai paintings, and alongside them the books Mizuki actually owned and the reference materials he drew from.

Of all of it, what struck me most personally was seeing an actual copy of Shonen Magazine from that era on display.

What caught my eye wasn’t Kitaro himself, but the other series running alongside it in the very same issue.

Every single one was a title you’d recognize instantly by name even today — and not just recognize, but works still being read now.

All of that packed into a single issue. It really brought home to me what an incredible era that was.

The Man Who “Researched” His Yokai Before Drawing Them

This is the part I most wanted to write about.

I’d only ever thought of Shigeru Mizuki as “the GeGeGe no Kitaro guy.” I assumed he drew his yokai purely from his own imagination.

But that wasn’t it at all.

Before he was a manga artist, this man was an extraordinary collector and researcher.

For one thing, the yokai Mizuki drew apparently aren’t invented characters. Many are folk traditions handed down across Japan since long ago — things he drew only after researching them properly.

And he collected and studied old texts — the kind you’d call antiquarian books — at his own expense. His own money 😊 Even though no one had asked him to.

What’s more, it wasn’t only Japanese yokai he collected. He looked into yokai from all over the world too, in numbers that were apparently staggering.

…And once I knew all this, here is what moved me.

Yokai are about the most unscientific subject there is, aren’t they? You can’t even know whether they exist, let alone prove it.

And yet this man handled that most unscientific of subjects in the most rigorously logical way.

He gathered the materials, read them closely, verified them, and only then drew. What he was doing was completely logical. Learning that gave me a real fondness for Shigeru Mizuki as a person.

There was more, too — manga about the old woman in his neighborhood who became one of his roots, and about his experiences serving in the war. All of it fascinating.

Summary

To finish, one slightly embarrassing confession.

I have a collector’s streak, so museum shops are my downfall. The moment I walk in, that bad habit kicks in and I want every single piece of merchandise.

…I swallowed the urge. This time I limited myself to just the exhibition pamphlet. Good for me 😊

I haven’t read it yet, but I’m looking forward to it. If it makes me want to know more, I might just go and buy some of his other books.

Even someone like me, who isn’t especially into yokai, had this much fun.

It’s still on, so I’d love for lots of people to go and see it.

📌 Shigeru Mizuki’s Yokai: The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons — How the Ghosts Were Born

Venue: Yamagata Museum of Art (Yamagata City)
Dates: Friday, July 10 – Saturday, August 22, 2026
Hours: 10:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30)
Closed: Wednesday, August 12
Admission: ¥1,600 general / ¥1,300 high school & university students / ¥700 elementary & junior high students (the permanent collection is included)
Free for junior high students and younger on Saturday and Sunday mornings

One thing worth knowing before you go: same-day tickets can only be paid for in cash 😊 If you turn up expecting to use a card you’ll be caught out a little, so do bring some cash.

Full details here 👇

https://www.yamagata-art-museum.or.jp/exhibition/6490.html

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