Like all countries, Japan has plenty of its own unique folklore. A lot of Japanese folklore is very different from anywhere else in the world. Their origins are steeped in Japanese history and tradition, and many of the stories are very old. Most are even tied to very specific places in Japan, and you can still hear those stories whenever you travel to those areas. Some common themes in Japanese folklore are talking animals with magic powers, demons and ghosts, and spirits or monsters called yokai. Often, the supernatural world and the human world crossover one another, and humans have encounters with magic and other things that they cannot explain.
Typically, folk stories in Japan are neither explanations for things that people did not understand, nor are they necessarily stories with morals to teach. More often than not, they are just meant to be entertaining, and that is what they have been used for centuries of storytelling. These traditional folk stories still affect modern Japanese media today - and of course, that includes anime! While a good deal of anime are set in Japan, most are either modern or historical Japan rather than delving into folklore. But if you’re looking for some stories that are influenced by Japanese folklore, here are the top five anime you can watch!
The Boy and the Beast
The Boy and the Beast is a standalone anime film by Studio Chizu that tells the story of an unlikely friendship between, well, a boy and a beast! The boy is Ren, a child who feels he has nothing and no one left in the world when he takes to wandering the streets of Shibuya. It’s there that he first meets the beast, Kumatetsu, who leads him to the beast land of Shibuten. Neither think they are good enough for what they want to do, and together they learn that they are both more than enough.
The land of Shibuten and the beasts that reside there are influenced by Japanese myths. Many of the creatures, while not exactly the same as Japanese spirits or monsters, are based on them. The very idea of animals with magical abilities, and which live near-human lives talking, walking, and living in a society together is a common theme in Japanese folklore. There are many stories about foxes, wolves, bears, and more that can speak and have humanlike qualities or magic powers. The Boy and the Beast is a modern story that has been influenced by traditional ones.
InuYasha
Kagome is the main character of InuYasha. She is a young girl who is pulled by a demon into her family's old well, and is magically transported into the past. She finds herself in feudal Japan, a land full of dangerous demons. There, she meets a half-demon boy named Inuyasha. The two get swept up on a whirlwind adventure to recover the shattered pieces of a magical gem called the Shikon Jewel, which houses untold power. Though the two do not get along at first, they have to work together towards their common goal of trying to save the world while not dying themselves along the way.
InuYasha is a childhood favorite of many millennial otaku, and it's easy to see why. The story and characters are fantastic, and it feels nostalgic to watch without being dated. When it comes to folklore, InuYasha explores the demon side of Japanese traditional stories. Demons, usually called oni, are a huge part of Japanese folklore and come in many shapes and sizes. Most of these old stories are set in feudal Japan, which is also when InuYasha's story takes place. Basically, Kagome is taken from our modern world to the world of Japanese folklore, and we get to go along for the ride when we watch InuYasha!
Spirited Away
Spirited Away is another anime film, this time by Studio Ghibli. It’s about a girl named Chihiro who loses her parents in a magic world, and her only hope to get them back is to work in a bathhouse for spirits. She is one of the few humans there, and has to be prepared to give up everything - even her name - for the hope of rescuing her mother and father from a curse that has turned them into pigs. Along the way, she meets many spirits and other magical creatures, both friendly and not, and has to face the challenge of surviving in this strange world.
Spirited Away is one of the best anime to see a variety of Japanese spirits and other yokai all in one place. The colorful cast of the movie includes a traditional radish spirit, a talking frog that looks like it’s right out of a Kawanabe Kyosai painting, and a river spirit (likely a nushi, a spirit believed to be a guardian that resides in a body of water). Japanese tradition believes that almost everything has a spirit or soul residing within it, and Spirited Away really brings that belief to life with its huge cast of characters and unique setting.
Sarazanmai
Sarazanmai begins with a war between two kingdoms, the Otter Kingdom and the Kappa Kingdom! When the kappa lose the struggle, they become plagued with kapa-zombies and must enlist the help of three human boys. They can become kappa themselves and are able to fight the kapa-zombies. To do so though, they must connect with one another as they never have before, and the Kappa Kingdom must reveal themselves more than they ever have, either.
Sarazanmai is a story about one of the most famous creatures from Japanese mythology, kappa! Kappa are creatures that are said to live in the water, tricking humans into giving them what they want and stealing cucumbers. They’re even still used as a warning for children to stay away from ponds and rivers. Kappa are not a common theme in anime at all, and Sarazanmai definitely fills a niche and brings them into the forefront. While not everything about the kappa in Sarazanmai is true to legend, it’s still a fun way to learn about kappa and their secret kingdom.
Hozuki’s Coolheadedness
Hozuki’s Coolheadedness is set in Hell, but don’t worry, it’s a comedy! It follows the titular character Hozuki, who is the chief deputy of the Lord of Hell. Hozuki has to manage all the employees who also work in Hell, which is structured quite bureaucratically, and deal with all of their problems. Luckily he’s a very level-headed guy, because the people he had to deal with are anything but straightforward and ordinary.
Hozuki’s Coolheadedness has a lot of characters from Japanese (and other East Asian) folklore and mythology. Instead of just being influenced by these characters and legends, the characters themselves are directly in the anime! Though creative license has been taken on how they are portrayed, the basis in Japanese folklore remains. One of the most famous who makes an appearance is Momotaro, the main character from one of the most well-known Japanese legends of all time. Plus it’s a creative depiction of Japanese Hell, which isn’t what you might expect. Hozuki’s Coolheadedness delivers everything in a lightheaded and fun way that keeps the folk stories interesting.
The reason we have chosen these anime is that all five of them are great even for people that don’t know much about Japanese folklore when they start watching. They’re approachable, fun, and have aged well in the case of the older titles. Most of them are also not long commitments, either, so you can see the whole story even if you do not have a lot of time to commit. After you’ve watched these anime, you will have learned a bit more about Japanese folklore and how it’s still affecting stories from Japan today. It may be different from the sort of myths that you’re used to, but that’s exactly what makes it so interesting to experience. There are plenty of anime out there that have their influences in Japanese folklore, so if you’re really interested, don’t stop at only these! You might be able to find the influence of Japanese folklore in the other anime you watch, too.