Sources

How this site uses sources

Every published yokai article cites at least two sources from the registry below, and where possible at least one primary text or public-institution collection. Citations are managed centrally: articles reference registry entries by ID, so a correction to a source propagates to every article that uses it.

What we rely on

• Academic databases such as the International Research Center for Japanese Studies’ Database of Folklore and Yokai Phenomena, which indexes individual collected accounts by region and period.
• Library and museum collections, including the National Diet Library Digital Collections, for historical texts and images.
• Primary and near-primary texts, from Edo-period compendia to early literary retellings such as Lafcadio Hearn’s Kwaidan (1904).
• Academic scholarship — papers and monographs on specific motifs and regional traditions.

Citation principles

• Individual database records describe one telling from one place. We do not generalize a single local account into a nationwide fact.
• Literary retellings (like Hearn’s) are treated as literature built on oral tradition, and identified as such.
• Editorial devices — danger ratings, comparative statistics — are never attributed to sources. They are our own summaries.
• When scholarship offers an interpretation (for example, links between kappa lore and water-deity belief), we present it as interpretation.

Registry

1. Primary text Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things — “Mujina” (external link) Lafcadio Hearn (1904); Project Gutenberg edition Accessed: 2026-07-23 Hearn's retelling of a Tokyo (Akasaka) faceless-encounter tale. A literary retelling of oral tradition, not a fieldwork transcript; treat details as Hearn's framing.
2. Academic paper Sumo and Kappa Folklore (相撲と河童伝承) (external link) Kim Yongui Accessed: 2026-07-23 Academic discussion of the sumo-challenge motif in kappa tradition.
3. Library Kappa Monogatari (河童物語) (external link) National Diet Library Digital Collections Accessed: 2026-07-23 Historical kappa narrative material held by the National Diet Library.
4. Database Database of Folklore and Yokai Phenomena (怪異・妖怪伝承データベース) (external link) International Research Center for Japanese Studies Accessed: 2026-07-23 Use individual records; do not generalize one local account nationwide.

Corrections

If you believe an article misstates a source or a tradition, please contact us through our YouTube channel community tab or TikTok profile. We review and correct published articles rather than silently replacing them.