The Book of the Hakutaku: a Bestiary of Japanese Monsters
Created by The Book of the Hakutaku
The Book of the Hakutaku is an illustrated bestiary of yokai—the spirits, monsters, and ghosts from traditional Japanese folklore. It is the third volume of my yokai encyclopedia. It has over 100 yokai, each one translated from Japanese folklore and fully illustrated.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Oshiroi baba
over 6 years ago
– Sat, Oct 21, 2017 at 01:16:14 AM
Hello backers!
We are approaching 1800% funding, and soon I will be posting additional options for the yokai hoodies as well. If there are any yokai you think definitely need to be including among the clothing designs that I have left out, let me know and I'll see what I can do! :)
In the meantime, here is a new yokai that will be appearing in the book:
When you think of Japan, one of the stronger images that comes to mind is that of the maiko or geisha, with their strikingly white makeup. Painting the skin white is not just limited to geisha of course. As it is in many cultures, lighter skin has been traditionally been viewed as a beauty standard in Japan. Thus, from ancient times onward, it has been a custom to use white powders called oshiroi in makeup over here. And just like the white powders that the ancient Romans used to lighten their skin, oshiroi often contained high quantities of lead, which could lead to symptoms of lead poisoning in heavy users. Today’s yokai is based on that kind of face powder:
Oshiroi babā 白粉婆
おしろいばば
“face powder hag”
You find yourself alone on a dark road in Nara Prefecture near the end of the year… Suddenly you hear a harsh jara jara sound, almost as if someone was dragging along a mirror as they hobble through the streets. You turn around, and there is an old woman approaching, her back twisted and bent after who knows how many years of hard work. She carries a cane in one hand, and a sake bottle in the other. She looks up at you through a broken straw hat, and you see her face is caked with thick white powder and slopped-on makeup that looks somewhat reminiscent of Heath Ledger’s Joker…
You’ve just met an oshiroi babā.
Oshiroi babā doesn’t really do all that much. Her looks alone are scary enough that she doesn’t really need to do anything! According to some legends, she accosts people for makeup or even for sake, which makes her sound strikingly similar to other old hags, like amazake babā. According to others, she is a type of yuki onna who comes down from the mountains on snowy nights. In Toriyama Sekien’s description, she is a servant of Shifun Senjō, the goddess of rouge and makeup (though one would hope this goddess would teach her servants a bit more about proper application!).
As far as scary old hags go, this one may be creepy, but she’s not going to kill you. She’s almost like the yokai equivalent of that one old aunt on your family tree who wears so much perfume that she makes you queasy, and wears so much makeup that she gave you nightmares as a kid, and pinches your cheeks so hard that it hurts but your parents told you that you have to let her do it anyway. It’s scary, but the anticipation and the memory of it are far worse than the actual thing.
It’s actually fairly easy to imagine that this yokai was originally just an old woman, sick and crazy from age and possibly lead poisoning, overly madeup and wandering the streets begging for a little aid from her neighbors. In that case, she’s not really as scary as she is tragic.
Kokuri baba
over 6 years ago
– Thu, Oct 19, 2017 at 02:33:57 PM
Greetings backers and yokai fans!
We're on the verge of hitting 1700%, so before we get on to the yokai I just wanted to give you a brief update. I am working with BackerKit to set up the post-Kickstarter survey and pledge manager. If you've used pledge managers like BackerKit before I'm sure you're already familiar, but if not I'll briefly explain it: BackerKit will manage the pledges after the Kickstarter ends, allowing you to easily select the add-ons you want in a shopping-cart style interface. This way you won't forget what add-ons you ordered, and you can more easily choose things like what art print you want and what t-shirt size you are, and so on.
Also, because there have been so many requests for all three slipcases, I am able to offer them at a slight discount. If you order all three slipcases for the collector's editions, each one is $5 off, for a total of $15 off. This will be reflected in BackerKit as well when you select all of your add ons.
Today I am sharing with you a new painting which will appear in the book. The text is not the final text that will appear in the book; that will be refined later on. But for now, I'll just introduce you to the yokai:
“Baba” or “babā” is a suffix you’ll find on lots of yokai. It just means old woman. Kokuri is made up of “ko” meaning old and “kuri” which is the priest’s quarters in a temple. So this is an old hag who haunts the living quarters of an old temple. Kokuri babā is a fine example of a creepy old hag. In fact, in Toriyama Sekien’s description of her, he says that she is even more scary than Datsueba, the old woman who flails off your skin when you reach the underworld!
The reason she haunts is actually a tragic tale of love turned sour: she is the widow of the priest who used to work at a remote, rural temple. Once, she was a wonderful wife, helping out her beloved husband to run his temple, tending to the needs of the parishioners, cooking, cleaning, washing, and taking care of the temple grounds. However, after her husband died, she retreated into the temple’s living quarters and became a shut in. To survive, she steals the offerings of food and coins left behind by people visiting the temple. Over time, she gradually changes into a yokai. She starts to acquire meat from the corpses of the recently dead. When there are no fresh corpses available, she digs up the buried and peels off chunks of their rotting skin off to gnaw on.
It’s a tragic tale not only because she was widowed and forced to live by herself in the temple, but also because none of the temple parishioners ever lifted a finger to help her. You have to wonder how long it took for her to get this bad. If they had paid her a little more attention might she have remained human?
New T-shirt Designs
over 6 years ago
– Mon, Oct 16, 2017 at 09:24:43 AM
Greetings backers!
I wanted to share with you the new t-shirt designs that have been added now that we have reached 1500%. These will be selectable via Backerkit when you guys fill out the surveys. They will be available in both white and baseball style tees.
Ao andon
Chirizuka kaio
Hakutaku
Hinnagami
Jinja hime
Kanazuchibo & Okka
Karyobinga
Kotobuki
Sarugami
More yokai coming soon!
More Slipcase Designs
over 6 years ago
– Sun, Oct 15, 2017 at 12:10:07 AM
Greetings yokai lovers!
Since there was so much demand, I have made mockups for additional slipcases for The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons and The Hour of Meeting Evil Spirits. So you can order slipcases for all three hardcover collector's editions now. Here is what they will look like:
This is just a mockup, so it's not the final design. Specifically, the image you see on the front right now is the "Hinode" image from The Hour of Meeting Evil Spirits (you also can see that image in the video for this Kickstarter). I am choosing iconic images from the books to decorate the slipcases, which is why you see "Omagatoki" and "Hinode" on the front and back of The Hour of Meeting Evil Spirits' slipcase. Night Parade's slipcase will feature images from that book, and Hakutaku's slipcase will feature images from itself as well.
In addition, we've reached 1200% funding. As I mentioned yesterday, this means I am able to move to a 4-color offset printer as opposed to the digital print on demand printer that I originally planned.
What does this mean exactly? Well, offset printing is the type of printing used in most professional setups. It produces superior results to digital printing, however with today's technology the differences are very very minor. The more important thing is that it gives me a lot more control over things like the types of paper used, the types of inks used, and stuff like spot varnishing on the illustrations to really make the colors pop and prevent smudging. Offset printing is expensive to set up, so it only makes sense when doing large runs of things. That is why I traditionally print with digital print on demand; I don't have warehouse space to hold the thousands of books required to make offset printing more economical than digital printing. However, with greater demand for copies for this book, it becomes cheaper to produce them, and offset printing has become a viable production!
So I will do a single run of books with an offset printer for the Kickstarter. After that, the books that are sold on Amazon and elsewhere will be printed with standard digital POD services. I don't think anyone will be able to tell the difference between the books by looking at them with the naked eye, but you can all take pride in the knowledge that you will have a truly special first edition that won't be available to people buying the book later.
Coming up, I will be releasing more slipcase designs and t-shirt/hoodie designs for you to choose from!
