Japan Yokai Museum Miyoshi

Japan’s yokai, its shapeshifting, mischief making supernatural creatures, have haunted scrolls and stories for centuries, and the Yumoto Koichi Memorial Japan Yokai Museum in Miyoshi is the country’s first museum devoted entirely to them. Built on the vast collection of researcher Yumoto Koichi, it takes the monsters seriously without ever losing their sense of fun.

Monsters by the thousand

The collection spans Edo period scrolls and prints, folk toys, games and everyday objects covered in creatures: kappa dragging swimmers under rivers, umbrella goblins, and the great night parade of one hundred demons. Digital installations let you meet yokai interactively, and children can hunt creatures through animated displays while adults study artwork that influenced everything from ukiyo-e to modern anime. Why Miyoshi? The town stars in a famous yokai tale, the Ino Mononoke Roku, about a boy who endured a month of hauntings here.

Visiting Miyoshi

The museum anchors a compact old town at the meeting of three rivers in the mountains of Hiroshima Prefecture, with sake breweries and preserved streets nearby. It is a genuine detour, which keeps it blissfully uncrowded compared with anything similar in the big cities.

Getting there

JR Geibi Line trains run from Hiroshima to Miyoshi in around ninety minutes through pleasant mountain country; the museum is reachable on foot or by short taxi from Miyoshi Station. Highway buses from Hiroshima’s bus centre offer a quicker alternative.

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