The Hyakki Zukan and Edo-period visual transmission of aerial beings

Record summary

Hyakki zukan and related Edo-period yōkai picture scrolls present catalogues of supernatural figures, including forms that modern readers may loosely compare with humanoid encounter narratives. The manuscripts are useful for examining how copied images, captions, and performance traditions transmit reports of strange entities across generations. Their dating, authorship, and relationships to later compilations are not uniform, so a researcher should work from a named manuscript or museum catalogue. The material belongs to Japanese supernatural art and folklore rather than an evidentiary UFO archive.