Types of Mythology

There is an endless number of legends and folklore in Japan’s colorful history and trying to identify them one-by-one could take quite a while. The best way to look for a specific folktale is by knowing its topic. This is because Japanese legends and folklore are classified according to the topic of which these mythologies are about.

Among the popular topics are gods, goddesses, beasts, dragons, ghosts, spirits, people, locations, artifacts, and workshop. With the wealth of tales under their category, some topics even have their own names such as Kami (gods and goddesses), Ryu (dragons), Youkai (spirits), Obake (beasts), and Yurei (ghosts).