Conférence NPM-EFEO 

Conférencier:
Prof. François Lachaud
Professeur, École Française d'Extrême Orient (EFEO)

Sujet:
From Folk Belief to Pop Culture: The Making of Yōkai Culture in Modern Japan

Date:
jeudi 18 décembre, 2025 a 14h00

Lieu:
Jixian Hall, National Palace Museum Southern Branch
No. 888, Gugong Blvd., Taibao City, Chiayi County, Taiwan

Résumé:
This presentation examines how yōkai-strange beings and occurrences (Ch. yaoguai)-were represented in Edo-period (1603-1868) illustrated bestiaries, collections of curious tales, and works of natural inquiry, and how their meaning changed in later contexts shaped by official cultural agendas. It focuses on the emergence of minzokugaku (folklore studies), a field grounded in the study of local beliefs and practices and influenced by parallel developments in Europe. This new discipline became the crucible in which modern yōkai culture took shape, distinct from earlier efforts to classify or dismiss such phenomena. Within this framework, yōkai came to be seen as part of a specifically Japanese tradition. More recently, the reshaping of "yōkai studies" (yōkaigaku) has reinforced this view and helped position yōkai as a staple of Japanese cultural diplomacy in the West. The presentation concludes by considering how their status has changed over the twenty years between the first major European exhibition-Yôkaï: Bestiaire du fantastique japonais (Maison de la culture du Japon à Paris, 2005)-and the current exhibition Yokai: Spirits of Japan at the Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm (2024-2026).

La conférence sera organisé par le Musée national du Palais et le Centre EFEO de Taipei.

※ La conférence sera donnée en français. Entrée libre.


 conférence