The Japanese myths and woodblock art behind Sekiro’s creatures

Fantastic creatures are as important to Sekiro as its samurai and shinobi. For every deftly fought duel against a venerable warrior there’s a slug-fest with a headless ape that hurls toxic poo. It’s a fine balance between the real and the romantic. Whereas Dark Souls had everything to do with “lore”, Sekiro more delicately pulls from folklore. Lordran is almost purely imaginative, but Sekiro’s Ashina is set securely in Japan during the Sengoku period, and closely draws from surrounding legends and myths.

Almost all its creatures are a play on yōkai, for example, a diverse group of strange, supernatural creatures. Many can be traced back to ancient tales, but it was the natural history encyclopedias and bestiaries of the Edo period that helped popularise them (most famous is Sekien Toriyama’s The Illustrated Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, which catalogs over two hundred of them). Ever since, Japanese art and literature has built upon this legacy of monsters, demons, gods and animal spirits, especially in Japanese woodblock printing. It’s a rich artistic tradition, and its influence on Sekiro is clear.

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