Yaoguai

Yaoguai (妖怪 yāoguài in Hanyu pinyin), yaomo (妖魔, yāomó) or yaojing (妖精 yāojīng) is a term Chinese which can be translated by “demon”. Yaoguai are generally animal spirits malfaisants which acquired their capacities malefic as a practitioner the Taoïsme. The bad ones are usually indicated by the name guài (literally: phenomenon) or mó (demon) in Chinese. The principal goal of the yāoguài is the Immortalité and thus the deification. According to the Voyage in Occident , much seek to achieve this goal by abduction of a holy man (like Xuanzang).

All are not demons as one can define it in Occident, and some have an atypical origin. Bai Gu Jing for example, before becoming a demon, was only one simple skeleton. Many yāoguài is spirits of foxes ( Huli jing ), which are, according to the Voyage in Occident , pets of the Déités. Some yāoguài are kings, whom one calls of the mówáng (like Niu Mo Wang) and which order with the others yāoguài of lower class.

In the Chinese Mythology, the Enfer (Di Yu) is a place where many spirits are démoniaques. The majority of these demons are influenced by the Indian Râkshasa S, or by the Yaksa, which confers to them a similarity with the Oni Japanese.

In Japan, the yāoguài are called Yōkai (word derived from Chinese, the equivalent in Japanese of origin being Mononoke , which is sometimes written with same the Kanji).

Sun Wukong frequently uses the term yāoguài to insult its adversaries démoniaques.

Famous yāoguài of Chinese mythology

Bai Gu Jing (literally “ white Spirit of bone ”).
Niu Mo Wang (literally “ King Taureau Démoniaque ”).
Bái Shé Zhùan (“Mrs White Serpent”).

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