Spirits Among Us:
Yōkai Paintings by Minako Ota
This exhibition presents twenty-five yokai works created by Minako Ota. Visit the exhibition at the Princeton Public Library’s Reading Room between May 1, 2025 and June 26, 2026, to view each of these works in person.
To view the digital exhibition, use the buttons below to navigate to sections of this page, which features further information about the exhibition, a complete collection of images representing the items on display, together with subpages for each item linked to the images, and a short bio describing the artist’s formation and career.
About the Exhibition
Yokai painting is an important genre in Japanese art with a long history. From Heian-period tales and medieval picture scrolls to Edo-period ukiyo-e, people have visualized, depicted, and passed down stories of unseen beings.
What, then, are Yokai?
They are not simply “frightening monsters.” While their nature varies widely, one key difference from Western monsters is that Yokai are not fundamentally evil beings to be defeated, but rather exist alongside humans—more like neighbors. They embody imagination in the face of the unexplainable, reverence for nature, and the emotions that dwell within the human mind. Presences in the darkness, anxieties about illness and disaster, satire and humor directed at society—Yokai give form to the invisible.
In the Edo period, Yokai became closely tied to entertainment and publishing culture, appearing in illustrated books, kibyoshi, and ukiyo-e prints in diverse forms. They were both objects of fear and figures of humor and familiarity, gradually blending into everyday life.
Yokai culture is not merely a thing of the past.
Its imaginative power continues to evolve in contemporary manga, anime, and games. In this sense, Yokai can be seen as a mirror reflecting Japanese perceptions of the world, nature, and the unseen.
In this body of work, I reinterpret Yokai through my own contemporary sensibility while drawing on traditional styles. The accompanying texts for each piece introduce the background and origins of the individual Yokai.
I hope that this exhibition, Spirits Among Us, beginning with Hyakki Yagyo (Night Parade of One Hundred Demons), resonates with the viewer’s imagination and gives rise to new stories.
–Minako Ota, May 2026
Exhibition Items
About the Artist
Born in Osaka, Japan, Minako studied traditional Japanese painting at Tama Art University in Tokyo. Upon graduation, she attended Cambridge University in England where she focused on western painting conservation.
Since she left her native country some 30 years ago, she has submerged herself in western cultures in the US and Europe. Her artwork is a cultural hybrid between Japan and the West, as she combines western painting techniques that she learned through her 20+ years as a professional painting conservator and the traditional Japanese aesthetics that she grew up in.
She has worked for some of the world’s great museums, including Victoria and Albert in London and The Chicago Art Institute. Her work has been exhibited in Japan, Russia, USA and France.
Learn more about Minako Ota’s work at her website: https://www.minako-art.com/
Minako Ota is also on Instagram at the following link: https://www.instagram.com/ota.minako/