Matthew Meyer (The Yokai Guy)
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Matthew Meyer (The Yokai Guy)
@yokai.com
author, illustrator, folklorist
creator of yokai.com
support me on Patreon: patreon.com/theyokaiguy

books and artwork available at yokai.com/shop
Pinned
There's still time to late-pledge to Echizen-Wakasa Kidan on BackerKit! But time is running out...

Don't miss your chance to grab the limited "kiwami" edition of my latest book!

echizen-wakasa.backerkit.com/hosted_preor...
I make my work available for free on yokai.com my ebooks are relatively cheap specifically because I love yokai and want to share this culture with the world. So it's all the more infuriating when some charlatan not only steals my content but gets the facts wrong. It undoes so much of my hard work.
Its upsetting enough that @dailykos.com is OK with publishing plagiarized work of small, independent author/illustrators.

But what makes this worse for me is how long and hard I've worked to promote facts about yokai, only to have this AI slop, incorrect version blasted out by a big corporation.
February 14, 2026 at 11:48 PM
It happened again.

This time it's @dailykos.com who is publishing a plagiarized AI-generated slop version of my work, brazenly right down to the title, "A Field Guide to Japanese Yokai" which is lifted directly from my book "The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons: A Field Guide to Japanese Yokai."
February 14, 2026 at 11:26 PM
From @kasamashoin.bsky.social's X account:

『デジタル時代の妖怪学』、今月下旬に書店に並びます!! 闇が減っていき、科学技術が発展した現代において、妖怪や怪異はどのように私たちの目の前に現れるのか? 気鋭の研究者と妖怪絵師による論集です。
【編著者】渡部瑞希 【著者】香川雅信・マット マイヤー・廣田龍平・松本健太郎・武村政春

x.com/kasamashoin/...
February 13, 2026 at 8:31 AM
I wonder if this is how love happens for people like Sagiotoko Sōsuke...

www.patreon.com/posts/150208744/
February 8, 2026 at 3:07 PM
Reposted by Matthew Meyer (The Yokai Guy)
Heron man, heron man
Catches things like a heron can
See his neck? Very long
Eating fish makes him strong
Next time you see someone fishing by the river without a rod, take a closer look. It might just be Sōsuke the Heron Man!

My latest yokai, from Chikuzen bakomono emaki, is up for free on my Patreon and yokai.com! Check it out here:
www.patreon.com/posts/150208...
Sagiotoko Sōsuke | Matthew Meyer (The Yokai Guy)
Get more from Matthew Meyer (The Yokai Guy) on Patreon
www.patreon.com
February 8, 2026 at 2:55 AM
Next time you see someone fishing by the river without a rod, take a closer look. It might just be Sōsuke the Heron Man!

My latest yokai, from Chikuzen bakomono emaki, is up for free on my Patreon and yokai.com! Check it out here:
www.patreon.com/posts/150208...
Sagiotoko Sōsuke | Matthew Meyer (The Yokai Guy)
Get more from Matthew Meyer (The Yokai Guy) on Patreon
www.patreon.com
February 8, 2026 at 1:24 AM
Lovers of Japanese ghost stories will want to check out my latest Patreon post, where I share a spooky tale from Ono, Fukui:

www.patreon.com/posts/kidan-...
Kidan: The Ghost Who Came Back For His Wife | Matthew Meyer (The Yokai Guy)
Get more from Matthew Meyer (The Yokai Guy) on Patreon
www.patreon.com
January 31, 2026 at 9:17 AM
Next time you go swimming in the ocean, watch out for these man-eating micro octopuses called chokosai. The good news is they taste great when grilled on skewers and sprinkled with salt!

In the yokai world, sometimes it's eat or be eaten...

www.patreon.com/posts/chokos...
Chokosai | Matthew Meyer (The Yokai Guy)
Get more from Matthew Meyer (The Yokai Guy) on Patreon
www.patreon.com
January 26, 2026 at 8:18 AM
I don't usually share non-yokai stuff, but Cory Doctorow wrote an excellent article on why AI is a scam, and since it's a subject that a lot of people don't know enough about, it's worth sharing: www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the wreckage | Cory Doctorow
AI is asbestos in the walls of our tech society, stuffed there by monopolists run amok. A serious fight against it must strike at its roots
www.theguardian.com
January 20, 2026 at 12:10 AM
What's special about finding a severed head in your garden on New Year's Day?

Find out in this week's creepy kidan, only on my Patreon!

www.patreon.com/posts/kidan-...
Kidan: The New Year’s Day Severed Head | Matthew Meyer (The Yokai Guy)
Get more from Matthew Meyer (The Yokai Guy) on Patreon
www.patreon.com
January 18, 2026 at 11:41 PM
My latest book (or rather, book that I contributed to) is now available for pre-order from @kasamashoin.bsky.social and Amazon! It is an honor to have contributed and to see my name listed alongside such yokai scholars as these.
January 13, 2026 at 11:48 AM
2024年に帝京大学で行われたシンポジウムの内容が書籍になりました。この素晴らしい先生方と同じ書籍に掲載されることはとても光栄です。

事前注文はこちらからできます:
shop.kasamashoin.jp/bd/isbn/9784...
デジタル時代の妖怪学 不可視のものを可視化する営為 - 渡部瑞希(編著)…他5名
現代の妖怪や怪異は、スマホやインターネットなどのデジタル技術によって可視化され、恐怖を増幅させるリアルな存在として立ち現れる現代の妖怪や怪異は、スマートフォンやインターネットなどのデジタル技術によって可視化され、恐怖を増幅させるリアルな存在として立ち現れる。本書では、デジタル技術の呪術的機能やメディアを通じて再生産される境界や異界の想像力、日本社会に蔓延る「空気感」、アニメーションが妖怪に与えるリ...
shop.kasamashoin.jp
January 13, 2026 at 11:43 AM
Many people on BSKY already know this, but it's worth mentioning.

Nobody should be on that site anymore. There's no more excuse. As an artist who relies on a small fanbase, it wasn't easy to rip the Twitter band-aid off last year... but it was the right thing to do.

gregpak.net/2026/01/10/s...
Stop posting on X - gregpak.net
To everyone I know: If you still post on X, which is allowing users to generate and distribute non-consensual sexual images of women and children, please kno...
gregpak.net
January 11, 2026 at 9:35 AM
My first Japanese folktale of 2026 is up on my Patreon! This is the first time this story has ever been translated into English.

www.patreon.com/posts/147775...
Kidan: The Yamabushi’s Sorcery Exposed | Matthew Meyer (The Yokai Guy)
Get more from Matthew Meyer (The Yokai Guy) on Patreon
www.patreon.com
January 9, 2026 at 3:36 AM
There's still time to late-pledge to Echizen-Wakasa Kidan on BackerKit! But time is running out...

Don't miss your chance to grab the limited "kiwami" edition of my latest book!

echizen-wakasa.backerkit.com/hosted_preor...
January 9, 2026 at 1:12 AM
2026 is not just the Year of the Horse... it is the Year of the Fire Horse! This is an especially unlucky combination of element + zodiac animal, originating in the story of Yaoya Oshichi (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaoya_O...). The yokai hinoenma (yokai.com/hinoenma) is based on this superstition.

❤️‍🔥🐎
January 4, 2026 at 7:11 AM
Please let this be the only time I have to say this, but this is absolutely, 100%, NOT the way to support an artist whose work you like.
January 2, 2026 at 9:01 AM
明けましておめでとうございます
Happy New Year to all from yokai.com!
January 2, 2026 at 8:14 AM
I hope you all have a very Yokai Christmas this year!
December 26, 2025 at 2:49 AM
I need someone to knit me a pair of these sweaters so my wife and I can wear matching pigeon sweaters.
@rosemarymosco.com a jeopardy contestant today is wearing a pigeon sweater!
December 24, 2025 at 3:51 PM
I submitted my claim for the Anthropic Copyright Settlement case today.

www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com

If AI tech bros violated your coprights work to feed their slop-vomiting machines, sign up for the settlement here.

Burn these fuckers and their empire of AI slop to the ground.
🔥👿🔥
Homepage | Bartz v Anthropic Settlement Site
www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com
December 19, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Just a reminder that if you missed my last Kickstarter, you can still pre-order books and traditional Fukui crafts from our Backerkit store.

Traditional yokai craft stocks are extremely limited and won't be available afterwards!

echizen-wakasa.backerkit.com/hosted_preor...
Pre-order Echizen-Wakasa Kidan: Strange Tales from Fukui on BackerKit
illustrated stories of yokai, ghosts, and weird tales from rural Japan
echizen-wakasa.backerkit.com
December 19, 2025 at 1:29 AM
What has two legs, zero arms, and breathes fire from its nostrils and souls from its mouth?

Today's yokai, that's what!

Read more for free on my Patreon below:

www.patreon.com/posts/igyo-n...
Igyō no danshi | Matthew Meyer (The Yokai Guy)
Get more from Matthew Meyer (The Yokai Guy) on Patreon
www.patreon.com
December 12, 2025 at 2:10 AM
Look up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane!
No, it's a giant piece of dyed paper that wants to crush you and eat you!

Today's yokai comes from Chikuzen bakemono emaki, and you'd better eat it before it eats you!

Read about it for free on my Patreon below:

www.patreon.com/posts/thing-...
The Thing That Looks Like a Dark Piece of Paper | Matthew Meyer (The Yokai Guy)
Get more from Matthew Meyer (The Yokai Guy) on Patreon
www.patreon.com
December 5, 2025 at 7:04 AM
If you're going to be in or near Osaka this weekend, be sure to check out the Sakai Yokai Art Festival! sakai-yokai.com/sakaiartfest...

I sadly can't attend this time around, but it's a great yokai event that you don't want to miss!
2025 Sakai Yokai Art Festival - 沙界妖怪芸術祭
sakai-yokai.com
December 5, 2025 at 6:47 AM