The word y?kai is made up of two characters, ? (y?) e ? (kai): the first suggests charm, enchantment; the second means appearance, mystery. The creatures that fall into this category are practically countless. After all, Japan is the land of eight thousand divinities, because every natural element - tree, rock, stream of water - but also every object born from genius or human work can contain a spark of the divine.

Japanese culture, therefore, is imbued with a form of spirituality already predisposed to the proliferation of creatures that arise from the intersection between fantasy, religion and everyday life.

The entire exhibition itinerary is therefore constructed by giving voice to the places, spaces, feelings and sensations that the y?kai embody to get to the heart of the creation of an imagery deeply rooted in Japanese culture and through it explore its folds more intimate, in which live, real and material sensations, anxieties, fears and desires are hidden.

Inspired by this evocative tradition, it was chosen to make visitors proceed through a path with a narrative structure which presents the various legends of the Japanese tradition from time to time in the different exhibition rooms with a key that is enjoyable for the visitor but rigidly scientific.

The exhibition is completed with a selection of contemporary illustrations, posters and playbills created for today's anime, from Son Goku, the iconic protagonist of the Dragon Ball animated series, inspired by the Monkey from the famous Chinese classic Journey to the West, up to GeGeGe no Kitar?, Pom Poko and the worldwide success Demon Slayer. The masterpieces of Miyazaki Hayao, Toriyama Akira and other great authors show how the aesthetics of the grotesque and monstrous, which has pervaded Japanese culture since its origins, is still the undisputed protagonist in visual art today, thanks to the incredible vitality of its iconopoetic potential, which allows her to reincarnate in ever new images and stories.


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