Inspired by the banyan forests and spirit folklore of Amami.

The Japanese Yokai Called “Kenmun”

Before traveling to Amami Oshima, I had heard stories about a mysterious being called “Kenmun.”

Kenmun is sometimes described as a Japanese yokai, a spirit-like presence said to live in forests, rivers, and banyan trees across the Amami Islands.

Some people compare it to a kappa, but the atmosphere surrounding Kenmun feels quieter and stranger.

I did not go to Amami as a tourist.

I went because I wanted to understand how older Japanese spiritual traditions still survive in certain places.

In Amami, there are still people connected to ancient forms of prayer and ritual. I wanted to meet people who still carried those traditions naturally in daily life.

During my stay, I kept encountering banyan trees.

At night, I sat beneath them near the ocean, listening to the sound of waves and wind moving through the forest.

The atmosphere felt different there.

Not frightening. Not dramatic.

Just deeply alive.

In modern cities, people often think of nature as scenery.

But older Japanese culture once viewed forests, rivers, mountains, and even stones as places containing presence and spirit.

Perhaps yokai stories were never simply “fantasy.”

Perhaps they were another way of expressing humanity’s relationship with the natural world.

In Amami, I began to understand why such stories survived for generations.

The silence itself felt meaningful.

This experience eventually inspired me to create a quiet picture book based on the atmosphere of Amami and the feeling of encountering unseen presences in nature.

Sometimes folklore survives because a place still remembers.