Friday Night Fun: A Brief History of Yokai

Friday Night Fun returns to the Seattle Asian Art Museum on Friday, October 23, from 6 to 9 PM. It's part of a recurring series that opens the museum's doors for an evening of talks, gallery tours, performances, and music after its usual daytime hours. The whole point is to hang out in the galleries and get a new look at the art through the eyes of guest curators, community members, and performing artists responding to the collections.

The main event this time is a talk titled A Brief History of Yokai, given by folklorist Zack Davisson. It runs from 6:30 to 7:30 PM in the Stimson Auditorium. Davisson takes you through the world of yokai — the ghosts, monsters, and shape-shifters of Japanese folklore — starting with the Heian period and moving through to the richly illustrated yokai catalogues of the Edo period. If you've ever wondered where those strange creatures in Japanese art and pop culture come from, this is the place to find out.

Davisson knows his stuff. He's the award-winning author of The Ultimate Guide to Japanese Yokai, Kaibyo: The Supernatural Cats of Japan, and Yurei: The Japanese Ghost. He's also translated works like Devilman and Shigeru Mizuki's Kitaro, so he's spent a lot of time working with these figures in both folklore and manga.

Admission is free with an RSVP, and the talk is all-ages with first-come, first-served seating. There's a cash bar and food available for purchase, with alcohol for guests 21 and over with a valid ID. The museum stays open until 9 PM, so you've got plenty of time to wander the galleries before or after the talk.