View source for Yōsei

{{Short description|Spiritlike creature from Japanese folklore}}
{{Distinguish|Yaojing}}
{{No footnotes|date=September 2018}}
[[File:Akinari Zeni-no-sei.jpg|200px|right|thumb|The [[house spirits]] [[Zashiki warashi]], are described as being the size of a five or six-year-old child and prone to playing harmless pranks and occasionally causing mischief.]]
{{nihongo|'''Yōsei'''|妖精||lit. "bewitching spirit"|lead=yes}} is a [[Japanese language|Japanese]] word that is generally synonymous with the English term {{nihongo|''[[fairy]]''|フェアリー}}. Today, this word usually refers to spirits from [[Western world|Western]] legends, but occasionally it may also denote a creature from native Japanese [[folklore]]. For example, according to an old folk belief from [[Iwate Prefecture]], it was once feared that the ''yōsei'' could [[resurrect]] the dead. It is also mentioned that the people of [[Mount Penglai|Mt. Hōrai]] are small fairies that have no knowledge of great evil and so their hearts never grow old. The [[Ainu people|Ainu]] also tell of a race of small people known as the [[Korpokkur|Koro-pok-guru]] in their folklore. Another fairy-like being from Japan is the [[Kijimuna]], tree sprites told in the [[Ryukyuan religion]] of [[Okinawa Prefecture|Okinawa]].
==See also==
* {{annotated link|Kobold}}
* {{annotated link|Yaoguai}}
* {{annotated link|Yōkai}}
==References==
* {{cite web|url=http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?p=%E5%A6%96%E7%B2%BE&enc=UTF-8&stype=0&dtype=0&dname=0ss|title=Definition: ''Yōsei''|access-date=2007-07-20|website=[[Daijirin]] Dictionary}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.nichibun.ac.jp/YoukaiCard/1232304.shtml|title=Yōsei|access-date=2007-07-20|website=[[Kaii-Yōkai Denshō Database]]}}
{{Japanese folklore long}}
{{Fairies}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yosei}}
[[Category:Fairies]]
[[Category:Japanese folklore]]
[[Category:Japanese ghosts]]
[[Category:Japanese mythology]]
[[Category:Japanese religious terminology]]
[[Category:Yōkai]]
{{Japan-myth-stub}}