Anime has introduced a ton of non-Japanese people to aspects of Japanese culture. These aspects include traditional holidays, certain foods, and of course . . . yokai creatures.

RELATED: 10 Best Manga Featuring Yokai (According To MyAnimeList)

Yokai are creatures out of Japanese folklore. In English subtitles, they are often translated to "demons," which does them a disservice as yokai are not part of a "good versus evil" binary. They are complicated and range from loyal to mischievous to friendly to dangerous. They are incredibly diverse and can similar to ghosts, animals, or possessed items.

A lot of yokai have gone into anime. Here are ten kinds of yokai that are popularly used in anime.

10 Kitsune

Nanami and Tomoe from Kamisama Kiss.

Kitsune are often the first yokai to be known by foreigners due to their popularity in Japanese media. They are tricksters and shapeshifters and are usually portrayed as a fox with multiple tails. Examples of kitsune in anime include Vulpix and Ninetails from Pokémon, Shippo from Inuyasha, Tomoe from Kamisama Kiss, Kurama in Yu Yu Hakusho, Nine-Tails in Naruto, and many more.

9 Tanuki

tanuki hiding in the high grass

Tanuki and kitsune have the same sort of relationship as cats and dogs. Tanuki are like kitsune in that they are trickster shapeshifters, but their main form is a raccoon-dog instead of fox. Racoon-dogs live in East Asia and, despite the name, they are more closely related to foxes than North American raccoons.

RELATED: 10 Yōkai Anime You Never Knew Existed

Anime characters that are tanuki include the main cast from Pom Poko, Hachi from Inuyasha, Yasaburō Shimogamo from The Eccentric Family, and Poco from Poco's Udon World.

8 Oni

Oni are yokai that are a little similar to trolls and ogres. Typically they are giants with pelt-loincloths with horns growing out their heads. They typically come in red, green, and blue colors. They appear in all sorts of Japanese literature, plays, and animation.

Oni characters typically are used as general monsters as obstacles in anime. Like in Inuyasha, there are a ton of Oni. Specific characters include Onion Oni from Anpanman, Ogremon from Digimon, and King Enma from Dragon Ball Z.

7 Mizuchi

This serpent-like dragon is often perceived as a water spirit or a river god. Obviously, the most famous of these in Japanese animation is Haku from the Hayao Miyazaki film, Spirited Away. He is a mizuchi is every way, as he is literally a water spirit and has a true form of a dragon much like those depicted in old folktales.

RELATED: The 10 Coolest Yokai Characters In Anime, Ranked

Others from anime are less obvious. In Noragami, there is a character that is called Mizuchi that can walk on water. In GeGeGe no Kitaro, a mizuchi appears as an enemy. Also in Omamori Himari, there is a character that is a mizuchi.

6 Wanyūdō

These are definitely not as popular as the adorable tanuki or mysterious kitsune, but these fire-wheel-people-like creatures still are known to appear in some shows. Typically, they are background characters (if deemed characters at all). An anime where one actually plays a pretty significant role is Hell Girl, as he works as one of Enma Ai's sidekicks. One also appears as a character who is sometimes an ally and sometimes an enemy in GeGeGe no Kitaro.

5 Tengu

Tengu comes in a ton of different forms, but are mostly known for having long noses or beaks and wings. Some anime like to sacrifice the iconic nose for a regular sized one though to make their characters more conventionally attractive. Hatori from Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi is an example of this. Another tengu from anime includes Professor Akadama from The Eccentric Family.

4 Kappa

Depending on the anime, kappa can be portrayed between cute and nightmarish. Basically, they are river imps with a strong love for cucumbers and sumo wrestling. They also are known to steal a mythical organ by assaulting humans.

RELATED: One Piece: 10 Strongest Characters In The Enies Lobby Arc, Ranked

While they appear in different forms of media, the anime world has given us a very kappa-centric show called Sarazanmai. In terms of characters there is Coo from Summer Days with Coo, Kawabata from Muromi-san, Chibi from Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits, along with many more. 

3 Gashadokuro

What is scarier/cooler than a regular human skeleton? How about a giant one? That is the basic idea behind gashadokuro. According to Japanese folklore, they are made from the amassed bones of those who have died of starvation and were never buried.

Honestly, these yokai are more popularized in video games than anime. However, they still make appearances. One appears as an illusion in Pom Poko. In One Piece, Brook the skeleton disguises himself as a gashadokuro in the Wano Arc. The protagonist in In/spectre also rides on the shoulder of a gashadouro.

2 Kodama

The Kodama in Princess Mononoke.

Kodama are basically tree spirits. Like many yokai, they come in many forms in different kinds of stories. They can take the appearance of beasts, ghostly lights, or even other humans.

Like the mizuchi, kodama were very popularized in a particular Studio Ghibli anime film: Princess Mononoke. There are lesser-known kodama characters in anime like in Hozuki no Reitetsu, there is a kodama that has the form of a human child.

1 Nekomata

Nekomata are cat yokai with two tails. In folklore, there are two types most talked about. There are those that live in the mountains and those that were domestic cats that grew old and could become nekomata through age.

Examples of nekomata in anime include Kirara from Inuyasha, Kuro in Blue Exorcist, and Kuroka from High School DxD.

NEXT: Inuyasha & Kamisama Kiss: 5 Ways They’re Similar (& 5 They’re Totally Different)