Highlighting the art book: such is the ambition of the art book prize, which has just crowned, during the Racines de Ciel festival in Ajaccio, two works, under the aegis of a jury composed of figures of the art world and chaired by publisher and exhibition curator Pascale Le Thorel.

The art book award went to Y?kai, Supernatural Creatures and Spirits in Japan. The book, by Japanese Koichi Yumoto, is dedicated to his collection of y?kai artwork, the largest in Japan. Former curator of the Kawasaki City Museum, he is already the author of the books Yokai Storyland (Pie International, 2019), The Y?kai Museum (Éditions Sully, 2020) and The Wonderful World of the Y?kai (Éditions Sully, 2022).

But quesaco, these famous “y?kai”? These are supernatural creatures belonging to Japanese folklore and imagination. A museum is dedicated to them: the Miyoshi Mononoke Museum, to which Koichi Yumoto entrusted his collection in 2019.

Covering four centuries of artistic creation since the Edo period (1616-1867), prints, paintings, illustrated scrolls, maps or posters reproduced in the book offer a fascinating immersion in a world populated by magical entities.

The prize also distinguishes a 2023 exhibition catalog. The jury’s choice fell on that of the War of Religion (1559-1610) exhibition, which is held until July 30 at the Musée de l’Armée in Paris. The Wars of Religion 1559-1610. La Haine des clans, published under the direction of Laëtitia Desserrières, is a remarkable dive, in text and images, into the second half of the 16th century in France, when religious conflicts were raging.

The jury: Pascale Le Thorel (president), Philippe Costamagna (vice-president), Albert Dichy, Sébastien Allard, Éric de Chassey, Laurence des Cars, Marie-Christine Labourdette, Jean de Loisy, Sophie Makariou, Philippe Morel, Marielle Pic.

Y?kai, supernatural creatures and spirits in Japan, by Koichi Yumoto (La Martinière, 520 p., €40)

The Wars of Religion (1559-1610). La Haine des clans, under the direction of Laëtitia Desserrières (In Fine art editions, 332 p., €39)