How would you account for the emergence of the Edo monsters you encounter this week?

In “Monsters as Edo Merchandise,” Adam Kabat asks, “Where did these Edo monsters come from?” Thinking on the stories you’ve read for this week (as well as the work by Toriyama Sekien you read earlier in the course) and the explanations of yōkai that you are familiar with from reading Foster and Yanagita, take a shot at answering Kabat’s question. Folklorists might link yōkai to traditional culture, as explanations for inexplicable phenomena or as degraded deities, but Kabat seems to link Edo monsters to the thriving, capitalist marketplace. How would you account for the emergence of the Edo monsters you encounter this week?

Your response should be 1 – 1 1/2 pages long, double spaced. It is due in 24 hours.