''Hyakki Yagyō'' (, "Night Parade of One Hundred Demons"), also transliterated ''Hyakki Yakō'', is an idiom in

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

. Sometimes an orderly procession, other times a riot, it refers to a parade of thousands of supernatural creatures known as ''

oni An is a kind of ''yōkai'', demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. Oni are mostly known for their fierce and evil nature manifested in their propensity for murder and cannibalism. Notwithstanding their evil reputation, oni possess i ...

'' and ''

yōkai are a class of supernatural entities and spirits in Japanese folklore. The word is composed of the kanji for "attractive; calamity" and "apparition; mystery; suspicious." are also referred to as , or . Despite often being translated as suc ...

'' that march through the streets of Japan at night. As a terrifying eruption of the supernatural into the real world, it is similar (though not precisely equivalent) to the concept of pandemonium in English.

Various legends

Over more than one thousand years of history, and its role as a popular theme in traditional storytelling and art, a great deal of folklore has developed around the concept, making it difficult if not impossible to isolate any canonical meanings. One legend of recent vintage states that "every year the ''yōkai''

Nurarihyon is a Japanese yōkai. Concept Generally, like the hyōtannamazu, they are considered a monster that cannot be caught.『広辞苑』第五版岩波書店 2006年。 One can find that it often appears in the yōkai emaki of the Edo Period, bu ...

, will lead all of the ''

'' through the streets of Japan during summer nights." Anyone who comes across the procession would perish or be spirited away by the ''yōkai'', unless protected by exorcism scrolls handwritten by ''

Onmyōji was one of the official positions belonging to the of the Ministry of the Center under the ritsuryō system in ancient Japan, and was assigned as a technical officer in charge of divination and geomorphology based on the theory of the yin-a ...

'' spell-casters. It is said that only an onmyōji clan head is strong enough to pass Nurarihyon's Hyakki Yagyō unharmed.村上健司編著『妖怪事典』毎日新聞社、2000年、288-289頁。。 According to another account in the Shūgaishō (拾芥抄), a medieval Japanese encyclopedia, the only way to be kept safe from the night parade if it were to come by your house is to stay inside on the specific nights associated with the Chinese zodiac or to chant the magic spell: "''KA-TA-SHI-HA-YA, E-KA-SE-NI-KU-RI-NI, TA-ME-RU-SA-KE, TE-E-HI, A-SHI-E-HI, WA-RE-SHI-KO-NI-KE-RI''" (カタシハヤ, エカセニクリニ, タメルサケ, テエヒ, アシエヒ, ワレシコニケリ).

In literature

The ''Hyakki Yagyō'' has appeared in several tales collected by Japanese folklorists. *''

Uji Shūi Monogatari is a collection of Japanese tales written around the beginning of the 13th century. The author is unknown, and it may have been revised several times. The title means "gleanings from ''Uji Dainagon Monogatari''", a book which no longer exists. Th ...

'' (宇治拾遺物語), in which a monk encounters a group of a hundred yōkai which pass by the Ryūsenji temple. *''

Konjaku Monogatarishū , also known as the , is a Japanese collection of over one thousand tales written during the late Heian period (794–1185). The entire collection was originally contained in 31 volumes, of which 28 remain today. The volumes cover various tales fr ...

'' (今昔物語集), which tells that during the

Jōgan was a after ''Ten'an'' and before ''Gangyō.'' This period spanned the years from April 859 through April 878. The two reigning emperors were and . Change of era * February 7, 859 : The new era name was created to mark an event or series of ...

era (859–877), the eldest son of minister

Fujiwara Fujiwara (, written: 藤原 lit. "''Wisteria'' field") is a Japanese surname. (In English conversation it is likely to be rendered as .) Notable people with the surname include: ; Families * The Fujiwara clan and its members ** Fujiwara no Kamatari ...

was on his way to his lover's place when he saw 100 demons walking from the direction of the main street. Since his attire had the ''sonjoushi'' written on it, the demons who noticed it ran away. *''

Ōkagami ''Ōkagami'' () is a Japanese historical tale written in around 1119 by an unknown author. It covers the period 850 to 1025, the golden days of the Fujiwara family's rule. It is said to be a successor (世継物語, ''yotsugi monogatari'') with the ...

'' (大鏡) *'' Gōdanshō'' (江談抄) *''

Kohon Setsuwashū Kohon or Cohon may refer to: * David José Kohon * George Cohon (born 1937), Canadian businessman *Mark Cohon (born 1966), Canadian Football League's 12th Commissioner *Jared Cohon (born 1947), eighth President of Carnegie Mellon University See a ...

'' (古本説話集) *'' Hōbutsushū'' (宝物集)

In art

The night parade was a popular theme in Japanese visual art. One of the oldest and most famous examples is the 16th-century

handscroll The handscroll is a long, narrow, horizontal scroll format in East Asia used for calligraphy or paintings. A handscroll usually measures up to several meters in length and around 25–40 cm in height. Handscrolls are generally viewed starting ...

''Hyakki Yagyō Zu'' (百鬼夜行図), erroneously attributed to

Tosa Mitsunobu was a Japanese painter, the founder of the Tosa school of Japanese painting. Born into a family that had traditionally served as painters to the Imperial court, he was head of the court painting bureau from 1493 to 1496. In 1518, he was appointe ...

, located in the Shinju-an of

Daitoku-ji is a Buddhist temple, one of fourteen autonomous branches of the Rinzai school of Japanese Zen. It is located in Kita-ku, Kyoto, Japan. The "mountain name" ('' sangō'') by which it is known is . The Daitoku-ji temple complex today covers more ...

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

. For other picture scrolls, the ''Hyakki Yagyō Emaki'' (百鬼夜行絵巻), contains the details of each member in the parade from the

Muromachi The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

period. Other notable works in this motif include those by

Toriyama Sekien 200px, A Mikoshi-nyūdō, specifically a Miage-nyūdō, as portrayed by Toriyama">Miage-nyūdō.html" ;"title="Mikoshi-nyūdō, specifically a Miage-nyūdō">Mikoshi-nyūdō, specifically a Miage-nyūdō, as portrayed by Toriyama , real name Sano ...

(''

Gazu Hyakki Yagyō is the first book of Japanese artist Toriyama Sekien's famous ''Gazu Hyakki Yagyō'' e-hon tetralogy, published in 1776. A version of the tetralogy translated and annotated in English was published in 2016. Although the title translates to "The I ...

'') and

Utagawa Yoshiiku , also known as or , was a Japanese artist of the Utagawa school. Life and career Born the son of teahouse proprietor Asakusa Tamichi in 1833, Yoshiiku became a student of ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi toward the end of the 1840s. His earlie ...

. However, Toriyama's work presents ''yōkai'' in separate, encyclopedic entries rather than assembled in a parade, while Utagawa's '' Kokkei Wanisshi-ki'' ("Comical Record of Japanese History") employs the theme of 100 demons to comment on contemporary Japanese military actions in China.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hyakki Yako Japanese folklore Japanese mythology Yōkai Oni

Various legends

In literature

In art

See also

References