The Kyōka Hyaku Monogatari (狂歌百物語) is a ''

kyōka ''Kyōka'' (, "wild" or "mad poetry") is a popular, parodic subgenre of the tanka form of Japanese poetry with a metre of 5-7-5-7-7. The form flourished during the Edo period (17th–18th centuries) and reached its zenith during the Tenmei era ...

'' ''

e-hon is the Japanese term for picture books. It may be applied in the general sense, or may refer specifically to a type of woodblock printed illustrated volume published in the Edo period (1603–1867). The first were religious items with images ...

'' published in 1853 ( Kaei 6). As a kyōka-themed book on ''

yōkai are a class of supernatural entities and Spirit (supernatural entity) , spirits in Japanese folklore. The kanji representation of the word comprises two characters that both mean "suspicious, doubtful", and while the Japanese name is simply ...

'', and garnished with illustrations, it was edited by Rōjin Tenmei, and the illustrations were by Ryūkansai (Masasumi Ryūkansaijin).

Summary

The ''kyōka'' was extremely prosperous during the

Tenmei is a Japanese era name (年号, ''nengō'', literally "years name") for the years between the An'ei Era and before the Kansei Era, from April 1781 through January 1789. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * 1781 : The new era name of Ten ...

era (1781–1789), and many ''kyōka'' ''e-hon'' garnished with colored illustrations were published. ''Yōkai'' were enjoyed as the subject of ''kyōka.'' The poet

Ōta Nanpo was the most oft-used pen name of Ōta Tan, a late Edo-period Japanese poet and fiction writer. Ōta Nanpo wrote primarily in the comedic forms of '' kyōshi'', derived from comic Chinese verse, and '' kyōka'', derived from '' waka'' poetry. Ō ...

imitated the techniques of ''

Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai was a popular didactic Buddhism, Buddhist-inspired parlour game during the Edo period in Japan. Play The game is played after nightfall in one of two ways. The simplest form involves participants sitting in a circle in a room where 100 Tra ...

'', where an event was held where he recited a ''kyōka'' that included around 100 kinds of ''yōkai''; with the intent of doing it again, he collected together the ''kyōka'', and the book was the result of collecting together only the better of the poems. As a ''kyōka'' with a theme on 96 ''yōkai'', it is divided and collected together based on each yōkai, and it recorded ''yōkai'' illustrations in various colored version of ''yōkai'' illustrations, and thus it also carries the characteristic of being an illustrated ''yōkai'' reference book. The ''yōkai'' within this book were humorous existences as the subject of ''kyōka'', and were thus existences that were joked about, it can be seen that ''yōkai'' that were once main characters of ghost stories that were to be feared or awed became characters for amusement in the middle of the Edo period. Koizumi Yakumo also possessed the book, and 48 poems of ''kyōka'' that he particularly liked were translated to English under the subject "Goblin Poetry". Later, Yakumo himself also garnished these notes with ''yōkai'' illustrations, and was later reproduced and published under the title "."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyoka Hyaku Monogatari Japanese mythology Yōkai 1853 books