In 1843, the fourteenth year of the Tenpō Era, ten years before the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry and the Black Ships, Edo is under attack by beasts from the underworld, known as Yōi. Members of the Bansha Aratamesho, called the Ayashi, are assembled to repel the emergence of these yoi.
Characters
Ayashi of the Bansha Aratamesho
;Ryūdō Yukiatsu Fifteen years ago, he met and befriended a man named Kumoshichi who goaded him into fights and gambling. Kumoshichi was in a relationship with Oshino who cared deeply of him and hoped to marry. At one point Yukiatsu and Kumoshichi had an argument and Yukiatsu was forced to kill him in self-defense. The event was so traumatic that Yukiatsu blocked out the memories, and unconsciously summoned a Yoi in Kumoshichi's form. At some point he was brought to the vagrant camps, escaped, was recaptured, and escaped again; his arm and shoulder are still tattooed from this. After he returned from the Other World, Yukiatsu was very reckless and rambunctious. He had trained and become a samurai as a child, later became a ronin and then worked as a bodyguard. Because of his high fighting skills, he started fights, tricked people in gambling, and sexually harassed Oshino because he was desperate to feel alive. This was the cause for the fight between Yukiatsu and Kumoshichi. After losing his friend, he became much more quiet and restrained. Because of his status as an eternal outsider, from society and from the human race, Yukiatsu tends to be extremely sympathetic to people who fall outside the bounds of society, whether they are vagrants or foreigners. ;Ogasawara Hōzaburō ;Edo Genbatsu He fights using several different firearms, ranging from a large gun to a bazooka and grenades, and seems to function more as a munitions expert than as a priest. He frequently works alongside Abi, and the two seem to be very close friends. ;Saizō She fights using a paper fan which unfolds to become a long rope of paper, which can be used to temporarily tie up Yoi. She was also trained by her father from a very young age to perform a mysterious dance which attracts Yōi, which is said to be the dance performed to draw the goddess Amaterasu from her cave. Though it was not explicitly mentioned, there were implications that she's around fourteen years old when she said she wasn't even born fifteen years ago, and that she turned thirteen at the same time when her father started turning on other actors before the theatre burned down, which occurred a year ago. ;Abi
;Atl However, Atl was reviled for being a foreigner, and had to artificially tint her bronze skin with makeup to pass for a Japanese person. She and her horse Quetzl performed together in a circus, until her status as a foreigner was revealed. After this, Genbatsu arranged for her to be a ward of the geishas he knew in the red light district, although she herself would not become one. For reasons that are never fully explored, Atl is able to see Kumoshichi, and is able to correctly identify him as a Yoi despite his human appearance. No one other than Yukiatsu is able to do so. ;Kumoshichi Yuki was shocked when he realized that he had killed the real Shikiji, and that his longtime friend was actually a Yoi he had created. When the horse/dragon Quetzl began running wild, Kumoshichi merged with him and successfully calmed the Yoi until it was no longer dangerous. As a result, Kumoshichi only existed after that as a part of Quetzl - a talking horse. ;Ōta ;Tae ;Tamahei ;The Western Ones ;Kawanabe Kyōsai, also known as Shūzaburō
Media
Tenpō Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi was first created as an original anime series which was later adapted into a manga.
Anime
The Tenpō Ibun Ayakashi Ayashianime series first aired in Japan on October 7, 2006 in the 6pm Saturday prime-time slot on MBS and TBS. It was originally slated to be 52 episodes; however, due to low ratings during its broadcast run, the series' length was cut in half, to 25 episodes. A new anime series, Toward the Terra, took over the timeslot, starting in April 2007. From episodes 1-12, the opening theme is "Ryūsei Miracle" by Ikimono-gakari while the ending theme is "Winding Road" by Porno Graffitti. From episodes 13–25, the opening theme is "Lone Star" by Captain Straydum while the ending theme is "Ai Toiu Kotoba" by Saki. A five-part OVAs titled Tenpō Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi: Inferno were released, set six months after the events of the TV series.
Manga
The Tenpō Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi manga written by Yaeko Ninagawa was first serialized in the Japanese seinen manga magazine Young Gangan in October 2006, published by Square Enix. The last chapter was serialized on year 2007's 15th issue of the magazine. The second and last volume was released in Japan on October 25, 2007. The manga series has been licensed for distribution in North America by Bandai Entertainment.
