Hyakki Yagyō, variation: Hyakki Yakō, is an idiom in Japanese folklore. Sometimes an orderly procession, other times a riot, it refers to an uncontrolled horde of countless numbers of supernatural creatures known as oni and yōkai. As a terrifying eruption of the supernatural world into our own, it is similar to the concept of 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 yōkaiNurarihyon, will lead all of the yōkai 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 spell-casters. It is said that only an onmyōji clan head is strong enough to pass Nurarihyon's Hyakki Yagyō unharmed. According to another account in the Shūgaishō, 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".
In literature
The Hyakki Yagyō has appeared in several tales collected by Japanese folklorists.
Uji Shūi Monogatari, in which a monk encounters a group of a hundred yōkai which pass by the Ryūsenji temple.
Konjaku Monogatarishū, which tells that during the Jōgan era, the eldest son of ministerFujiwara 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
Gōdanshō
Kohon Setsuwashū
Hōbutsushū
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 handscrollHyakki Yagyō Zu, erroneously attributed to Tosa Mitsunobu, located in the Shinju-an of Daitoku-ji, Kyoto. For other picture scrolls, the Hyakki Yagyō Emaki, contains the details of each member in the parade from the Muromachi period. Other notable works in this motif include those by Toriyama Sekien and Utagawa Yoshiiku. However, Toriyama's workpresentsyōkai in separate, encyclopedic entries rather than assembled in a parade, while Utagawa's Kokkei Wanisshi-ki employs the theme of 100 demons to comment on contemporary Japanese military actions in China.
