Hyakki Yakō

"Hyakki Yakō" by Kawanabe Kyōsai, collected in British Museum

Hyakki Yakō (百鬼夜行; lit. "Night Parade of One Hundred Demons") was a Japanese folk belief. The belief holds that every year yōkai, the Japanese supernatural beings, will take to the streets during summer nights. Anyone who comes across the procession will die, unless protected. The game Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai was based on the folklore.

It was a popular theme in Japanese visual art. An early example is the famous 16-century handscroll Hyakki Yakō Zu (百鬼夜行図, with zu meaning "picture"), attributed to Tosa Mitsunobu, in the Shinju-an of Daitoku-ji, Kyoto. Notable works of this motif include those by Toriyama Sekien (Gazu Hyakki Yakō) and Utagawa Yoshiiku. These works are more often humorous than frightening.

In popular culture

• In the Ghibli movie Pom Poko, Operation Spectre/Operation Poltergeist was intended to evoke the Hyakki Yakō.
• In the SNK games The Last Blade, SNK Gals' Fighters and SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium, the character Akari Ichijou uses a move called Hundred Demon Parade.
• In the manga Nurarihyon no Mago, the main character seeks to gather his own Hyakki Yako.
• In chapter 293 of the manga Negima! Magister Negi Magi the character Tsukuyomi summons a very large number of demons using a spell called "Okuki Yakō" (億鬼夜行) or "Night Parade of One Hundred Million (10⁸) Demons".
• It appears in a chapter of the CLAMP manga xxxHolic.
• Artist Audrey Kawasaki's take on "Hyakki Yakou" was inspired by a Hyakki Yakō scroll.
• The Hyakki Yakō is referred to on a number of occasions in lyrics by rock band Kagrra,.
• In the Usagi Yojimbo original graphic novel, Sasuke the Demon Queller mentions the Hyakki Yako to give background to their mission to stop the yokai from subjugating the world of people

See also

• Nightmarchers
• Unseelie Court
• Sluagh
• Wild Hunt