Hyakki Yagyō

"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 manga Nurarihyon no Mago, the main character seeks to gather his own Hyakki Yako.
• It appears in a chapter of the CLAMP manga xxxHolic.
• The Hyakki Yakō is referred to on a number of occasions in lyrics by rock band Kagrra,.

See also

• Nightmarchers
• Unseelie Court