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 by some Buddhist sutra. 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

• It appears in the Ghibli movie, Pom Poko.
• 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".

See also

• Nightmarchers
• Unseelie Court
• Sluagh
• Wild Hunt