The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons

July 1, 2020 11:14 AM

The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons (Hyakki Yagyō) is a thousand-plus-year-old Japanese folkloric tradition, in which a series of demons parades — or explodes — into the ordinary human world. Kyōsai’s version was one of the artist’s most popular volumes, offering “a spectacular visual encyclopedia of supernatural creatures of premodern Japanese folklore.” Narratively, it paves the way for the fantastic parade with two woodblocks: the first depicts a group of adults and children gathered around a coal fire to hear ghosts stories, the second a man (probably Kyōsai) setting down his calligraphy brush and extinguishing the lamp in preparation for the night in which the demons will appear.
posted by ChuraChura (7 comments total)

I like the monk with the giant head. He's so textured!
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:53 AM on July 1, 2020 [3 favorites]

The skeleton army makes me think of the visual style of Ub Iwerks’s Skeleton Frolic.

(Not to be confused with the earlier Skeleton Dance he did for Disney.)
posted by The Underpants Monster at 1:07 PM on July 1, 2020 [2 favorites]

for a modern interpretation, see the parade at the end of Pom Poko
posted by what does it eat, light? at 1:54 PM on July 1, 2020 [6 favorites]

I love the “hairy headed demon“ next to the “small demon riding a badger.” Very Muppety!
posted by sallybrown at 2:14 PM on July 1, 2020 [3 favorites]

Kyōsai? This is about his yōkai, surely? (Disclaimer: I only learned this term, to great delight, via a recent 99%Invisible ep.)
posted by progosk at 2:46 PM on July 1, 2020

More of the monsters here. If you've played the game Nioh or its sequel, you'll recognize a huge number of them! I've also seen a lot of yokai in the wonderful manga Natsume's Book of Friends.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 4:09 PM on July 1, 2020

Major Garden of Earthly Delights vibe
posted by scruss at 6:07 PM on July 1, 2020 [1 favorite]