Yokai Parade! --- Hyakki-Yako in Kyoto

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(Translated and arranged by Saya)

Happy (early) Halloween everyone! I wanted to post something light-hearted for this occasion! I hope you enjoy it πŸ₯°❤️❤️❤️




[What is Hyakki-Yako?]
Hyakki-Yako (or Hyakki-Yagyo) means "Night Parade of One Hundred Oni (Demons)." 

It is a parade composed of thousands of oni and yokai that is said to march through the streets of Japan at night!

Every year, in Kyoto , they hold an event which recreates this Hyakki-Yako.

People dress up as their favourite Oni or Yokai and parade through Ichijo-Dori Street. 
(Apparently, anyone can take part in it, but you will have to submit an application to the organizers first😁)


[Ichijo Hyakki-Yako 2019]

Legend says that during Heian period (794-1185), when Kyoto was the capital city of Japan, the real Hyakki-Yako would often take place on Ichijo-Dori Street in the middle of the night.

(All pictures are taken by Keiichuro Yasugi )



A female Oni.


This could be Gasha-dokuro.




πŸ’ŽWhat would you have to do if you encountered Hyakki-Yako?πŸ’Ž

Encountering Hyakki-Yako can mean instant death, or at best, you get spirited away by them.😱
But fear not. There are some countermeasures!πŸ˜†⭐ 

πŸ‘ΎCarry a paper talisman (ofuda) from Shinto shrines.

πŸ‘ΎCarry exorcism scrolls handwritten by onmyoji spellcasters." (Wikipedia)

πŸ‘ΎChant this famous mantra:

カタシハダ、エカセニクγƒͺニ、タパルァケ、
テエヒ、をシエヒ、ワレシコニケγƒͺ

Katashi Haya, Ekaseni Kurini, Tameru Sake, 
Te E Hi, Ashi E Hi, Wareshi Konikeri

This mantra can be roughly translated as "I couldn't take part in the Hyakki-Yako today because I drank the sake (rice wine) stored in a tokkuri (sake container**) and got badly drunk."πŸ˜†⭐

πŸ‘ΎIn some tales, people were saved because they wore kimono which had Sonsho-buccho (ε°Šε‹δ»ι ‚ Usnisavijaya) sewn on it. 


This one could be Inari.


Some sources say that the yokai and oni who participate in Hyakki-Yako are Tsukumo-gami who were originally tools such as umbrellas, fans, sandals, scissors, kitchen utensils, and musical instruments, which acquired spirits after a long passage of time (Tsukumo-gami is sometimes written as "九十九η₯ž" meaning ninety-nine gods, which comes from ninety-nine years, a period needed for tools to acquire spirits.)

Tsukumo-gami were tools which were abandoned or maltreated by humans, and therefore, they hold a grudge against them. So they gather at night like this to plot revenge on humans.








[Ichijo Hyakki-Yako 2022]

Ichijo Hyakki-Yako was held this month, for the first time in three years. (Source)



This is Nurari-hyon, who is said to be the leader of Hyakki-Yako.




This is Tengu.




Watch it directly on YouTube:


Those yokai and oni in the Ichijo Hyakki-Yako look so realistic that real yokai and oni could also be taking part in the event, unbeknownst to us! πŸ˜†πŸ’–✨


--------------------
Links:
**Tokkuri --- Tokkuri or Tokuri is a thin-necked bottle rounded at the bottom. It is now mainly used for pouring sake. (see more on japanese-wiki-corpus.org)

Tokkuri 







Comments

Hello, everyone! Thank you always for leaving comments! πŸ˜„πŸ™πŸ’•✨

I hope you are happy wherever you are!
Have a wonderful weekend!🌸✨
Aeri chan~ said…
Oh so it is Japanese Halloween then? Do you allowed to dressed up as modern ghost or it's must traditional japanese folklore ghost?
It's not really Halloween because Halloween is a festival for the dead, but this is a parade of yokai. But they look sort of similar.πŸ˜†✨

You are expected to dress up as traditional yokai, but you can also dress up as some traditional Western monsters such as a vampire or witch etc, but not modern copyrighted monsters like Jason from Friday the 13th, according to this event's application guidelines (in Japanese) http://www.kyotohyakki.com/hyakkiyakou/hyakkiyakououbo.html

Thank you so much for your comment!
Anonymous said…
I'm always curious about how the Yokai Parade was handle. I've watched a few animes and read mangas that held this topic, Gege no Kitaro and Hyakki Yakoushou sticks to mind. I think it's nice that Japan still do this parade. I'm curious though, are foreigners allowed to participate or just a bystander?

Thank you so much, Sana-san for the topic! Have a lovely week!!! πŸ’“πŸ’“πŸ’“
I'm sure foreigners are allowed to participate in this too, because there are restrictions regarding the nationalities in the guidelines. πŸ˜†⭐

Thank you so much for your cute comment! Have a wonderful week yourself! πŸ˜πŸŽƒπŸ’–
Aeri chan~ said…
The more i think of it , it doesn't make sense dressed up as modern ghost (sorry for the stupid questionπŸ™πŸ»πŸ˜…), anyway thanks!
No, it's not stupid or anything! You're very welcome πŸ˜„πŸŽƒπŸ’–✨
Anonymous said…
Awesome!! This is the very thing on my bucket lists! I really hope one day i can go there and witness such marvelous parade :D
and this is not just because I love Japanese Culture, I'm a huge fan of traditional tales and folklores all around the world! Maybe because nobody read me bedtime story when I was a kid :3 hehe

Anyway, we have something similar, the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogoh-ogoh Festival
but It has become way too polluted with drunkards, bad (modern) music that bleed your ears, and sometimes... unnecessarily out of aesthetic political messages.
I admit I will probably get many negative sentiments if I ever say this to people back home. But I stand my ground.

Thank you very much Saya! I'm really glad to able to see the Yokai Parade from your blog! Hope all the best in your life and may you will be able to tell us more fantastic tales for many years to come!
That festival looks great! It looks more like Nebuta Festival in Aomori though!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aomori_Nebuta_Matsuri

You can read to yourself the stories on my blog at bedtime πŸ˜†πŸ§‘ I know some of my followers do YouTube videos on them too! LOL

All the best to you too ~πŸ’– Thank you so much for being so kind! πŸ™πŸ’ž
Anonymous said…
I read about it, seems like the people in Aomori already had similar problems with troublemaker earlier than the Balinese, well managing crowds aren't easy definitely πŸ˜†
See you 'round Saya! XD and thanks for the interesting cultural exchange / amazing stories!
Aomori is in North of Japan, and people there tend to drink a lot, because of the cold weather πŸ˜†πŸ§‘

I have been to Bali once when I was a child. A beautiful place!

You're welcome and thank you so much for your happy comment πŸ˜„πŸŽ΅✨
allucinator said…
This is my favorite catalogue of Yokai: https://yokai.com/
Anonymous said…
For anyone interested, I think the yokai below the gashakuduro is a mikoshi nyudo. It's modus operandi is similar to rokurokubi, but instead of just scaring people they eat them. They are very dangerous. In case you are wondering, I'm not a yokai expert, I just like mithology.
Thank you so much! That's very helpful πŸ˜„πŸ‘✨
Thank you so much πŸ’• to be honest, I'm not so familiar with yokai πŸ˜†✨
Second Sun said…
Sayaaaaa! 今ζ—₯γ‚‚γŠη–²γ‚Œγ•γΎγ§γ—γŸ!!
η™Ύι¬Όε€œθ‘Œ!! うわー!! みんγͺγ™γ”γ„γ‚ˆγ­!

This is the perfect post for Halloween! πŸŽƒ

I've only taken part in the Halloween event in Shibuya so I'd really like to see this in person too!!

Thank you very much for sharing! It's really informative too! (The Tengu is really cool! πŸ˜†)
Second Sun γ‘γ‚ƒγ‚“πŸ˜†⭐γŠγ€γ‹γ‚Œγ•γΎ!

I'm glad you like this post ~πŸ’•

Oh cool! Shibuya Halloween is such a huge event! I hope you had fun while there!πŸ˜†✨

Tengu is a cool yokai! I will see if I can find any stories related to Tengu!

Thank you so much for your comment!πŸ™πŸ˜❤️
Anonymous said…
Wow, I'd love to join this parade!

Saya, this remind me of a scene in Sen to Chihiro where the yokais stepped of the ship at the riverbank. And I love watching movies about yokai.

Thank you for the interesting read today, Saya *purple heart*

~ nunu ~
sardine god said…
Hello Saya, thank you for the article! I absolutely love these kind of cultural festivals. I love reading about yokai - that's why my all time favorite anime is Natsume Yuujinchou. πŸ₯°

I'm glad that the Hyakki-Yako is able to be held again after recovering from covid. The masks and costumes are very high quality and I admire the detailed work. And it will totally send chills down my spine if I mistook a real yokai for a person in costume πŸ˜… Maybe that's why they want you to register first πŸ˜‚
It would be really fun to join it πŸ˜„πŸ’•

I'm going to try to find some stories about yokai, since everyone seems so interested in them!πŸ˜†⭐

You're welcome, and thank you so much for the cute purple heart! πŸ’–
Hello, Sardine God! πŸ’ž

Oh! That anime/manga is so popular! I should have a look at it too!πŸ˜†⭐

That's funny! Maybe it is the real reason why registration is required 🀣✨

Thank you so much for your comment! I hope you are getting less busy now! Take care ~πŸ€✨⭐
sardine god said…
Thank you Saya πŸ’–πŸ’–πŸ’–
George V said…
Really cool, thanks for the wards against being carried off by the parade.
You're welcome! But I hope you won't ever find yourself in a situation where you have to use the mantraπŸ˜†⭐
Thank you so much for your comment!