Japanese Mythology & Folklore: Hyakki Yagyō

The hyakki yagyō is the dreaded night parade of one hundred demons – the night when all of the yokai, oni, ghosts, tsukumogami, and other supernatural creatures leave their homes and parade through the streets of Japan in one massive spectacle of utter pandemonium. Those foolish enough to go outside on these nights, or to peek out of their windows in hopes to catch a glimpse of the supernatural are either killed by the monsters, or spirited away by the monsters. The parade is said to be led by nurarihyon, nozuchi, and otoroshi.

According to the Shūgaishō, a medieval Japanese encyclopedia, the only way to keep safe from the night parade should it come by your home is to stay inside on the specific nights associated with the Chinese zodiac, or else to chant the following magic spell:

KA-TA-SHI-HA-YA, E-KA-SE-NI-KU-RI-NI, TA-ME-RU-SA-KE,
TE-E-HI, A-SHI-E-HI, WA-RE-SHI-KO-NI-KE-RI

In art
The night parade was a popular theme in Japanese visual art.

One of the oldest and most famous examples is the 16th-century handscroll Hyakki Yagyō Zu (百鬼夜行図), erroneously attributed to Tosa Mitsunobu, located in the Shinju-an of Daitoku-ji, Kyoto. For other picture scrolls, the Hyakki Yagyō Emaki (百鬼夜行絵巻), contains the details of each member in the parade from the Muromachi period.

Other notable works in this motif include those by Toriyama Sekien (Gazu Hyakki Yagyō) and Utagawa Yoshiiku. However, Toriyama's work presents yokai in separate, encyclopedic entries rather than assembled in a parade, while Utagawa's "Kokkei Wanisshi-ki (Comical Record of Japanese History), employs the theme of 100 demons to comment on contemporary Japanese military actions in China."

Modern fiction and film
The Hyakki Yagyō has appeared several times in modern fiction and film. It has been featured in Japanese manga, animation, and games.

The manga Nurarihyon no Mago, has Rikuo Nura, the Third Head of the Nura Clan, leading a Hyakki Yakō, a group of yokai composed of his friends and allies.

In the manga Inu x Boku SS, the antagonist, Inugami Mikoto, is revealed trying to form a Hyakki Yagyō.

In the Ghibli movie Pom Poko, "Operation Poltergeist" resembles a Hyakki Yagyō.

In the manga XxxHolic, Watanuki and Doumeki witnesse and joins in a yōkai parade quite similar to the Hyakki Yagyō.

The children's game Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai, a popular didactic Buddhist-inspired parlour game, was based on this idea.

Sources:
yokai.com
Wiki

http://justdubsonline.net/japanese-culture/japanese-mythology-folklore-hyakki-yagyō

 

So that is what the parade is called, a hyakki yagyo, yeah I'm going to forget that pretty quickly. The whole idea of the demonic monsters walking through the streets I enjoy for some reason. It looks like a lot of fun it is just too bad that people can't watch them or else...
That image is awesome as well. I'm getting definite Natsume Yuujinchou vibes from this topic.