Title: Kyosai Hyakki Gadan (Kyosai's Pictures of One Hundred Demons), 1895. The Third Printed Edition of this Night Parade of Demons, with 50 Woodblock Illustrations in Color
Author: Kawanabe Kyosai
Publisher: Tōkyō-shi,
Condition: Very Good
An extremely scarce, Meiji Period, Late 19th century edition of Kyosai’s Hyakki Gadan, also known as the Pictures of One Hundred Demons, a printed rendition of the Hyakki Yagyo, also known as the 'Night Parade of One Hundred Demons. The work depicts a vast procession of ghostly yokai, and bakemono of beastly yet comical nature. From an army of skeletal playfully battling other warped figures, to demonic courtesans and more, the work carefully copies the style and depictions found in the early Hyakki Yagyo scroll attributed to Tosa Mitsunobu from the Muromachi Period.
The topic of these spectral figures was part of the tradition of telling ghost stories, to be enjoyed and shared. People would gather at dusk and tell ghost stories to each other, extinguishing a candle after each story would be completed. As each candle was blown out, it was thought that a yōkai would appear in the room. This is illustrated in Hyakki Gadan in the image where a man dressed in black is telling a scary tale to a group of people, the following woodblock illustration showing the lights being blown out, and then the procession of yokai and bakemono commences.
Worldcat records two existing copies of this edition in libraries.
One volume in orihon format (21.5 x 12.4 cm), 57 leaves
This volume is in very good shape, with minor wear and old, repaired worming to the covers. A few of the jointed leaves have slight splits at the top but are holding fine.