(from "LEGEND IN JAPAN: Art from the Boone Collection of the Field Museum of Natural History," entry #7, by Elizabeth Lillehoj, © 1991, with amendations by Elizabeth Lillehoj )"The Night Parade of 100 Demons is a theme that has captivated the imagination of Japanese artists for centuries. Since the Heian period (794-1185 AD), and perhaps even earlier, Japanese painters have rendered scenes of demonic creatures romping and cavorting at night. Japanese story tellers say that one night each summer all sorts of terrifying beings make their way to the mountains to enjoy themselves with games and amusements.
"An early work illustrating this subject is the famous handscroll of Hyakki Yako Zu in the Shinju-an of Daitoku-ji, Kyoto. The Shinju-an handscroll, which is attributed to Tosa Mitsunobu (1434-1525), served as a prototype for many later depictions of the subject, including perhaps the handscroll in the Boone Collection. A number of the demons portrayed in the Boone Collection handscroll are similar in shape to those in the Shinju-an version. Neither the Shiju-an handscroll nor the Boone handscroll are accompanied by text. There is, however, a handscroll in the Spencer Collection of the New York Public Library, the text and illustrations of which are ascribed to Okada Tamechika (1823-64). It is not clear whether the artist of the Spencer Collection handscroll uncovered an original textual source for the Night Parade of 100 Demons, or whether he invented a story to explain the earlier illustrations.
"The text of the Spencer Collection handscroll tells of an aristocratic young man who was forced to leave his home in Kyoto and take up residence in the new capital of Fukuhara. In June of 1180, the strongman Taira Kiyomori (1118-81) declared that the capital would be moved from Kyoto to Fukuhara, where he hoped to evade the clutches of Buddhist monks and other influential individuals who opposed his rule. Complying with Kiyomori's orders to move, the young nobleman entrusted his mansion in Kyoto to a servant. Then, one night while revisiting the old mansion, he was horrified to encounter a horde of mischievous demons who scampered about wildly until dawn.
"The first scene of the Boone Collection handscroll reveals an old red gate and tall walls, presumably at the edge of the young nobleman's estate. Lurking here are two weird creatures: a tall, bird-beaked demon holding a prayer rattle and a blue-skinned, lizard-headed demon with a white beard. The lizard demon is animated in pose, as though informing his companion of some exciting event taking place on the other side of the gate, to the left.
"The second section of illustration in the Boone Collection handscroll begins with a blue and a brown demon in a group of trees. Rushing through the air toward the left is a small spirit, wrapped in gray smoke. It chases after a carriage. Running beside the carriage are attendants dressed in white robes and black court caps. We can guess that the young nobleman, who is described in the text of the Spencer Collection handscroll, sits anxiously inside the carriage.
"The demons are too quick for the clumsy, ox drawn carriage. In section three of the Boone Collection handscroll, a host of angry ghouls and ogres descends upon the carriage and commences to demolish it. As golden balls of fire come hurtling through the air, the demons smash the carriage with mallets, clobber it with poles and tear at it with their claws.
"The fourth section of the handscroll opens with dark smoke wafting about and the silhouettes of two monsters hurrying toward the left, where six demons finish off the carriage. At the center of the mayhem is a three-eyed demon clutching a hand bellows; he fans the flames that consume the last carriage wheel. His companions revel in the last moments of their destructive spree. But what of the courtier they were pursuing?
"Only when the fifth and final section of the handscroll is unrolled do we see the calm, quiet figure of the elegant nobleman. He sits in a charming meadow amongst long, bending blades of grass and pale wild flowers. His eyes closed, fingering the white prayer beads, the gentleman has managed to escape the horrifying nocturnal spirits. As dawn breaks and the gloomy mists disperse, the nobleman is safe at last. One final demon crouches at lower right. This small ogress, with horns and a tiger's pelt wrapped around her waist, cringes at the sight of daylight. She must now return to the shadows and wait for another dark night when she and her friends can emerge and cause untold havoc. At the far left, a golden sliver of the sun peaks out from the bed of clouds nestled across the landscape.
"The Boone Collection handscroll is a creative interpretation of the theme of Hyakki Yako Zu. In most versions, the young aristocrat is nowhere to be seen. In the Shinju-an handscroll, for example, there are only the demons and specters. The Spencer Collection handscroll does show the gentleman and his servant, but only at the beginning of the scroll. The appearance of the young courtier at the end of the Boone Collection handscroll is a unique and effective means of creating suspense. At the end of the Shinju-an handscroll, the sun appears as a glaring orb that sends the demons scurrying, while the final scene of the Boone collection handscroll is a breath-taking vista with a fresh, golden sunrise.
"The publication by Toriyama Sekien of a book on Hyakki Yako in 1776 signaled a new interest in the fantastic theme of Night Parade of 100 Demons, which was to last throughout the Edo and Meiji periods. Late in the nineteenth century, the printmaker Utagawa Yoshiiku (1833-1904) produced several imaginative illustrations based on the Night Parade of 100 Demons. One of these was his Kokkei Wanisshi-ki (Comical Record of Japanese History), which employs the theme of 100 demons to comment on contemporary Japanese military actions in China. So Takemura, the unidentified painter of the Boone Collection handscroll, had ample sources from which to draw. Although he borrowed the poses and expressions of several of his demons from previous illustrations of the tale, he also reveals considerable talent in rethinking the theme and creating a novel, dramatic interpretation of this thrilling story."