I Partied with Gods and Monsters in Northern Kyoto

The Annual 100-Demon March

The 100-Demon march in Kyoto. All photos by author.

This is the 3rd installment of the series “Dark Gods of Japan,” where I explore the weird and supernatural side of Japan. Click the following links for the 1st and 2nd stories.

I’m standing with a group of onlookers right before sunset. A woman with a bloody slash across her face is limping down the street, holding her young son’s hand. She’s dressed as Kuchisake-onna (slit-mouthed woman).

This urban legend goes back 800 years. A beautiful wife of a samurai cheated on him. The husband was so enraged he slit her mouth from ear to ear. Her ghost walks the streets of Japan, wearing a mask and holding a pair of scissors. She’ll ask a passersby if she’s pretty.

No matter whether you say yes or no, she’ll kill you. The only way to escape is to say “eh, you’re okay,” confusing her and buying you time to escape. Behind them is the father, pushing a baby buggy while wearing an executioner’s hood.

Next comes a monster rat with red eyes, dressed as a Buddhist monk. A young girl, about 6 years old, screams in terror. Her mother laughs and lifts the child up as an offering to the demon. Everyone thinks it’s funny. That is, except for the little girl with years of therapy ahead of her. Small price to pay for entertainment.

This may seem like a scene from some Halloween party or an arcane eldritch ritual, but it has nothing to do with either. This is a distinctly Japanese festival called the “100-Demon-March.”

What is it?

The legend goes that over 1,000 years ago the residents of Kyoto city tossed out their old tools without performing the proper burial rites. The objects were then resurrected as demons and caused havoc throughout the city.

The festival to honor them isn’t as old as the myth itself. It began only twenty years ago. Last October I interviewed the man who runs the event, Junya Kono (Since then that interview has been published in the Japan Times).

Kono is a yokai (Japanese spirits-monsters-demons) nerd and proud of it.

He told me that

“Yokai are a deep aspect of Japan’s culture. I can never be bored of them.”

The area where the legend was born (Taishogun) was suffering. No one came to the ma and pa shops anymore. Kono conceived of the parade as a way to both help out the area economically and to spread his love for this dark corner of Japanese culture.

What to expect

As I walked the streets of the event, there were a few times I was reminded of the Halloween tragedy in Seoul where over a hundred people were crushed to death. Not to say anything negative about the yokai march but but once you get stuck, as in literally cannot turn around, because too many people have filled the narrow streets, it can get scary.

As for the event itself, loads of fun. There’s a traditional festival vibe. Drums, flutes, kimono, prayers at a shrine. Along the street vendors set up the Mononoke market where yokai-related goods (fox masks, skeleton earrings, dragon fans) are sold.

All of the monsters are unique. They are all hand-made and represent actual monsters from Japanese folklore.

Tenome

There was Tenome (Hands for Eyes), an old man with eye-covered hands coming out of his sockets. Legend states that he was an old blind man who was mugged and beaten to death. Right before he died he asked the powers that be for eyes, thus resurrecting him as a human flesh-craving ghoul.

Mikoshi-nyudo

There was also Mikoshi-nyudo (see past the way monster), who looks like a Buddhist monk with a freakishly elongated neck. If you encounter one on the road you must say “I see past you” and it will disappear. Fail to do that, or look it in the eye, and it will devour you.

Lovely stuff.

The event itself happens every April (ignore websites saying October, they’re outdated). The march is simple, people dress up as yokai and walk up and down the streets to the tune of ancient drums. They get into character and try to scare the onlookers, especially children.

There were only two food vendors that I saw and all the restaurants along the street were closed so keep that in mind when you go.