Collection
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Title
Night procession of the hundred demons (Hyakki yagyô)
circa 1860
Artist
Hiroharu Itaya
Japan
1831 - 1882
About
A humorous yet revealing image of anthropomorphic beliefs, this scroll depicts a medley of 'object-goblins' - kitchen utensils, musical instruments and the like. Recent scholarship explains that, according to old Japanese belief, objects that reached 100 years acquire a spirit. One surviving narrative scroll from the Muromachi period tells how used objects, discarded during the spring-cleaning of a temple, turned into demons and wreaked havoc on the village until a Buddhist monk quelled them and eventually turned them into good Buddhists. This scroll is one of many existing versions of the subject. As a pictorial representation, the scroll can be seen as part of the Japanese caricatural cartoon tradition that continues today as 'manga'.
The Asian Collections, AGNSW, 2003, pg.196.
Details
Other Title
Procession of goblins
Alternative title
Hyakki Yagyô
Date
circa 1860
Materials used
ink and colour on paper
Dimensions
29.5 x 600.0 cm
Signature & date
Signed, "Itaya Keiji". Sealed "Hiroharu". Not dated.
Credit
Asian Collection Benefactors' Fund 1995
Location
Not on display
Accession number
125.1995
URL / Share
Hiroharu Itaya
Night procession of the hundred demons (Hyakki yagyô)
Place
Where the work was made
Japan
Shown in 1 exhibition
Exhibition history
Japan Supernatural, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 02 Nov 2019–08 Mar 2020
Referenced in 3 publications
Bibliography
Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Asian Collection: East Asia', pg. 246-287, Sydney, 1999, 282 (colour illus.).
Jackie Menzies (Editor), The Asian Collections Art Gallery of New South Wales, 'The art of Buddhism and other worlds', Sydney, 2003, 196-197 (colour illus.). The colour illus. on page 197 are details of this work.
Public Programmes Department, Art Gallery of New South Wales and The Japan Foundation (Editors), Art speaks Japanese: Japanese language education kit from the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2007, colour illus.. card no. 08