Yoshitoshi 芳年: Night Parade of One Hundred Demonic Objects 百器夜行 (Sold)

Artist: Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) 月岡芳年
Title: Night Parade of One Hundred Demonic Objects 百器夜行 (Hyakki yagyo)
Date: 1865

Extremely scarce diptych with the fascinating and popular theme of 100 night demons on parade. Here everyday objects have become transformed into spooky yokai, and we can easily trust that there are 100 objects that are included. Bottom right we see an animated shamisen, looking unhappy, sitting dejectedly with music open in front of her. Then looking to the left  we see a gourd-vine creature and a priestlike creature comprised of a priest’s cymbals. Atop them is a biwa creature who appears to be blind (which must relate to a famous blind biwa player). Lower left we see a creature made of everyday porcelain items, and above him a steaming pot. There is a woman with bells on the back of her head and a type of feather/broom monster at top left. The items that the other monsters are made of are a little harder to parse, but they were certainly everyday household objects during the late Edo period. 

Dimensions: ôban diptych
Publisher: Sebundo Masakichi
Literature: Ôta Mem. Mus., Edo yôkai dai zukan (2014), #71; Ôta Mem. Mus., Warau ukiyo-e (2013), #53; Inagaki, Edo no asobi-e (1988), #58. See MFA Boston online. 
Signature: ôju Kaisai Yoshitoshi sha

SKU: YOT810