Gazu Hyakki Yagyō(画図百鬼夜行?, "The Illustrated Night Parade of a Hundred Demons") is the first book of Japanese artist Toriyama Sekien's famous Gazu Hyakki Yagyōe-hon series, published 1776. These books are supernatural bestiaries, collections of ghosts, spirits, spooks and monsters, many of which Toriyama based on literature, folklore, other artwork. These works have had a profound influence on subsequent yōkai imagery in Japan. (Also see: Hyakki Yagyō). The various creatures are described, below, using images to illustrate many of them.
The first volume of Gazu Hyakki Yagyō, called "Yin," includes the following demonic creatures.
Kodama(木魅?) : Sekien's comments: A spirit (kami) said to appear in one-hundred-year-old trees. (百年の樹には神ありてかたちをあらはすといふ。?)
Tengu(天狗?) is a popular bird-like demon in Japanese folklore.
Yamabiko(幽谷響?) means "echo", so Sekien likely meant to imply that this creature is a spirit that mimics sounds in the mountains.
Yamawaro(山童?), usually called yamawaro, is a mountain-dwelling creature from Kyūshū, sometimes considered to be the form taken on by the kappa in winter.
Yamauba(山姥?) the mountain hag is a staple of Japanese folktales.
Inugami(犬神?) is a dog-spirit said to do the bidding of certain families on Shikoku. Sekien depicted it in anthropomorphic form, wearing an eboshi hat. It is accompanied by a smaller creature called Shirachigo(白児?) which may be an invention of Sekien's.
Nekomata(猫股?) is a cat whose forked tail is a clue that it has become a dangerous supernatural creature.
Kappa(河童?) is a famous water imp. Sekien's comments: It is also called kawatarō. (川太郎ともいふ。?)
Kawauso(獺?) is a river otter, seen here attempting to appear as a human.
Akaname(垢嘗?) is a creature which Sekien illustrated lurking in an old-fashioned bathroom. Its name means "filth-licker", so the function of its protruding tongue isn't hard to imagine.
The second volume of Gazu Hyakki Yagyō, called "Yang," includes the following creatures.
Jorōgumo(絡新婦?) means "prostitute spider", but the name is written with characters that mean "entwining bride".
Ten, martens which form a column which emits a mysterious flame.
SōgenbiSekien's comments: It can be found in the west of Saiin outside the capital, near Mibudera temple. As slang it is called Sōgenbi of Suzaku. (、。。?) This is based on a real legend from Kyoto, concerning the ghost of a monk who stole lamp oil.
Tesso. Sekien's comments: Raigō became a spirit-rat, and went into the world. (、也。?) Raigō Anjari was a priest of Mii-dera, who was snubbed by the emperor in favor of Enryaku-ji, and according to legend became a swarm of rats which laid waste to the rival temple.