Spirited Away 2: Worlds Collide

by Steampunkgirl198

Haku is searching for Chihiro. Chihiro is searching for answers about her lost memories and strange dreams. When an incantation goes wrong and a parade of demons walk the earth, old powers awake, and nothing is what it seems. As the two worlds are drawn closer to their destruction, Chihiro and Haku are pulled farther and farther apart in a desperate race against the clock.

7. Spirited Away 2, Hyakki Yagyō Part: 7

*Please note, you will not miss any part of the story if you don't read this chapter. However, it does explain quite a few things that happen in later chapters.

Hyakki Yagyō: The Hundred Demon Night Parade

Legend has it, that every year, yōkai, a class of supernatural monsters, are led by the demon known as Nurarihyon in the Hundred Demon Night Parade. This parade is known in Japanese Folklore as Hyakki Yagyō, and supposedly takes to the streets during summer nights. Anyone who comes across the procession is said to die, unless "protected." Protection refers to handwritten scrolls made by anti-yokai, or Onmyoji Spellcasters. Only an Onmyoji Clanhead is said to be strong enough to pass Nurarihyon's Hyakki Yagyo unharmed.

Onmyōji

Onmyōji Spellcasters were specialists in magic and divination, who acted as civil servants belonging to the Bureau of Onmyō in ancient Japan's ritsuryo system. Their court responsibilities ranged from tasks such as keeping track of the calendar, to mystical duties such as divination and protection of the capital from evil spirits. They could divine auspicious or harmful influences in the earth, and were instrumental in the moving of capitals. It is said that an onmyōji could also summon and control small ghosts, known as shikigami. If the evoker was well-experienced, his shikigami could possess animals and people as well as manipulate them. But if the evoker was careless, his shikigami could get out of control in time, gaining its own will and consciousness. In this case, the shikigami would attack its own master and kill him in revenge.

Nurarihyon

An especially powerful Japanese yōkai, the Nurarihyon was usually depicted as an old man with a gourd-shaped head wearing a kesa, and was sometimes said to be the leader of the yōkai. Nurarihyon would sneak into someone's house while they were away, drink their tea, and act as if it was his own house. Because he looked human, anyone who saw him would mistake him for the owner of the house, making it very hard to expel him.

In the space below, or on a separate sheet of paper, please answer the following questions.

1.) What is Hyakki Yagyō?

2.) What is said to happen to someone who encounters Hyakki Yagyō, and what could be done to prevent it?

3.) What roll did the Onmyōji Spellcasters play in ancient Japan's ritsuryo system, and what were some of their talents?

4.) What are shikigami?

5.) Who is Nurarihyon, and why was he hard to get rid of?

Bonus Assignment:

Write a one paragraph-minimum essay on how Japanese Folklore has affected culture today. Please include your reasoning, as well as at least three examples of said effects.