Toriyama Sekien’s "Night Procession of One Hundred Demons": Creating Modern Yokai Culture

Why did Japanese yokai spirits spread far beyond Japan to become a 21st century global cultural phenomenon? And how did Toriyama Sekien’s 18th century visual encyclopaedia 'Night Procession of One Hundred Demons' transform traditional, scary, yokai spirits into cute and fun creatures that appealed to people of all ages from around the world?
Join art history researcher Fiona McConnell as she tells the story of how printmaker Toriyama Sekien, immersed in the culture of Edo Japan, combined and adapted knowledge of the recently introduced Western encyclopaedia format with traditional tales of yokai spirits, to print books that transformed yokai storytelling culture, Japanese culture more widely, and resulted in a present-day, global, cultural phenomenon. Along the way, enjoy tales of the yokai spirits illustrated in the encyclopaedia.
This talk was held as part of a public programme hosted alongside the exhibition, 'Yokai Parade: Supernatural Monsters from Japan', at the Auckland Central City Library in October 2022, in which a facsimile of Toriyama Sekien’s encyclopaedia was displayed.
A comprehensive list of reference books, movies, TV shows, documentaries, and videos are included at the end for those wishing to learn more.
About the Speaker:
Fiona McConnell is an early career researcher at the University of Melbourne in the Master of Art Curatorship programme. Her research interests include the art of the book through history, European medieval manuscripts, Korean Chaekgeori screens, and, most recently, Japanese art. She has been studying art history for over 25 years, with a BA in Art History and Classical Languages, and a Graduate Diploma in Arts.
This talk began as an over-researched class paper about Toriyama Sekien’s 'Night Procession of One Hundred Demons'. Fiona developed it further into a presentation for the Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand Annual Conference in 2020 to obtain wider recognition for Sekien and his encyclopaedia’s creativity and influence.
Fiona was delighted to be given the opportunity to further extend and share this research for the Auckland Central City Library’s public programme. She gratefully acknowledges the support of the Eugenie La Gerche and Ursula Hoff Scholarships for her studies.
Yokai Talks is part of the Yokai Parade Exhibition events 29 September - 6 November 2022.
This talk was recorded on 7 October 2022 at Central City Library.
Note:
'Fun video clip' and 'Q&A' is not included in this video.