Yarikechō (Spear Tuft Spirit)Yarigechō (Iconographic Tradition)

A type of tsukumogami typical of early modern yokai art. The hair-spear used both as a practical weapon and as a symbol in processions was thought to accrue spiritual potency through associations with masters and tales of valor. In Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro, Sekien depicted it wielding a wooden mallet, assigning it a specific object-name while drawing on older iconographic bones. The name Yarigechō likely arose where Night Parade motifs from the Muromachi era, Edo antiquarian taste, and the culture of famed implements converged. Modern print editions and nishiki-e varied the image, sometimes stressing the spear’s decorative plumes, yet it lacks distinctive oral lore and is known mainly through pictures and bibliographic notes.

This yokai is included in the following collections:

Illustrated Bag of a Hundred Idle Tools

Toriyama Sekien’s 1784 yokai album centering on tsukumogami, completing his Gazu Hyakki Yagyo cycle.

カスタム

百器徒然袋鳥山石燕

Yokai with similar personality and characteristics to Yarigechō (Iconographic Tradition)

Tamehachi Fox

Kitayama Village Tradition Version

91%

Compatibility

The Kesa-Monk of Igusa

Folkloric Record Edition

91%

Compatibility

Boroboroton

Sekien Zufu Edition

90%

Compatibility

Yokai with opposite personality and characteristics to Yarigechō (Iconographic Tradition)

Sokushinbutsu

Sokushinbutsu, the Living Buddha Enshrined in the Earth

58%

Compatibility

Kosodate Yurei

The Mother's Ghost Raising Her Child in a Grave, Kosodate Yurei

62%

Compatibility

Kannon

Bodhisattva of 33 Forms and Infinite Compassion

64%

Compatibility