17 years passed already since the turn of the century. If the year 1052 was the beginning of mappo (the latter days of this world), the coming millennium is soon to be reached. While the classic super-natural spooks had been all confined into the ancient books and pictures, rather living people now look like spooks.

This composition is pure program music aiming to picture “Hyakki Yakou” (“A Hundred Spooks Marching”-a Japanese tradition) with the ensemble of Japanese and western instruments. In ancient Miyako, a procession of a noble man was assaulted by numerous evil spirits. But because the people chanted Esoteric Shingon Mantra determinedly, those spooks vanished with agonizing cries under the ultimate power of Mantra.

This composition was premiered on May 10th, 2018, in the 22nd Indépendant-the Japan Federation of Composers, by Hiromu Motonaga (Shakuhachi), Atsushi Tokutake (Clarinet), Miho Yamashita (Viola), Akemi Yamada (13-string Soh), Miho Jougasaki (17-string Soh), and Asako Hisatake (Violoncello).