Yarikechō 槍毛長

Yarikechō (槍毛長), the “Spear-Hair Chief,” is a bizarre and proud Tsukumogami—an ornamental spear from a feudal lord’s parade that has grown long, flowing hair and a personality of its own.

Meaning and Origin

The name literally means “Spear with Long Hair” (yari - spear, ke - hair, chō - chief/long).

He is a classic Tsukumogami, a household or military object that has reached its 100th year. Specifically, he originates from the keyari, a specialized spear decorated with a thick tuft of black or white horsehair. These spears were used in the Daimyō Gyōretsu (lord’s processions) during the Edo period to symbolize the power and prestige of a samurai house. When such a spear is retired and left in a dusty armory for a century, its decorative hair becomes its literal “skin,” and it awakens as a yokai.

Characteristics

A Yarikechō appears as a humanoid figure with a head shaped like a spearhead or a traditional military helmet. His entire body is shrouded in long, wiry hair that flows like a cape. He is often depicted carrying a smaller spear or a mallet.

In behavior, he is a spirit of “martial vanity.” He retains the proud, parade-like posture of his former life. He doesn’t haunt people to eat them; instead, he “marches” through the hallways of old storehouses or abandoned mansions at night, reliving the glory of the ancient samurai processions. He is the physical embodiment of the “ghosts of the Shogunate,” representing the lingering energy of Japan’s feudal military past.

Legends

The Yarikechō was famously re-imagined by the artist Toriyama Sekien in his work Gazu Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro. Sekien used the yokai as a visual pun on the “meaningless hair” of status symbols.

In folklore, the Yarikechō is often associated with the Kanazuchibō (Mallet Boy). Legend says that at the end of a “Night Parade of One Hundred Demons” (Hyakki Yagyō), the Yarikechō acts as the “rearguard.” Any human who is foolish enough to peek at the parade will be “captured” by the Yarikechō. Instead of killing the victim, the spear-spirit forces them to join the parade, carrying his luggage or acting as a servant in his eternal, spectral procession—a humorous but terrifying warning about the weight of social status and the “baggage” of the past.