What would a band of yokai sound like?
That question became the starting point for the “KAGUYA” music video. I wanted guitars, bass and drums to cut through a quiet world drawn from Japanese folklore: not simply frightening, but stylish, slightly uncanny, and full of characters who seem to carry stories of their own.
It began with “Parade of Shadows”
I began making yokai rock last year. Of those early pieces, “Hyakki Yagyo / Parade of Shadows” remains especially important to me. The response on YouTube and TikTok felt different from what I had seen before, and the experience stayed with me.
It was also one of my first attempts at a full-length visual. At the time, I would animate a short moment, join a few frames together, and loop the motion until it could carry an entire song.
Looking back, the locations change less often and some movements repeat very clearly. Still, I remember how much fun it was to watch the yokai begin moving with the music. There is a kind of momentum in those early experiments that matters separately from polish.
From moving one image to connecting a night
I started building videos around changing locations, characters and time a few works after “Parade of Shadows.” Before that shift, most of my attention went into a single question: how can I make this image move? Gradually, another question became just as important: what should the viewer see next?
With “KAGUYA,” I wanted the night to extend beyond a performance by the band. The lyrics begin late at night and follow someone racing past a procession of yokai, determined to meet another person before daybreak.
The brief stillness of “the bell rings, the wind stops” gives way to a chorus about tearing through the night. The world may be full of frightening things, but the desire to reach someone is stronger. I tried to carry that forward motion through the alternative-rock guitars and the rhythm of the scene changes.
Yokai, zombies and the monsters we keep returning to
Yokai occupy a curious place in Japanese culture. They can be terrifying or funny, distant or strangely familiar. They can become villains, heroes, neighbors—and, for this video, a rock band.
Zombies may hold a similarly special position for English-speaking audiences. An acquaintance once told me that scholars in the United States even study why zombie films remain so widely loved. I remember UCLA being mentioned, although I am no longer certain of the university.
Both yokai and zombies are frightening, yet every generation finds new forms for them. Perhaps nonhuman creatures give us another way to look at human emotions and the societies we build. That mystery is part of what keeps drawing me back to yokai as a subject.
The night is not over
My way of making videos has changed since “Parade of Shadows,” but I am still drawn to the sight of yokai making music after dark.
“KAGUYA” is not a remake of that earlier work. It is the next stretch of the same road, made with the methods I have now.
I would like to keep writing new yokai songs. I do not yet know which creature will sing next, or what kind of night it will cross. For now, I simply want to follow this procession a little farther.
alternative rock / alt-rock赫夜 | KAGUYAOpen the song page for audio, lyrics, and notes.Explore this song →Thank you for reading.
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