Folklore being
Okuri-hyoshigi (Tokyo)
Okuri-hyoshigi is a voice-yokai of Edo nights in which the sound of wooden clappers follows a walker from behind, figured in Toriyama Sekien (1779). Source: Nichibunken Folklore Database.
In 30 seconds
A voice-yokai of Edo nights whose wooden-clapper sound follows the walker, figured in Toriyama Sekien (1779).
Description
Okuri-hyoshigi is a voice-yokai of Edo nights. A walker hears the rhythmic "chon, chon" of fire-watch wooden clappers (hyoshigi) following behind; turning around reveals no one. Resuming the walk brings the sound back. The figure is read as the personification of the night fire-watch sound of old Edo (in the Asakusa/Taito district), and is said to startle without doing physical harm. Toriyama Sekien's Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki (Anei 8, 1779) provides the canonical figure. Edo-period kaidan collections and zuihitsu give cognate cases. Yanagita Kunio's sound-yokai studies, Murakami Kenji's Nihon Yokai Daijiten (Kadokawa, 2005), and the Nichibunken Strange Phenomena and Yokai Folklore Database collect the type. The figure stands within the "okuri-" family of yokai that follow night travellers, alongside okuri-inu, okuri-chochin, and okuri-suzume.
Sources
国際日本文化研究センター 怪異・妖怪伝承データベース
Primary source国際日本文化研究センター
送り拍子木に関わる怪異・伝承資料の参照入口。
https://www.nichibun.ac.jp/YoukaiDB3/日本妖怪大事典
Secondary source村上健司 編著
村上健司編著『日本妖怪大事典』（角川書店、2005年）など、各地の妖怪名と伝承を整理する二次資料。
送り拍子木 - Wikipedia 日本語版
Secondary sourceWikipedia contributors
鳥山石燕『今昔画図続百鬼』に採録される夜道で拍子木の音が響く江戸の怪異「送り拍子木」に関する二次整理。
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%80%81%E3%82%8A%E6%8B%8D%E5%AD%90%E6%9C%A8
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