Tsukumogami

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It has been suggested that Chochinobake and Karakasa be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

Tsukumogami (付喪神, Tsukumogami^? artifact spirit) are a type of Japanese spirit. According to the Tsukumogami-emaki, Tsukumogami originate from items or artifacts that have reached their 100th birthday and thus become alive and aware. Any object of this age, from swords to toys, can become a tsukumogami. Tsukumogami are considered spirits and supernatural beings, as opposed to enchanted items.

1 Description
2 Origins
3 Types of Tsukumogami
4 Popular culture
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Description

Tsukumogami vary radically in appearance, depending on the type of item they originated from as well as the condition that item was in. Some, such as tsukumogami originating from paper lanterns or broken sandals, can have tears which become eyes and sharp teeth, thus giving a horrifying visage. Others, such as worn prayer beads or teacups, may merely manifest faces and appendages, giving a warm and friendly appearance.

Though by and large tsukumogami are harmless and at most tend to play occasional pranks on unsuspecting victims, as shown in the Otogizōshi they do have the capacity for anger and will band together to take revenge on those who are wasteful or throw them away thoughtlessly. To prevent this, to this day some Jinja ceremonies, such as the Hari Kuyou, are performed to console broken and unusable items.

It is said that modern items cannot become tsukumogami; the reason for this is that tsukumogami are said to be repelled by electricity.[1] Additionally, few modern items are used for the 100-year-span that it takes for an artifact to gain a soul.

[edit] Origins

Though they generally considered as mythical or legendary beings, almost all of Tsukumogami with names are artistic production created in Edo period.^{[citation needed]} The most popular artist is Toriyama Sekien, but other numerous artists added their own creatures to the list of Tsukumogami. Folk narratives about Tsukumogami are rare but exist in some folktales (e.g. Bakemono-dera).

[edit] Types of Tsukumogami

Some of the better known tsukumogami include the following:

Bakezori : straw sandals
Karakasa (or Kasa Obake) : umbrellas
Chochinobake : lanterns
Biwa-yanagi : biwa
Furu-utsubo : old jars
Shirouneri : thrown away, useless mosquito netting; or dust cloths
Jotai : cloth draped from folding screens
Morinji-no-okama : tea kettle
Kyourinrin : scrolls and paper
Zorigami : clocks
Ichiren-Bozu : the heroic prayer-bead tsukumogami from the Otogizōshi

[edit] Popular culture

Moé-chan (named for the French word for doll, mome) a French-made automaton from the Love Hina anime series, is identified as a "tsukumogami", owned by the Urashima family during one of the world wars. Urashima Keitaro looks after his own grandfather, and it turns out that both of them had eventually promised Moe to fix the broken gear system in her legs. At Keitaro's request, Kaolla succeeds to fulfill that promise.

On the Japanese tokusatsu children's show GoGo Sentai Boukenger, the villain ninja faction creates monsters by taking tsukumogami souls and making them enter modern items like computers via a ninja spell "Shadow Ninpou!" One time a tsukumogami was accidentilly made out of nonflammable trash.