Tsukumogami
Understood by many Western scholars[2] as a type of Japanese yōkai,[3] the Tsukumogami (付喪神, "Kami of tool") was a concept popular in Japanese folklore as far back as the tenth century,[4] used in the spread of Shingon Buddhism.[4] Today, the term is generally understood to be applied to virtually any object, “that has reached their 100th birthday and thus become alive and self-aware,” though this definition is not without its controversy.[5][6][2]
In Japanese folklore
According to Elison and Smith (1987), Tsukumogami was the name of an animated tea caddy that Matsunaga Hisahide used to bargain for peace with Oda Nobunaga.[7]
Like many concepts in Japanese folklore there are several layers of definition used when discussing Tsukumogami.[5] For example, by the tenth century, the Tsukumogami myths were used in helping to spread the “doctrines of Shingon Esoteric Buddhism to a variety of audiences, ranging from the educated to the relatively unsophisticated, by capitalizing upon pre-existing spiritual beliefs in Tsukumogami.”[8] These “pre-existing spiritual beliefs” were, as Reider explains:
- Tsukumogami are animate household objects. An otogizōshi (“companion tale”) titled Tsukumogami ki (“Record of tool kami”; Muromachi period) explains that after a service life of nearly one hundred years, utsuwamono or kibutsu (containers, tools, and instruments) receive souls. While many references are made to this work as a major source for the definition of tsukumogami, insufficient attention has been paid to the actual text of Tsukumogami ki.[4]
By the twentieth century the Tsukumogami had entered into Japanese popular culture to such an extent that the Buddhist teachings had been “completely lost to most outsiders,”[9] leaving critics to comment that, by and large, the Tsukumogami were harmless [citation needed] and at most tended to play occasional pranks,[citation needed] they did have the capacity for anger and would band together to take revenge upon those who were wasteful or threw them away thoughtlessly – compare mottainai.[citation needed] To prevent this, to this day some jinja ceremonies [citation needed] are performed to console broken and unusable items.[citation needed]
Known Tsukumogami
- Abumi-guchi – A furry creature formed from the stirrup of a mounted military commander that works for Yama Orochi.
- Bakezōri – A possessed zōri (traditional straw sandals).
- Biwa-bokuboku – An animated Biwa.
- Boroboroton – A possessed Futon.
- Chōchinobake – An animated lantern, also known as Burabura.
- Ichiren-bozu – Animated prayer beads.
- Ittan-momen – A roll of cotton.
- Jatai – Possessed cloths draped from folding screens.
- Kameosa – A possessed sake jar.
- Kasa-obake – An animated paper umbrella. Also known as Karakasa-obake.[note 1]
- Kosode-no-te – A possessed kimono robe.
- Koto-furunushi – An animated Koto.
- Kurayarō – Animated saddle
- Kyōrinrin – Possessed scrolls or papers.
- Menreiki – A spiritual creature formed out of 66 masks.
- Minowaraji- An animated Mino straw coat
- Morinji-no-okama – A possessed tea kettle. Another variation is Zenfushō
- Shamichoro – An animated shamisen
- Shirouneri – Possessed mosquito nettings or dust clothes.
- Shōgorō – An animated gong
- Ungaikyo – A possessed mirror.
- Yamaoroshi – A possessed grater.
- Zorigami – A possessed clock.
- ^ Although modern sources might guess that the kasa obake is a tsukumogami, the initial sources that introduced it made no such reference (see page for kasa-obake). Therefore, its true nature is unknown.
Difficulty in finding a definition
Because the term has been applied to several different concepts in Japanese folklore, there remains some confusion as to what the term actually means.[5][2]
Suggested reading
- Kabat, Adam. “Mono” no obake: Kinsei no tsukumogami sekai. IS 84 (2000): 10–14.
- Kakehi, Mariko. Tsukumogami emaki no shohon ni tsuite. Hakubutsukan dayori 15 (1989): 5–7.
- Keene, Donald. Seeds in the Heart: Japanese Literature from Earliest Times to the Late Sixteenth Century. New York: Henry Holt & Co. (1993)
- Kyoto Daigaku Fuzoku Toshokan. Tsukumogami http://edb.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/exhibit/tsuroll/indexA.html and http://edb.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/exhibit/tsuroll/indexB.html
- Lillehoj, Elizabeth. Transfiguration : Man-made Objects as Demons in Japanese Scrolls. Asian Folklore Studies, Volume 54 (1995): 7–34.
- National Geographic. National Geographic Essential Visual History of World Mythology. National Geographic Society (U.S.) (2008)
- Shibata, Hōsei. Tsukumogami kaidai. In Kyoto Daigaku-zō Muromachi monogatari, ed. Kyoto Daigaku Kokugogaku Kokubungaku Kenkyūshitsu, vol. 10, 392–400. Kyoto: Rinsen Shoten. (2001)
References
- ^ "Nipponbunka to rekishi". Retrieved 15 April 2008.
- ^ a b c Motokiyo (1921), p. 195
- ^ Classiques de l'Orient (1921), p. 193
- ^ a b c Reider (2009), p. 207
- ^ a b c Classiques de l'Orient (1921), p. 194
- ^ Foster (2009), p. 7
- ^ Elison & Smith (1987), p. 213
- ^ Reider (2009), pp. 207–208
- ^ Guo (1984), p. 324
Bibliography
- Classiques de l'Orient. Vol. 5. 1921.
- Elison, George; Smith, Bardwell L., eds. (1987). Warlords, Artists, & Commoners: Japan in the Sixteenth Century. University of Hawaii Press.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Foster, Michael Dylan (2009). Pandemonium and parade: Japanese monsters and the culture of yōkai. University of California Press.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Guo, Leilani (1984). "Baka Histoire: le détournement de la mythologie japonaise dans les films, comices et nasties vidéo". Gaijin Culture. Kagoshima: Nishinoomote News Press.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help); Unknown parameter|editors=ignored (|editor=suggested) (help) - Motokiyo, Kwanze (1921). Cinq nô: drames lyriques japonais. Bossard.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Reider, Noriko T. (2009). "Animating Objects: Tsukumogami ki and the Medieval Illustration of Shingon Truth". Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. 36: 231–257.
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