Kasa-Obake

## Appearance

***Kasa-obake*** (Japanese: 傘おばけ) are a mythical ghost or *yōkai* in Japanese folklore. They are sometimes, but not always, considered a *tsukumogami* that old umbrellas turn into. They are also called "*karakasa-obake*" (から傘おばけ), "*kasa-bake*" (傘化け), and "*karakasa kozō*" (唐傘小僧).

## Summary

They are generally umbrellas with one eye and jump around with one leg, but sometimes they have two arms or two eyes among other features, and they also sometimes are depicted to have a long tongue. Sometimes, but rarely, they even have two feet, as depicted in the *yōkai emaki* such the "Hyakki Yagyo Zumaki".

In the Hyakki Yagyo Emaki from the Muromachi period, *yōkai* that appeared as umbrellas could be seen, but in this emaki, it was a humanoid *yōkai* that merely had an umbrella on its head and thus had a different appearance than that resembling a *kasa-obake*. The *kasa-obake* that took on an appearance with one eye and one foot was seen from the Edo period and onwards, and in the Obake karuta made from the Edo period to the Taishō period, *kasa-obake* with one foot could often be seen. In the *yōkai* *sugoroku* "Mukashi-banashi Yōkai Sugoroku (百種怪談妖物双六)" the Ansei era, a *kasa-obake* was depicted under the name "One-footed from Sagizaka (鷺坂の一本足, *Sagazaka no Ippon Ashi*)." Among the many non-living or still object *yōkai* depicted in the "Hyakki Yagyo Emaki", only the umbrella *yōkai* can be seen to have remain well-known even after the Edo period, and it is said to be the most well-known *yōkai* of an object.

They frequently appear in legends and caricatures, and as opposed to how they are a *yōkai* that is unusually well-known, they do not appear in any eye-witness stories in folklore at all, and it is not clear what kind of *yōkai* they are. Literature about them are not accompanied by folktales, and thus they are considered to be a *yōkai* that appear only in made-up stories or exist only in pictures. After the war, there was also the interpretation that they were an existence that was on the same level as manga characters. One possibility that has been thought of is that when Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai became popular in the Edo period, the story-tellers were requested to tell new stories and about *yōkai* that is not yet known throughout society, and thus they were a *yōkai* created by individuals.

For tools used in human life, there was the way of thought that, as months and years pass by and these tools become older, they have an ability to become apparitions. These are called tsukumogami, and some literature consider this *yōkai* to be one example of them, but it has not been confirmed that there are any classical literature or classical essays that verifies this.

After the war, they became a representative character for depictions of *obake* and haunted houses, and are frequently used as characters in anime, manga, and films that have a theme on *yōkai*, and are also generally doodled by children.

## Similar stories

These are not *kasa-obake*, but in folktales, as an umbrella *yōkai*, in the Higashiuwa region, Ehime Prefecture, there is a story that a rain umbrella would appear in valleys on rainy nights, and those who see it would cower and not be able to move their feet. Also, in Mizokuchi, Tottori Prefecture (now Hōki, Saihaku District), there is a *yōkai* called *yūreigasa* (幽霊傘, "ghost umbrella") that has one eye and one foot like the *kasa-obake*, but it is said that on days of strong wind, they would blow people up into the skies.