lation tsukumogami for the tool specters came from an image conjured up
from 九十九髪. Indeed, part of the preceding poem is used in an expla-
nation of the Sweeping Soot event that appears in the opening section of
Tsukumogami ki: “kore [Susuharai] sunawachi ‘momotose ni hitotose taranu
tsukumogami’ no sainan ni awaji to nari” (Sweeping Soot is carried out so
as not to meet with misfortune caused by tsukumogami tool specters but a
year short of 100) ( MJMT 9: 417).
Longevity and special Power: from aging Demonic
animals to Demonic tool specters
Komatsu Kazuhiko writes that the term tsukumogami signifies longevity (as
explained above), and he furthermore suggests that it refers to someone or
something that has acquired special powers as a result of its extreme lon-
gevity. He explains that the syllabic tsukumogami can also mean 九十九神
(ninety-nine deities; note: kami 髪, hair, and kami 神, deity, are homonyms),
signifying spirits that are impregnated in extraordinarily long-lived persons
or objects. When the spirit does something mysterious, it becomes a specter
of an old person or object (Komatsu, Hyōrei shinkō ron 330).
Stories about aged beings turning demonic are contained in various
narratives. Notably, Konjaku monogatarishū contains an account of a woman
who becomes extremely old and transforms into an oni.26 At the end of the
story, the narrator explains that “when parents become extremely old they
always turn into oni and try to eat even their own children” (translation in
Ury, Tales of Times Now Past 165).
Demonic old animals are described in the otogizōshi Tamamo no mae (Lady
Tamamo) and the Noh play Sesshōseki (Killing Stone), in which an extraor-
dinarily old fox enchants a retired emperor.27 Komatsu ( Hyōrei shinkō ron
330) suggests that in addition to the tsukumogami of humans and animals,
people in pre-modern times probably also believed in the tsukumogami of
tools and utensils. I concur with Komatsu’s suggestion, although unfortu-
nately Komatsu does not provide any concrete examples of the old animals
and objects to which he refers being called tsukumogami.
Tanaka, in contrast, contends that there is a major difference between
the living creatures called tsukumogami and the tsukumogami of non-sentient
beings. She suggests that some medieval Ise monogatari commentaries may
The Record of Tool Specters
223
help fill in the gap between the two. For example, according to the Reizei-ke
ryū Ise shō (Ise episode 63), wolves, foxes, and tanuki that live for more than
100 years have both the power to change their shapes and the will to harm
humans; those transformed animals are called tsukumogami. Tanaka writes
that calling an aging, shape-shifting animal a tsukumogami is just one step
away from calling the shape-shifting specters of non-sentient beings tsuku-
mogami (Tanaka, “Tsukumogami to chūgoku bunken” 206–8).
That one step between the tsukumogami of aging demonic animals and
tsukumogami tool specters seems to be bridged in part by an illustration in
Fudō riyaku engi (The Benevolence of Fudō myōō, ca. fourteenth century).28
In an illustration portraying a scene of praying by a yin-yang diviner or prac-
titioner of Onmyōdō (the Way of yin-yang),29 five unidentifiable creatures
representing illness deities are depicted. Among the five, two look like some
kind of container: one is a furry basin with handles ( tsunodarai ), and another
one looks like a large furry bowl. They resemble containers made of ani-
mals. Indeed, all five deities have animal features—fur and paws. Earlier,
I wrote “in part” because these creatures are considered deities of illness
rather than spirits of tools. It could be the case that these illness deities
possessed the tools (in the sense of “spirit possession” rather than “owner-
ship”) or were held in the containers, thus becoming vengeful tool spirits.
As mentioned in chapter 2, Peter Knecht, Hasegawa Masao, Minobe
Shigekatsu, and Tsujimoto Hiroshige report an interesting contagious dis-
ease called denshi-byō (illness caused by denshi ), in which a person is emaciated by the time of death (“Denshi ‘oni’ to ‘mushi’ ”). The modern diagnosis of
this illness is pulmonary tuberculosis, although this interpretation is open
to debate. Fascinatingly, this denshi was considered both a mushi (worm) and
an oni from the ancient through early modern periods, and consequently a
remedy was sought from both medicine and religion. From the viewpoint
of religious treatments, an esoteric Buddhist denshi-byō healing ritual is par-
ticularly interesting. According to an entry titled Ji denshibyō hiden (Secret
Transmissions for Healing Denshi-byō ) in the Sho kaji hihō (Various Secret
Formulas of Incantation), the ritual includes leaving a picture of a denshi-
oni underneath the victim’s bed for three days, during which time a small
amount of food is set aside from the patient’s meals. After the ritual prayer
is over, the priest strokes the victim’s body with the picture to have the oni
transfer to the picture, and he places the food set aside from each meal into
designated utensils ( ki 器). The priest then recites directly to the utensils:
“attached spirits, eat this and leave this place” (Knecht et al., “Denshi ‘oni’
to ‘mushi’ ” 60). That night, the picture is buried together with the food in
the utensils.
yo ok T
ty of
Detail from Fudō riyaku engi. Proper
aku engi. . ves
ō riy hi
Fud e Arc
. Detail from yer e: TNM Imag
s pra . Imag
viner’
unications
T Comm
DNP AR
tesy of
ve illness deities appear in response to a di
Figure 7.2. Fi National Museum. Cour
The Record of Tool Specters
225
What is noteworthy about the ritual is that the priest speaks directly to
the utensil as if it were a living thing. Presumably, the oni is going to eat
this meal, but (part of) the illness is already contained in the utensil through
the victim’s contaminated food. Practically speaking, the illness is already
inside the utensil or inherently part of it. The illness deities that look like
containers portrayed in the illustration in Fudō riyaku engi may have reflected
that concept. That is, an oni or illness deity exists together with a utensil,
and the utensil that was earlier associated with the oni becomes an oni itself.
The oni-utensil that harms humans could be a precursor of tsukumogami. In
any case, I assume that esoteric Buddhist monks as well as yin-yang divin-
ers played a role in the spread, if not the birth, of tsukumogami, primarily
through the use of objects in various rituals.
In fact, according to Tō Teikan (1732–97), the author of Kōko shōroku
(A Minor Record of a Predilection for Things old), the creatures por-
trayed in the Fudō riyaku engi illustration are tsukumogami. Quoting a line
from Sankaiki, the diary of Fujiwara no Tadachika (1131–95), concerning a
high Bud
dhist priest’s ritual or magic for transferring a possessing evil spirit
into a female medium and then depositing it into a thing, Tō comments
that Buddhist priests and yin-yang diviners are good at ritual and magical
techniques (quoted in Takasaki 52). It is unclear what this “thing” was. It
could have been a hitogata (paper or straw representation of a human) or
some other object. But the idea of objects into which evil spirits and defile-
ments are transferred reminds me of a purification ceremony in which a jar
is used. According to Engishiki (The Engi Codes, tenth century), the Ōharae
(great purification ceremony) was held twice a year in the imperial palace
when the emperor, empress, and crown prince transferred their impuri-
ties, as well as the accumulated impurities of the nation, into five bamboo
scales, swords, and a pot into which they breathed (see KT 26: 26–28; Bock
83–85). These agamono, things into which pollution, defilement, and crimes
are transferred for a purification ceremony, were then to be thrown away
in the river or on riverbanks. The discarded agamono—paper dolls, jars, and
whatever was used for the purification ceremony—were to be abandoned
with people’s breath and impurities. These abandoned objects may have
been thought to contain evil spirits and to act vengefully. Again, tools and
utensils used in rituals seem to have had a deep relationship with the forma-
tion of tsukumogami beliefs.
Belief in animate Objects before and during the medieval Period
As mentioned in the introduction to this chapter, animate utensils are
not unique to the medieval period. A utensil transformation had already
226
Part IV: It
appeared in Konjaku monogatarishū, in which a copper decanter changed into
a three-foot-tall man. According to a yin-yang diviner, this animate copper
decanter was a harmless spirit ( mono no ke). The narrator concludes the story
by stating that “even from this, people come to know that the spirit of an
object manifests itself through a human shape.”30 The comment indicates
that the idea that objects are endowed with their own spirits existed by
the end of the Heian period. It is interesting that this spirit of an object is
simultaneously considered a harmless spirit and appears not as an animate
decanter but as a human.
Stories of animate objects that hurt humans also exist. For instance,
the same collection contains a tale about a small oil pot that kills a sick girl.
In this story, however, the offending spirit is said to have possessed an oil
pot rather than to have itself been the innate spirit of the pot ( SNKBZ 38:
64–66). Again, these harmful utensils are not old material objects that receive
souls and transform into vengeful spirits but rather evil spirits or oni that
take control of the objects. one can assume from these stories that by the
end of the Heian period there was a belief that when an object does not
harm people, the spirit of the object may manifest as a human being, but
when it does harm people, the appearance of the object remains unchanged
while the harm is believed to have been caused by an oni or evil spirit pos-
sessing the object. When we turn to the Muromachi-period Tsukumogami ki
and look at the illustration of Holy Ichiren, he does look like a human, and
he transforms without the help of the creation god. In contrast, the other
tsukumogami look like specters of tools or simply weird creatures. Apparently,
Holy Ichiren’s case represents a spirit manifestation in human form.
Interestingly, the idea that inanimate objects can be possessed by evil
spirits or oni rather than possessing their own intrinsic spirits is expressed
in Tsukumogami ki as well, but, importantly, the narrator condemns this view
as an explanation by the preachers of exoteric Buddhism. The narrator
explains, “Scholars of the exoteric Buddhist schools say that according to
the Agongyō, oni and deities reside on the streets and in the houses, filling
every inch of space. The exoteric Buddhists believe that the transformation
of old tools into specters is due to the deities and oni possessing them. They
ask, ‘how could inanimate objects have souls?’ ” ( MJMT 9: 425). Although
this disagreement reflects the religious tone of the late tenth century, the
differences between the esoteric and exoteric Buddhist schools of the
Muromachi period were still distinct, and those schools maintained a fierce
rivalry for predominance. So, the disagreement can also be interpreted as an
aspect of an ongoing political and economic competition among the vari-
ous schools of Buddhism during the Muromachi period. Indeed, R. Keller
The Record of Tool Specters
227
Kimbrough writes that “it is important to keep in mind that competition
among temples and sects tended to be fierce, and that doctrinal and institu-
tional rivalries were often played out in the realm of seemingly innocuous
tales” ( Preachers, Poets, Women, and the Way 24).
Perhaps the notion of demons and evil spirits possessing objects was
still popular while a belief in material objects receiving souls to do harm
was simultaneously spreading. Buddhist priests and yin-yang diviners seem
to have been at the center of tsukumogami thought, and, as we have seen, the
author of Tsukumogami ki takes advantage of preexisting tsukumogami beliefs
to emphasize the universal presence of souls in vegetation, tools, and other
objects. Ironically, Tsukumogami ki then itself became a source for the defini-
tion of tsukumogami. According to the transcription of a kyōka awase (comic
tanka contest) held in the first month of 1508, a poet composed a kyōka
about old clothes that did not transform into new ones on New Year’s Eve.
The judge is said to have commented that “extremely old objects receive
souls and turn into specters . . . Lord Fujiwara no Saneyori [himself] met
various specters on his way to the imperial palace” (Hanawa, Gunsho ruijū
28: 615). As we can see from the judge’s apparent allusion to Tsukumogami ki
in his explanation of tsukumogami, the popular belief in tool specters both
inspired and was itself later shaped by Tsukumogami ki.
As I have discussed in the body of this chapter, Tsukumogami ki is full
of amusing wordplays and parodies, many of which are intertwined with
Shingon Esoteric teachings. While entertainment plays an important role in
the text, Tsukumogami ki ’s principal purpose may have been to exert religious
influence on a broad audience outside monastic institutions. Highly sophis-
ticated Shingon Buddhist materialist cosmology may have been too com-
plex for ordinary people, but through the vernacular Tsukumogami ki, which
drew upon existing tsukumogami beliefs, the Shingon teachings could have
been disseminated. Educated audiences would have understood the story’s
parodies and wordplays; although less educated readers might have missed
most of these, they would still have been exposed to the esoteric teach-
ings through the vernacular story with its many illustrations. Tsukumogami ki
also encourages people to sponsor memorial services for their abando
ned
objects, lest the vengeful spirits harm their former owners. And through the
act of performing ceremonies of propitiation, Shingon priests could influ-
ence the daily lives of medieval people. While those who requested services
would receive material benefits, such as peace of mind, priests who per-
formed the services would also benefit from material compensation. Thus,
Tsukumogami ki seems to have played important religious and financial roles
in wider Muromachi society.
228
Part IV: It
transLatiOn Of tsukuMOgaMi ki
This is a translation of the single-scroll National Diet Library emaki, a Type
B text, typeset in MJMT 9: 417–25. While translating it, I also consulted
Kokumin tosho kabushiki gaisha’s “Otogizōshi,” 24–34, and Washio’s
“Tsukumogami,” 15–25. The illustrations are from the Kyoto University
Library’s scrolls, also a Type B text. See 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.
The Record of Tool Specters
S C R o L L o N E
According to Miscellaneous Records of Yin and Yang,31 after a span of 100 years,
utsuwamono or kibutsu (containers, tools, and instruments) receive souls and
trick people. They are called tsukumogami. In view of that, every year people
bring out the old tools from their houses and discard them in the alleys
before the New Year. This event, called susuharai (lit. “sweeping soot,” year-
end housecleaning), is carried out to avoid misfortune caused by tsukumo-
gami tool specters but a year short of a hundred.
This custom of renewing the hearth fire, drawing fresh water, and
renewing everything from clothing to furniture at the New Year is thought
to have started from the proud extravagance of the well-to-do, but now we
understand that the custom is meant to prevent the calamities caused by
tsukumogami.
Around the era of Kōhō (964–67) perhaps, according to the usual cus-
tom of sweeping soot, old tools were thrown away from houses both inside
the capital and in the surrounding area. Those abandoned instruments got
together to discuss their fate: “We have faithfully served the houses as fur-
niture and utensils for a long time. Instead of getting the reward that is our
Seven Demon Stories from Medieval Japan Page 35
