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No.07

Zashiki-warashi

THE PARLOR CHILD

Zashiki-warashi
Pixel artArt by @yokaipixel
Japanese name
座敷童子（ZASHIKI-WARASHI）
Type
Household guardian
Found in
The back rooms of old family homes
Where the legend lives
  • Iwate — Appears in Kunio Yanagita's The Legends of Tono (Tono City)

◆ The legend

A household guardian in the form of a child with a bobbed haircut, told of mainly in Iwate Prefecture. A house where one lives will prosper; a house it leaves will fall into decline. At night it might patter around softly, flip over the pillows of sleepers, or make the sound of a spinning wheel. It plays pranks, but never does harm.

Usually only children can see it — adults only sense that it's there. It appears in Kunio Yanagita's The Legends of Tono, and even today there are inns in Iwate known for zashiki-warashi sightings. If you meet one, a little of its luck rubs off on you. It may be the most welcome yokai in all of Japan.

◆ Stories about this yokai

Zashiki-warashi and The Legends of Tono — The Child Who Brings a House Good FortuneThe book that made the zashiki-warashi famous is Kunio Yanagita's The Legends of Tono, where the child spirit is called not a yokai but a god. A gentle look at the child who lives in old houses, as the book tells it.