ITTAN MOMEN 一反木綿

Pronunciation: EE-tahn MOH-men

Translation: One Length of Cotton Cloth

Etymology: Cloth used to be measured in units called tan in Japan. One tan, or ittan (一反), is about 35 feet (10.6 meters) in length and 12 inches (30 centimeters) in width. Momen (木綿) is the word for cotton.

Also known as: Ittan Monme (いったんもんめ)

Similar to: Futon Kabuse (布団被せ); Fusuma (衾); Nodeppō (野鉄砲), meaning “improvised gun”

Overview

The ittan momen is an affable-enough-looking yōkai. It’s a long, narrow bolt of white cotton that flaps around or flies deftly through the air. But it’s not as innocent as it looks. The ittan momen is said to swoop in, wrap itself around some unwitting individual’s neck and face, and in a worst-case scenario, suffocate them. Other accounts have it enveloping its victim’s entire body and whisking them away into the sky.

The legend of these attacking airborne pieces of cloth first came from Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyushu (specifically, the Kimotsuki District). There is a shrine, named Shijūkusho Jinja (四十九諸神社), where reports of the ittan momen’s ominous presence can still be felt as of today.

Surprisingly, the ittan momen wasn’t illustrated by artist Toriyama Sekien, who envisioned so many of the yōkai and other creatures we know and love (or fear) today. But there is a scroll dating before Sekien’s woodblock books called the Daitokuji Shinjuan (大徳寺真珠庵) or the Hyakki Yagyō Emaki (百鬼夜行絵巻), which translates to something like Illustrated Scroll of the Nocturnal Procession of One Hundred Demons.

In it, there are a couple of creatures hiding underneath large, billowing cloths, with only the tips of their clawed feet visible. Folklorist Komatsu Kazuhiko supposes that these early images, while not ittan momen per se, might have been the genesis for the eventual yōkai that terrorized oblivious travelers.

Background and Popular Stories

Stories of this flying fabric were passed down locally for years, but it wasn’t until Mizuki Shigeru added the ittan momen character to his beloved manga and anime series GeGeGe no Kitarō that the yōkai gained popularity.

Mizuki Shigeru took the liberty to further anthropomorphize the monster and, in the process, give it a much-needed makeover. He provided little flaps of cloth for arms and two slits for eyes, and gave it the very distinctive accent from its native Kagoshima. He also turned the fluttering beastie from the original fierce—and potentially deadly—monster into the main character Kitarō’s friend and also transformed it into a reliable method of high-speed air travel.

There are three other yōkai that resemble the ittan momen, but with their own unique, quirky differences: the futon kabuse (布団被せ), the fusuma (衾), and the nodeppō (野鉄砲). The futon kabuse behaves most like the ittan momen, but instead of a thin bolt of cloth, it’s a large, heavy futon (suffocation ensues).

The fusuma is named after a Heian-era (C.E. 794–1185) type of bedding that looks like a quilt. However, this one is so strong, no blade can harm it. At least not at first. It’s said that it can eventually be cut up, but only by someone who has blackened their teeth at least once and makes a tear on it with those same teeth. Then it can be sliced to shreds. Teeth blackening—a process called ohaguro (お歯黒)—was once a common practice in Japan among married women (and, at different times, younger children and even men). It involved a particularly foul concoction of iron acetate, vinegar, sake, strong tea, and tannic acid powder made from the gallnuts of a Japanese sumac tree. It was believed to be beautiful and was done to indicate status and to protect one’s teeth. This practice continued for centuries before it was outlawed by the Meiji government in 1870.

The final ittan momen–related yōkai is the nodeppō. Its name means “handmade gun” or “wild gun,” which will make sense in a minute. The nodeppō does not bear any physical resemblance to the ittan momen; it looks more like a flying tanuki (Japanese raccoon dog) or flying squirrel. But like the ittan momen, the nodeppō lives deep in the forest and valleys; it also has the propensity to fly down and attach itself to a random victim to either asphyxiate or, in some cases, exsanguinate them.

The nodeppō also does something a little extra: It shoots a stream of bat-like creatures from its mouth. These creatures fly down and cover the target’s face, but instead of smothering them, they steal the person’s food while they’re distracted.

It’s interesting to note that there is a giant flying squirrel called a musasabi (ムササビ) that is indigenous to Japan. These animals can sometimes look like pieces of square cloths when they spread their limbs to take flight; they are also known to land on your face and hold on. This might explain the ittan momen, the futon kabuse, the fusuma, and the nodeppō to some extent. (It doesn’t shed any light on the creature firing bats from its maw, though.)

One unusual encounter with an ittan momen goes like this: A man was hurrying home after dark when suddenly a white cloth flew down and wrapped itself around his face and neck. He struggled but he could not tear it off. Remembering his short sword, he used it to carefully slice through the offending material. That did the trick. But after he returned home, he noticed there was blood on his hands.

In Modern Stories

Ittan momen appear in GeGeGe no Kitarō as well as in the game Ghostwire: Tokyo, where there’s actually a mission called “Ittan-momen.” In the game, you have to capture one of the nastier varieties. They also show up in the game Onmyoji, where they are depicted as flying women with undulating robes.