ZASHIKI WARASHI 座敷童 or 座敷童子

Pronunciation: ZAH-shee-key WAH-rah-shee

Translation: The Guest-Room Child, the Parlor-Room Child, (literally) Room Child

Etymology: A zashiki is a tatami mat (or wooden) floored guest room found in traditional Japanese homes. Warashi is an old word that means child.

Also known as: Zashiki Bokko (座敷ぼっこ), Zashiki Warabe (座敷童), Zashiki Kozō (座敷小僧)

Overview

If you’re lucky enough to catch sight of a zashiki warashi, you’ll find it looks like a ghostly child with a bob haircut and bangs, or a completely shaven head. They wear traditional clothing, like a chanchanko jacket (a padded vest, sometimes sleeveless—like the one worn by Kitarō in GeGeGe no Kitarō) and a kimono that can be either formal or extremely humble. Their outfits are usually dark in tone with traditional designs, although red is also reported. These otherworldly children appear to be from an older age. Judging from artwork and descriptions from firsthand witnesses, they can be either super cute or super scary.

The zashiki warashi is another yōkai that prefers to be elusive, not often showing its real form but instead choosing to cause mischief and play harmless little tricks about the house. It might walk around or make rustling noises in rooms no one is supposed to be in, leave little footprints on the floor, turn over pillows, and touch or climb on top of people while they sleep.

Creepiness aside, zashiki warashi are considered lucky. To have one residing in your house will bring prosperity and all good things to you and your family. It is quite the opposite of cohabitating with a binbōgami, or poverty god (see the Binbōgami entry), who just wants to make your life miserable. Because of this, all those strange occurrences—the pranks, the being stepped on in the middle of the night—should be welcomed, and the zashiki warashi should be treated like the honored guest they are. Some families go as far as to offer them daily small meals of sekihan, red beans mixed with mochi rice, a lucky dish for a lucky yōkai.

Background and Popular Stories

Zashiki warashi are commonly associated with the Tōhoku, or northeast, area of Japan, with Iwate Prefecture being particularly well known for them. There’s even an inn called Ryokufusō (緑風荘) in Ninohe City that is famous for zashiki warashi sightings and other paranormal experiences associated with these yōkai. The story goes that 670 years ago, the owner of Ryokufusō’s ancestor traveled all the way from an area around present-day Tokyo to where the inn is currently located. On the way, his oldest son Kamemaro—who was six years old at the time—suddenly collapsed and died. The boy’s last words were, “I will protect my family until the end of time.”

True to his word, the boy became a guardian spirit of the hotel and is said to occasionally appear in the room called Enjū no Ma. Some of the guests who have seen him in his zashiki warashi form or experienced something strange at the inn have returned home and attained great fortune or career advancements or found the perfect spouse. As you might guess, staying at the inn is extremely popular, and occasionally there is a waiting list years long to book a room.

On October 4, 2009, however, a fire broke out and burned the entire place down. This might sound like a very unlucky occurrence, but the staff say there were thirty or so people staying in the hotel that night, and miraculously everyone escaped unharmed. Also, a nearby shrine that was dedicated to the zashiki warashi completely escaped any damage. They believe the zashiki warashi helped everyone escape, then stayed at the shrine until the hotel was rebuilt. Once it was reopened, the guardian spirit returned to help it gain prosperity again.

Less common is another kind of house spirit somewhat related to the zashiki warashi called the hosode (細手) (meaning skinny arms) or hosode-nagate (細手長手) (meaning skinny long arms). This yōkai, too, frequently visits sleeping individuals. Only, instead of a child giggling and moving your pillow around, during the night, a pair of absurdly long, slender arms belonging to a child reaches out across the room to shake you awake.

Why do hosode-nagate wake people up? The consensus is mixed on this one. Some recounts tell of misfortune befalling the person who was awakened by the hosode-nagate—like one man who, after being beckoned by a pair of long skinny arms from the back of a room, lost his wife shortly after in a tsunami. Another man lost his house after a similar incident when the river overflowed and carried it away.

Conversely, there are other tales of hosode-nagate’s arms moving around the tatami mat floor like vines to rouse a sleeper. But this time it is to warn them of an upcoming disaster, perhaps a tsunami or a flood.

In Modern Stories

Zashiki Warashi no Tatami Chan is an anime that features a lead character zashiki warashi. But they also show up as both the gnome-looking Gnomey and the charming young adult Zashiki Warashi in Yo-kai Watch, then as a lovely young woman in the manga and anime xxxHOLiC, and again with their weird and colorful depictions in the animated series Mononoke.