Since it's raining all day long today,I've decided that I'm going to write about Karakasa 「唐傘」or a form of umbrella spirit in Japanese folk legend. Also known as Kasa-obake, karakasa is a type of Tsukumogami which refers to supernatural beings originated from 100 years old household items. Sounds cute right? Not to mention the creepiness that comes along. Tsukumogaki can be anything; lanterns, jars, clocks, or even worn-out sandals, but that's the stories of other times. And no, by saying umbrella I don't mean a cute vintage umbrella with lace and polka-dot pattern or something like that. I actually mean this:
Japanese style paper umbrella is, indeed, what I'm talking about.
Now imagine it as a ghost...what will it look like?
Normally karakasa tends to do no harm. Although it's a monster but it has a lonely heart because what it hates the most is to be ignored by us human beings (we can say 'awwww' in unison somewhere 'round here). But it's kind of okay for it from time to time because it has a very short attention spans. There is no record of anyone being attacked by karakasa, as the tsukumogaki type of spirits are pretty friendly as long as you're not throwing them away thoughtlessly.
Sounds nice so far, eh? Well don't become a big fan of karakasa too soon. Wait until you see the common form/appearance of our favorite umbrella guy:
'Jesus Christ! WTF is this?' you might think, or even said out loud I suppose. This is pretty much how our guy looks like; lolling tongue, creepy face, body of the paper umbrella and a gross single hairy leg as a handle. Wow. The picture above is actually a little bit differs from what karakara is often portrayed, though. It normally comes with one eye instead of the whole human face, like this:
Yeah I know right? It even put Japanese Geta-sandal on!! No wonder it is by far the most popular Japanese folklore spirit up-to-date; it appears in a variety of comics, animations and even video games. It even appears on Super-Mario once! Japanese version, I guess? not so sure about it but, whatever my point is that karakasa is some kind of superstar out there! As I mentioned before, karakasa means paper umbrellas, so I'm not sure if the modern days umbrella will eventually become this type of ghost once it reaches 100th birthday or not. One thing for sure: take a good care of your umbrella and treat it nicely the next time it's raining outside!
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