ficiality and malevolence—but they still attain Buddhahood, thanks to the
Shingon teachings. Thus, the message of the text is that if such trivial objects
can achieve this ultimate state, then it is even easier for people like the viewer
and reader to attain Buddhahood by means of Shingon esoteric Buddhism.
Ki 器 and Hyakki Yagyō
There is yet another pun on the character ki 器. From the Muromachi
period, several picture scrolls titled hyakki yagyō emaki (Hand Scrolls of
Night Processions of 100 Demons) were created, many of which are gen-
erally considered portrayals of a festival parade scene from Tsukumogami
ki.19 This hyakki yagyō (night procession of 100 demons)20 could also be a
play on the character ki 器. The author of Tsukumogami ki was conscious
of hyakki yagyō when he wrote the story. For example, in the Sōfukuji text,
the narrator says, “I thought that hyakki yagyō and the like were just fictions
made up by ancient people. How terrible to see one before my very eyes”
(okudaira 182). Although the preceding line does not appear in the Type
B texts, it is clear that the author made use of Heian literary works such
as Ōkagami (The Great Mirror, ca. 1085–1125) and Konjaku monogatarishū
(Tales of Times Now Past, ca. 1120) that describe hyakki yagyō.21 Just as the
Sino-Japanese reading of the character utsuwa 器 is ki, the Japanese read-
ing of the character oni 鬼 (demon) is ki. In other words, ki 器 and ki 鬼
are homonyms. Thus, hyakki yagyō 百鬼夜行, “the night procession of 100
demons,” could also be written or pronounced hyakki yagyō 百器夜行, “the
night procession of 100 tools.”
Parody on shuten Dōji
The Tsukumogami ki illustrations are also parodic. For instance, some of
the pictures in the Sōfukuji scrolls portray human tidbits—dismembered
human flesh in a serving bowl and a human thigh on a plate—in the
banquet scene. The thigh is similar to the one often depicted in picture
scrolls of the demon Shuten Dōji, the infamous chief of a band of oni
that lived on Mt. Ōe, as we saw in chapter 1. In fact, I believe parts of
the Tsukumogami ki narrative (from the section in which the old tools
.
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Figure 7.1. Detail of
The Record of Tool Specters
217
become tsukumogami through the later banquet scene) constitute a parody
of Shuten Dōji and his cohorts. Indeed, both the time and place setting
are the same as those in the otogizōshi Shuten Dōji: late-tenth-century Japan,
in the capital of Heian.
In Shuten Dōji, the oni have supernatural powers and can thus transform
into anything they want. They enjoy drinking and dancing, and Shuten Dōji
boasts, “I abduct ladies of my liking from the capital to use and enjoy as I
wish,” which includes eating their flesh and drinking their blood. He has a
great palace in which all his pleasures are realized. Shuten Dōji brags, “How
could any heavenly guardians surpass this?” Similarly, the Tsukumogami ki
narrator claims that “tsukumogami went in and out of the capital to avenge
their grudges. As they took all kinds of humans and animals for food, peo-
ple mourned terribly. But since specters are invisible, there was nothing
that people could do but pray to the Buddhas and gods. Unlike the mortals
who had cast them aside, the vengeful specters were having a great time
celebrating and feasting—building a castle out of flesh and creating a blood
pond, dancing, drinking, and merrymaking. They even boasted that celestial
pleasures could not surpass theirs” ( MJMT 9: 419).
While Shuten Dōji and his cohorts are oni with demonic appearances,
feared by maidservants and the imperial authority alike, the tsukumogami
look more weird than frightening. For although tsukumogami are also man-
eating oni, they are the oni of tools and instruments and thus lack the oni’s
usual stature.
The parody includes their residence, too. The tsukumogami ’s den is
located behind Mt. Funaoka, a famous graveyard during the Heian period.
one might therefore say it is a convenient location for the tsukumogami who,
after eating people, could easily dispose of the remains. But it is perhaps
more likely that the tsukumogami selected Mt. Funaoka because of its prox-
imity to the capital. The tsukumogami are said to have argued that if their
home were “too far from human habitation, it would be inconvenient for
obtaining food” ( MJMT 9: 419). Mt. Funaoka is located northwest of the
capital, and if one travels still farther northwest, one reaches Mt. Ōe in
Tango Province, where Shuten Dōji is said to have lived. Shuten Dōji and
his oni could fly through the air to get food from afar, but, sadly, the tsu-
kumogami could not. Thus, Mt. Funaoka represents a kind of compromise
location, where the tsukumogami, like miniature oni, seem happy drinking
and reciting poems.
But why does the author parody Shuten Dōji? It seems to me that
he may have wished to draw attention to the fact that while Shuten Dōji
and his cohorts were ultimately destroyed by the emperor’s warriors, the
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Part IV: It
tsukumogami were given a chance by the Shingon “divine boys” ( gohō dōji ) to
lead lives as priests and attain Buddhahood.
Ironically, the tsukumogami are proud to be animate: after receiving souls,
they consider themselves socially superior to plants and stones. Realizing
their failure to worship the creation god, they comment that they resemble
“non-sentient beings like trees and rocks” ( MJMT 9: 420). Furthermore,
they opine that “Chinese poetry expresses one’s heart. Without the talent
for articulating the beauty of nature, we are no different from old tools
without souls” (okudaira 182). Mimicking humans, the tsukumogami com-
pose delightfully playful poems, one of which (in the Sōfukuji text) is a
parody of a famous verse in Kokin wakashū (A Collection of Poems Ancient
and Modern, ca. 905, poem 53) and Ise monogatari (Tales of Ise, ca. late ninth
century). The original Kokin wakashū/Ise monogatari poem reads:
Yononaka ni
If this were but a world
Taete sakura no
to which cherry blossoms
Nakariseba
were quite foreign,
Haru no kokoro wa
then perhaps in spring
Nodoka naramashi
our hearts would know peace.22
In contrast, a tsukumogami recites,
Yononaka ni
If this were but a world
Taete hito dani
to which humans
Nakariseba
were quite foreign,
Haru no kokoro wa
then perhaps in spring
Nodoke karashina
our hearts would know peace.
(okudaira 182)
The Tsukumogami ki author was obviously familiar with such famous
works of Heian literature as Ise monogatari, Ōkagami, and Konjaku monogatarish�
�.
He seems to have expected his readers to appreciate his humor as well,
although those without the requisite knowledge of classical literature could
still enjoy the story.
wordplay on the title tsukumogami ki
I believe there may also be wordplay within the title Tsukumogami ki. Tanaka
Takako considers it possible that the author(s) of Tsukumogami ki drew upon
Chinese sources—Chinese Zhiguai literature (Accounts of the Strange),
such as Gan Bao’s (fl. 317–22) Sou shen ji 捜神記 (In Search of Deities, ca.
fourth century)23 or Li Fang’s (925–96) Taiping guang ji (Vast Records of the
Taiping Era, 978)—for the idea of tool specters. For example, she points
The Record of Tool Specters
219
to the similarity between the quote from Miscellaneous Records of Yin and Yang
at the opening of Tsukumogami ki and a story in volume 12 of Sōshinki:
both works assert that things are formed through changes in the five qi of
the celestial realm. Tanaka suggests that the Chinese yin-yang concept may
have been adapted and Japan-ized to allow for the invention of tsukumogami
(Tanaka, “Tsukumogami to chūgoku bunken” 210–13; Tanaka, Hyakki yagyō
no mieru toshi 182–88). Considering the great influence of things Chinese
in ancient and medieval Japan, it is certainly possible to imagine a Chinese
origin for tool specters. After all, the text of Tsukumogami ki begins with a
quote from the otherwise unknown Miscellaneous Records of Yin and Yang, sup-
posedly a work of Chinese classical literature. However, as no one is sure
of the existence of Miscellaneous Records of Yin and Yang, it is equally possible
that the Tsukumogami ki author simply invented it to lend authenticity to
preexisting Japanese tsukumogami beliefs.
Because of the author’s predilection for enjoying his writing, I believe
the title Tsukumogami ki 付喪神記 was in fact intended as a parody of the
Chinese Sou shen ji 捜神記 (In Search of Deities).24 In Japanese, Sou shen ji 捜
神記 is pronounced Sōshin ki (or Sōjin ki ). Likewise, the Sino-Japanese read-
ing of Tsukumogami ki 付 喪神記 is Fusōshin ki (or Fusōjin ki ), which is hom-onymic with Fu Sōshin ki 付捜神記, “Addition to Sōshin ki.” Moreover, the
characters in Fusōshin ki mean something like “A Record (記) of Attaching
to (付) and Parting with (喪) Deities (神),” which suggests the tsukumogami’s
course of action—attaching themselves to their patron god—until they
embrace the teachings of Shingon esoteric Buddhism. To better understand
this second meaning, recall that tsukumogami 付喪神 were created from the
combination of two elements: the tools’ own merit of existing more than
100 years and the external power of the yin-yang creation god. Although this
god, given its name, must be deeply related to yin-yang concepts, it is impor-
tant that it is worshipped as a Shinto kami with the frivolous name Henge
daimyōjin, or “Great Shape-Shifting God.” As one tsukumogami says, “Japan
is a divine country where everyone believes in Shinto. While we have already
received our forms from the creation god, we have not worshipped him,
and this is as if we were nonsentient beings like trees and rocks. I propose
that we make the creation god our patron and worship him” ( MJMT 9: 420).
Accordingly, they construct a portable shrine to the Great Shape-Shifting
God and hold a Shinto religious festival by parading along First Avenue.
This Shinto deity, the Great Shape-Shifting God, could be parodic of
the emerging custom of professionals worshipping founding deities of their
profession. Regarding this phenomenon, Rambelli writes that starting at
least in the late Muromachi period, merchants and a number of professional
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households and guilds began to write narratives concerning their ancestors
and the origins of their crafts and trades to draw connections between cer-
tain deities and professions (Rambelli 175–76). For example, the merchants’
protector deity is Ebisu, a god of wealth. As a guild has its own protector
deity, the tsukumogami have their own guardian deity, and thus the Great
Shape-Shifting God’s power is attached (付) to the tsukumogami. Then, dur-
ing the procession the revelers meet the party of Prince Regent and are dis-
persed by the Sonshō Darani. Prompted by the Buddhist “divine boys,” they
eventually part with or mourn (喪) their kami (神), hence the term “parting
with kami (喪神).”
Edification, Memorial Services, and Financial Profits
Finally, the lessons of Tsukumogami ki pertain not only to spiritual but to
moral and financial issues as well. Interestingly, the narrator does not criti-
cize the custom of throwing away old things and replacing them. The nar-
rator explains that “this custom of renewing the hearth fire, drawing fresh
water, and replacing everything from clothing to furniture at the New Year is
thought to have started from the well-to-do’s proud extravagance” because
replacing old tools with new ones requires wealth ( MJMT 9: 418). But the
narrator observes that this is not in fact the case; the real reason is “to
avoid the calamity of tsukumogami.” As Hanada Kiyoteru (435–36) points
out, the fact that tools and objects were casually thrown away indicates that
replacements were rapidly produced, suggesting a significant development
in productivity in the Muromachi period.25 It may be wise to avoid using
old tools and armor because they can break easily or fail, with disastrous
consequences. Still, it is odd not to frown upon the act of discarding things
that are still useful—otherwise, the custom would not have been considered
to have “started from the well-to-do’s proud extravagance.”
The Sōfukuji variant contains an additional statement, to the effect that
“if one puts away old things at the year-end and uses new things in the New
Year, one will live for several thousand years without illness” (okudaira
181). In essence, the Sōfukuji scrolls support a kind of proto-consumer
culture by encouraging people to perform (or have a [Shingon] priest per-
form) memorial services for their discarded goods. Indeed, Rambelli has
connected Tsukumogami ki with a particular kind of kuyō, or memorial ser-
vice. According to Rambelli, Tsukumogami ki “tries to reduce the effects of
commodification by introducing a ritual dimension in the disposal of used,
exhausted objects. De-commodification of objects was carried out through
the development of new religious services . . . In addition, by introduc-
ing a new ritual dimension, Buddhist institutions were able to expand their
The Record of Tool Specters
221
presence in society at the level of micropractices of consumption (and dis-
posal) of objects” (Rambelli 246). By performing the memorial service, a
priest would be able to exert influence on the client(s). For example, the
priest bestows material benefits, such as peace in the household, to the
clients. Equally important, a priest could earn income from his services. I
imagine that financial factors as well as religious mot
ivations may have been
a great incentive for the creation of the text.
the aPPeLLatiOn “tsukuMOgaMi”
etymology of tsukumogami
I discussed earlier the author’s playfulness in creating the text of Tsukumogami
ki. But an explanation of the appellation tsukumogami and how it came to be
used for vengeful specters of material objects may be required. Tsukumogami
is written 付喪神 (lit. “joined mourning deity”), but it is generally believed
that these characters are a phonetic equivalent of the syllabic tsukumogami
つくもがみ (see Tanaka, “Tsukumogami to chūgoku bunken” 205). Usually,
when Chinese characters are applied to the syllabic tsukumogami, the char-
acters 九十九髪 (hair of 99 [years of age]) are employed. Written this way,
the term signifies the hair of a 99-year-old person and is deeply associated
with the following poem in the sixty-third episode of Ise monogatari ( SNKBZ
12: 164–66):
Momotose ni
The lady with thinning hair—
Hitotose taranu
But a year short
Tsukumogami
of a hundred—
Ware wo kourashi
Must be longing for me,
Omokage ni miyu
For I seem to see her face.
(translation by McCullough, Tales of Ise 110)
Ise monogatari includes the poem in an account about a love affair
between a man (Narihira) and an old woman. The narrator does not spec-
ify that the woman is old, but she is known to be so from the man’s refer-
ence to her hair in the poem. Her hair is described as “momotose ni hito-
tose taranu tsukumogami” ( tsukumogami [hair of 99], but a year short of
100). The word tsukumo does not necessarily mean “99” years old; rather,
it can signify “many” years. Tsukumo is said to derive from the resemblance
between the woman’s white hair and a plant called tsukumo, an old name for
futoi (Sirpus tabernaemontani), whose inflorescence resembles an old per-
son’s white hair. It also plays on the character momo 百 (100). one hundred
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minus one equals 99, and minus its first, top stroke (the character for one
一), the character for 100 百 becomes “white” 白, signifying white hair.
In both cases, the verse refers to an old person—that is, a person 99 years
of age and/or with white hair. It is generally considered that the appel-
Seven Demon Stories from Medieval Japan Page 34