ladykrampus reblogged
Tsukumogami from Hyakki Yako Emaki
Understood by many Western scholars[1] as a type of Japanese yōkai,[2] the Tsukumogami (付喪神?) was a concept popular in Japanese folklore as far back as the tenth century,[3] used in the spread of Shingon Buddhism. Tsukumogami are animate household objects. An otogizōshi (“companion tale”) titled Tsukumogami ki (“Record of tool specters”; Muromachi period) explains that after a service life of nearly one hundred years, utsuwamono or kibutsu (containers, tools, and instruments) receive souls.