Tale 17 — Sightings of the zashiki-warashi
It was said that old family houses were home to a god called the zashiki-warashi, a child spirit that lives in old houses, a child of about twelve or thirteen years old. At the Imabuchi house, a daughter who had returned home saw the figure of a boy in the hallway and was startled; at the Sasaki house, from a room where the master was away, the sound of paper and of someone sniffing was heard. It was said that a house where this god dwelt would grow wealthy.
- Land
- Tono
- Setting
- Tsuchibuchi, Tono, Iwate
- Beings
- zashiki-warashi
This is an English rendering of our short Japanese summary of the source tale — a summary translated from the Japanese, not a translation of the original text. The summary was drafted and translated with AI assistance, and names and numbers were checked against our records.