#forgotten objects

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En algún rincón del Chaco

TSUKUMOGAMI

Tsukumogami are a relatively well-known type of yokai (unearthly creature/“monster”) from Japanese folklore which I would define loosely as “old/forgotten object spirits.” It was once commonly believed that all things have an inner spirit, and these tend to become more powerful with age. Superstition has it that tools, utensils, instruments and other man-made items that have reached 99 or 100 years of age become powerful enough to become sentient and self-aware, and gain supernatural abilities.

Through being forgotten, abandoned, broken, replaced, or otherwise treated poorly, angry and vengeful tsukumogami can manifest. It has also been said they can manifest if an object has witnessed or been in the vicinity of a terrible crime or great spiritual impurity. Two of the most commonly depicted tsukumogami in Japanese pop culture are umbrellas and paper lanterns – not surprising given how often and easily they break.

Most tsukumogami are relatively harmless, and there are even folk tales of some friendly tsukumogami enjoying playing games with children. Others, however, can be disruptive and even dangerous and bring about a great deal of trouble. It all depends on how they were treated. The longer these objects are left untended, the more negativity can build up around them.

PREVENTING NEGATIVITY

🏮 The easiest preventative measures are not glamorous witchery, but they are important. Repair, recycle, repurpose and regift rather than thoughtlessly throw items away or leave to rot. This has the added bonus of being environmentally friendly and sticking it to the hell-pigs running this bloated consumerist culture of ours.

🏮 Be mindful of where every component of everything you own comes from, and grateful for what they do for you. Give thanks and blessings to the objects you use day by day. Those who give offerings to and maintain a relationship with their house spirit/s – you may have this covered.

🏮 When something you own has irreparably run out the course of its life and must be disposed of, be sure to show appreciation in whatever way makes sense to you. There are still jinja ceremonies held in Japan today to pacify the spirits of forgotten or broken objects such as Hari-Kuyo, the Festival of Broken Needles.

🏮 Dispose of items responsibly – take responsibility for your belongings and your actions! If you toss a refrigerator into a river to save yourself some trouble, frankly, you might just deserve to get a bit haunted. 

MANIFESTATIONS

🏮 In visual mediums, tsukumogami have historically been depicted as looking similar to the object itself but becoming monstrous, sprouting eyes or mouths or limbs or other human/animal features. This could be symbolic of the items “coming to life,” of course, but then who knows what your things get up to when you’re not looking? (Toy Story: a cautionary tale of demonic possession?)

🏮 A rotting smell that comes and goes, a creaking or jangling or scraping of rusty spokes, flashes of imagery, or perhaps just a sense that touches on the back of your subconscious that speaks of corrosion and decay. Everyone’s intuition is different, but almost anyone can pick up on these things if they pay attention.

🏮 The actions of malevolent tsukumogami in folklore run the gamut from simple mischief (hiding and moving things, minor illusions) to iller omens (nightmares, attracting ill fortune), and in extreme cases can get into the dangerous.

🏮 Even small and seemingly unimportant objects can become powerful tsukumogami under the right circumstances. It is not the object itself but the spirit that is the factor in this, especially in terms of age and negative experience. Don’t let expectations misguide you.

🏮 It is a widely held belief that electronic devices cannot become tsukumogami as the electrical energy drives spirits away. However, depictions are becoming more common (perhaps the idea is that spirits are adapting), and once an item is broken and no longer powered by electricity, it likely isn’t protected that way any more.

MAKING AMENDS

If you believe a tsukumogami is causing problems and you wanna witchcraft your way out of it, logically, the easiest starting point is to find out which object it has manifested from. Older objects are much more likely to manifest in ways that are troublesome, being more powerful, but there are other factors that can also bring about a manifestation. Discern and study. Find the source of the issue. And then?

Remember what’s forgotten. Find what’s lost. Fix what’s broken. This is all a witch’s work, or part of it. What, you were hoping for a lightning-throwing demon fight rather than what sounds suspiciously like household chores? If you can’t get to grips with this part of the work, you’re not ready for spirit work. That’s right. I went full Mentor.

Sometimes, though, it’s more difficult to figure out exactly what the spirit wants or needs. Discernment skills and common sense are your best friends here, as is any means to communicate with spirits that you may have. I mean, it could simply tell you what it wants and you could strike up a deal to end the trouble there and then. Perhaps you’ll learn something interesting from it. Don’t doubt the advice a lowly watering can might give you…

If the tsukumogami is angry and not in the mood to resolve things for whatever reason, typically the next step is to try and appease it. This can be done through ritual, through remembrance and prayer, through offerings – there is no one-size-fits-all approach. By all accounts, a bit of improvising/adapting to account for the foibles of each spirit is always involved, and it will depend on you and your practise too.

Banishment is the last resort, to be used only if the spirit seems inconsolable or is too powerful for you to walk back. Do not just drop kick the affected object into the nearest trash compactor – you are either passing on a bigger and angrier problem to someone else or setting yourself up for some Bad Vibes, a stain upon your soul, a hex upon your house! Holding a “funeral” bound by some spellcraft is a nice, gentle way of laying an object and its spirit to rest, and the jinja ceremonies I mentioned before are typically framed like funerals.

Less nice and less gentle means may be necessary sometimes, but forcibly driving a spirit out of a “possessed” object is something I won’t go into it here. That’s not a game… if sources are to be believed. Just fix your shit!

REMEMBRANCE

Some lost or forgotten objects are worth finding, keeping and cherishing. Some can find new life with a new owner, or be broken down and used for parts for something new. Others need laying to rest. From a bicycle rusting away in a ditch to a hand-me-down with an uncertain history mouldering in one’s attic, the man-made things that surround us are as part of this world as the natural and they are our responsibility. You are beholden to the tools that improve your life – we are all beholden to our shared environment.

These items came from nature one way or another, as everything does, but they were shaped anew by humans. Alchemy! Why wouldn’t they bring a spark of their soul along? Some negative tsukumogami can be dangerous, but it is often the neglect, carelessness or arrogance of humans that create the “worst” tsukumogami in the first place.

Our planet is reaching critical mass with the amount of unnecessary products being created and churned through production lines, corporations, consumers and then into landfill sites. Tsukumogami have long since been regarded as monsters and demons in folk tales and superstition, but perhaps in a way we need them now more than ever…