Mab here, Prospero Inc. company gumshoe.
As part of my campaign to protect you woefully-uninformed humans from your own folly—in hopes of saving even one of you from an elf-induced death, or worse—here is some of my gathered wisdom concerning the supernatural world.
Read. Pay attention. And maybe you’ll live.
For those of you who are just coming in, we’ve started with Tsukumogami, Japanese household objects that wake up after their 100th birthday and become animate.
Note the hands reaching out of the kimono.
Name: Kosode no Te and Jatai
Description: Kosode no Te is a possessed kimono. The name is used to refer to two separate kinds of possessed kimono…if you can image such a thing.
The first is a prized heirloom in the form of a child’s kimono that has been passed from generation to generation. This tends to be the first thing pawned in hardship. Once it’s purchased and given to a new child, it can channel the owner’s will into action, which—if you know any children—you can imagine is not always a good idea.
The other kind of Kosode no Te is a robe once owned by a prostitute. Normally, when these ladies of the evening kick the bucket, they donated their fancy kimonos to temples in their wills. But if their clients owed them money, sometimes the gal’s ghost hangs out in the robe and tries to leave the temple to beg her old customers for money.
I’m including the Jatai, because it’s a possessed obi—the wide belts that go around a kimono. If these get too old, they turn into snakes filled with murderous jealous rage and go around strangling men in their sleep.
You can kind of see how these two work together.
Where To Find It: Temples, places people sleep.
Frequency: Thankfully low, especially nowadays as there are less kimonos than there used to be.
Danger Level:
Kosode no Te – varies depending on the will of the child and how much money you owe.
Jatai – off the scale. Avoid at all costs. Even if it means giving up on sleep.
Mab’s Eye View: The Jatai is just a raging menace. Better destroy all obi’s, old ones anyway, just to be safe. Or for Pete’s Sake, at least lock them up.
As to the Kosode no Te, kids with magic powers—always a bad idea. If it’s not your kid, you might want to move out of the neighbourhood. If it is your kid, man, it was nice knowing you. Or, you could just not buy your kid a hundred year old kimono.
As to the other, men, if you have to behave like goats, good grief, at least pay your bills.
Evil obi about to slither off in a jealous rage.
