ittan-momen

According to the {{nihongo||大隅肝属郡方言集|Ōsumi Kimotsukigun Hōgen Shū}}, jointly authored by the locally born educator Nomura Denshi and the folkloricist Kunio Yanagita, at evening time, a cloth-like object about 1 {{transliteration|ja|tan}} in area (about {{convert|10.6|m}} in length and {{convert|30|cm}} in width) would flutter around attacking people.

They are said to wrap around people's necks and cover people's faces and suffocate people to death,{{Harvnb|多田|1990|p=107}}{{Harvnb|水木|1994|p=67}}{{cite book|last1=Bush|first1=Laurence|title=Asian Horror Encyclopedia: Asian Horror Culture in Literature, Manga and Folklore|date=2001|publisher=Writers Club Press|location=Lincoln, NE|isbn=0-595-20181-4|page=85}}{{cite book|last1=Frater|first1=Jamie|title=Listverse.com's Ultimate Book of Bizarre Lists: Fascinating Facts and Shocking Trivia on Movies, Music, Crime, Celebrities, History and More|url=https://archive.org/details/listversecomsult0000frat|url-access=registration|date=2010|publisher=Ulysses Press|location=Berkeley, CA, USA|isbn=978-1-56975-817-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/listversecomsult0000frat/page/534 534]}} and in other tales it is said that wrapped cloths would spin around and around and quickly come flying, wrap around people's bodies, and take them away to the skies.{{Harvnb|宮本他|2007|p=17}}

There is a story where one man hurrying to his home at night when a white cloth came and wrapped around his neck, and when he cut it with his {{transliteration|ja|wakizashi}} (short sword), the cloth disappeared, and remaining on his hands was some blood.

In regions where they are said to appear and disappear, there seemed to be a custom where children were warned that if they play too late, that "{{transliteration|ja|ittan momen}} would come."

Also, it is said that in Kimotsuki, there are shrines (the {{ill|Shijūkusho Jinja|ja|四十九所神社}} for example) where {{transliteration|ja|ittan momen}} are said to frequently appear, and it was believed that when children pass in front of the shrine, an {{transliteration|ja|ittan momen}} flying above in the skies would attack the last child in line, so children would go run ahead and cut through.{{Cite book|editor=郡司聡他編|title=怪|year=2008|publisher=角川書店|series=カドカワムック|volume=0025|isbn=978-4-04-885002-5|page=78|chapter=映画で活躍する妖怪四十七士を選ぼう!}}

File:Mitsunobu cloth-like monster.jpg]]

In the classical {{transliteration|ja|yōkai emaki}}, the {{ill|Hyakki Yagyō Emaki|ja|百鬼夜行絵巻}}, there is a {{transliteration|ja|yōkai}} shaped like a cloth with arms and legs. The folklorist {{ill|Komatsu Kazuhiko|ja|小松和彦}} hypothesizes that this is the origin of {{transliteration|ja|ittan momen}}.{{Cite book|author=荒俣宏・小松和彦|editor=米沢敬編|title=妖怪草紙 あやしきものたちの消息|year=1987|publisher=工作舎|isbn=978-4-87502-139-1|page=27}}

According to a report from the yōkai researcher {{ill|Bintarō Yamaguchi|ja|山口敏太郎}}, there have been claims of flying cloth-shaped objects said to be {{transliteration|ja|ittan momen}}.{{Harvnb|山口|2007|pp=20–21}}

In Kagoshima Prefecture there are claims that white cloth-like objects have been seen flying in low altitude. In Fukuoka Prefecture and in Kyushu there have been claims of extremely speedy {{transliteration|ja|ittan momen}} flying alongside {{transliteration|ja|shinkansen}} trains witnessed by {{transliteration|ja|shinkansen}} passengers.

Outside Kyushu there have been claims in Higashi-Kōenji Station and Ogikubo, Tokyo. In Higashi-Kōenji, a woman walking her dog said she saw a cloth flying in the skies.

In Shizuoka Prefecture, elementary school kids were said to have seen a transparent sheet-like object flutter around.

While filming {{transliteration|ja|Natsuhiko Kyogoku "Kai"}}, the actor Shirō Sano said he saw an {{transliteration|ja|ittan momen}} flying above with a long white shape.{{Cite book|author=佐野史郎|editor=講談社コミッククリエイト編|title=DISCOVER妖怪 日本妖怪大百科|year=2007|publisher=講談社|series=OfficialFileMagazine|volume=01|isbn=978-4-06-370031-2|page=29|chapter=インタビュー 佐野史郎}}

{{transliteration|ja|Ittan momen}} are thought to appear in the evening, but the general view is that this is because in the past, parents needed to do farmwork for the entire day including at this time and therefore could not keep an eye on their children, so the tales of {{transliteration|ja|ittan momen}} were told to children to warn them of the dangers of playing too late. Also, in the lands where the legend is told, there is a custom of raising a cotton flag during burials for the purpose of mourning, so it is inferred that some of these would be blown by the wind and fly in the air and thus be connected to the legends of the {{transliteration|ja|ittan momen yōkai}}.

In the Japanese television series {{transliteration|ja|Tokoro-san no Me ga Ten!}} there was an experiment performed in which a piece of cloth about {{convert|50|cm}} long was set up and moved in the darkness, and the average length reported by the people who saw it was {{convert|2.19|m}}, with the longest being {{convert|6|m}}. The program suggested that when a white or bright objects move in the darkness, a positive afterimage optical illusion would leave a trail due to movement, causing soaring things in the forests at night such as {{transliteration|ja|musasabi}} to be seen as longer than they actually are, and thus mistaken as {{transliteration|ja|ittan momen}}.{{Cite web|date=2010-12-11|url=http://www.ntv.co.jp/megaten/library/date/10/12/1211.html|title=知識の宝庫! 目がテン! ライブラリー|work=所さんの目がテン!|publisher=日本テレビ|access-date=January 23, 2011|archive-date=2014-05-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140520221224/http://www.ntv.co.jp/megaten/library/date/10/12/1211.html|url-status=dead}}

There are no depictions of ittan momen in classical yōkai emaki, so these yōkai was once relatively unknown, but they have become more widely known since appearing in Mizuki Shigeru's manga GeGeGe no Kitarō.{{Cite book|author=宮本幸枝|editor=村上健司監修|title=津々浦々「お化け」生息マップ - 雪女は東京出身? 九州の河童はちょいワル? -|year=2005|publisher=技術評論社|series=大人が楽しむ地図帳|isbn=978-4-7741-2451-3|pages=96頁}} This manga depicted them as speaking a Kyushu dialect, having good-natured personalities, and having a unique look while flying, which raised their fame and popularity despite their original legend of attacking people.{{Cite web|date=2007-03-17|url=http://www.47news.jp/CN/200703/CN2007031701000312.html|title=妖怪人気NO1は一反木綿 鬼太郎は4位|work=47NEWS|publisher=www.pnjp.jp/ 全国新聞ネット|access-date=2008-04-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080228020152/http://www.47news.jp/CN/200703/CN2007031701000312.html|archive-date=February 28, 2008}} In Mizuki's depictions these yōkai are depicted as a cloth with two eyes and two arms, so now they are commonly perceived to be pieces of cloth with two eyes in yōkai depictions, but Mizuki's depictions are original inventions and the ones in actual legend and in the previous witness reports have no eyes or arms and are instead simply flying objects that resembled cloth.{{Cite book|author=山口敏太郎・天野ミチヒロ|title=決定版! 本当にいる日本・世界の「未知生物」案内|year=2007|publisher=笠倉出版社|isbn=978-4-7730-0364-2|pages=112–113}}{{Cite book|author=京極夏彦他|title=妖怪馬鹿|year=2001|publisher=新潮社|series=新潮OH!文庫|isbn=978-4-10-290073-4|page=354}} In Mizuki's birthplace, Sakaiminato, Tottori Prefecture, they ranked number 1 in the "First Yōkai Popularity Poll" held by the tourism association.

In Kamen Rider Hibiki they appeared as enemy characters and they were based on the original legend with some extra original twists on their appearance and personality.{{Cite book|author=山口敏太郎|title=山口敏太郎のミステリー・ボックス コレが都市伝説の超決定版!|year=2007|publisher=メディア・クライス|isbn=978-4-778-80334-6|page=188}}

In 2007, the local historian of Kagoshima Prefecture, Takenoi Satoshi, started creating kamishibai of ittan momen so that such legends that are gradually being forgotten can be remembered by the children.

In the 2020 anime adaptation of the In/Spectre ("Kyokō Suiri") novels, an ittan momen drawn in the Mizuki style, flies out from under the skirt of the female protagonist Kotoko.

The following are yōkai considered to be similar to ittan momen. The musasabi would glide through the air along forest streets at night and cling to people's faces in surprise, so it is theorized that they are thought to have inspired a yōkai like this.{{Cite book|author=多田克己|editor=郡司聡他編|title=季刊 怪|year=1999|publisher=角川書店|series=カドカワムック|volume=第7号|isbn=978-4-04-883606-7|page=281|chapter=絵解き 図画百鬼夜行の妖怪}}

Fusuma ("bedding")

:A yōkai told to frequently appear and disappear on Sado Island in the Edo Period. It was a yōkai that looked like a large furoshiki, and they would come flying out of nowhere at roads at night and cover the heads of pedestrians. They cannot be cut with blades of any sharpness, but they can be bit apart with teeth that have been blackened at least once. It is said that because of this, there was a custom for males to blacken their teeth.{{Cite book|author=大藤時彦他|editor=民俗学研究所編|others=柳田國男監修|title=綜合日本民俗語彙|year=1955|publisher=平凡社|volume=第4巻|id={{NCID|BN05729787}}|page=1359}}

Futon kabuse (literally, "cover with futon")

:Saku-shima, Aichi Prefecture. In the writings of the folkloricist Kunio Yanagita, it is only written that "they'd float along and flying in with a whoosh, covering and suffocating to death,"{{Cite book|author=柳田國男編|title=海村生活の研究|year=1949|publisher=日本民俗学会|id={{NCID|BN06575033}}|page=319}} so there are not many legends about it and not much is known,{{Cite book|author=村上健司編著|title=妖怪事典|year=2000|publisher=毎日新聞社|isbn=978-4-620-31428-0|page=297}} but it is interpreted to be a futon-shaped object that come flying in and covering people's faces and suffocating them to death.{{Sfn|宮本他|2007|p=65}}

• In the anime/manga series Inu x Boku SS, one of the characters, Renshō Sorinozuka, is an Ittan-momen.
• In the tokusatsu franchise Super Sentai, the Ittan-momen was seen as a basis of a monster in series installments themed after Japanese culture:
• In Kakuranger (1994), one of the Youkai Army Corps members the Kakurangers fought was an Ittan-momen. It appeared in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers toyline as "Calcifire".
• In Shinkenger (2009), one of the Ayakashi, named Urawadachi, served as the basis of the Ittan-momen within the series. He was not adapted into Power Rangers Samurai.
• In Ninninger (2015), one of the Youkai the Ninningers fought was an Ittan-momen, with elements borrowed from a carpet and a magician. It was later adapted into Power Rangers Ninja Steel as Abrakadanger who appears in his self-titled episode.
• In The Legend of Korra in the Avatar series, the two waring spirits, Raava and Vaatu that are based on Yin and Yang, may have had their designs inspired from Ittan-momen.
• In Yo-kai Watch, the Ittan-momen appears as a cloth-strip Yo-kai and is called So-Sorree in the English dub. Anyone inspirited by So-Sorree can become mischievous and then give insincere apologies. So-Sorree can evolve into Bowminos (a domino-shaped Yo-kai who makes anyone it inspirits give sincere apologies) and can be fused with Merican Flower to become Ittan-Sorry.
• In GeGeGe no Kitarō, a recurring yōkai character named Ittan Momen (Rollo Cloth in English translations) appears as an anthropomorphic cloth with the ability to fly. He is among Kitaro's core group of friends.

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite news|author=板垣博之|date=2007-08-07|title=妖怪のこころ 1|newspaper=毎日新聞（朝刊）|page=15|publisher=毎日新聞社|ref={{SfnRef|板垣|2007}}}}
• {{Cite book|author=多田克己|title=幻想世界の住人たち|year=1990|publisher=新紀元社|volume=IV|series=Truth In Fantasy|isbn=978-4-915146-44-2|ref={{SfnRef|多田|1990}}}}
• {{Cite book|author=水木しげる|title=図説 日本妖怪大全|year=1994|publisher=講談社|series=講談社+α文庫|isbn=978-4-06-256049-8|ref={{SfnRef|水木|1994}}}}
• {{Cite book|author=宮本幸枝・熊谷あづさ|title=日本の妖怪の謎と不思議|year=2007|publisher=学習研究社|series=GAKKEN MOOK|isbn=978-4-05-604760-8

|ref={{SfnRef|宮本他|2007}}}}

• {{Cite book|author=山口敏太郎|title=本当にいる日本の「現代妖怪」図鑑|year=2007|publisher=笠倉出版社|isbn=978-4-7730-0365-9

|ref={{SfnRef|山口|2007}}}}

• {{cite web|work=Kaii-Yōkai Denshō Database|title=Ittan-momen|url=http://www.nichibun.ac.jp/YoukaiCard/2180776.shtml}}

{{Japanese folklore long}}

Category:Tsukumogami

Category:Yōkai

Category:Textiles in folklore