Zashiki Warashi

Zashiki warashi (座敷童/座敷童子 zashiki warashi), sometimes also called Zashiki bokko, is a youkai, stemming from Iwate Prefecture.

According to folklore, to attract and maintain a zashiki warashi in the home it is said that "the spirit must be noticed, appreciated and cared for properly, much in the manner one would raise a child, though too much attention may drive it off." As the zashiki warashi is child-like in nature, it is prone to playing harmless pranks and occasionally causing mischief. They might, for instance, "sit on a guest's futon, turn people's pillows over or cause sounds similar to kagura music to be heard from rooms no one uses." Sometimes they leave little footsteps in ashes. There are different variations as to who can see the zashiki warashi; usually this is limited to inhabitants of the house, sometimes to children.

The appearance of this spirit is that of a 5 or 6 year child with bobbed hair and a red face. Zashiki warashi can be found in well-maintained and preferably large old houses. It is said that once a zashiki warashi inhabits a house, it brings the residence great fortune; on the other hand, should a zashiki warashi depart, the domain soon falls into a steep decline.

Compare to House Fey


Anime and Manga
  • In the Manga Xxx Holic, a Zashiki Warashi is represented as a character who developed feelings for the protagonist Kimihiro Watanuki.
  • In the anime Mononoke, Zashiki Warashi were represented by small children who were killed in a brothel as a result of prostitution.
  • In the manga Nura Rise Of The Yokai Clan - Demon Capital/Nurarihyon no Mago ( Sennen Makyou ), there is a Zashiki Warashi named Yukari.
  • In the manga and anime Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, the Hikikomori character Kiri Komori was thought to be a Zashiki Warashi by a classmate.
  • In the anime Kimi ni Todoke, the protagonist was teased as a Zashiki Warashi when she was a child.
  • In the manga Hell Teacher Nube, a Zashiki Warashi became attached to Nube-sensei.
  • The main protagonist of the manga Waraenu Douji is a Zashiki Warashi.
  • In Neko Musume Michikusa Nikki, the bakeneko Kurona is mistaken for a Zashiki Warashi while in human form by the old lady she lives with, due to showing up to help with chores and then mysteriously vanishing.
  • In the Touhou manga Wild and Horned Hermit, Gensokyo's population of Zashiki Warashi fades almost overnight, leading Yukari to attempt to replace them with hobgoblins. The idea winds up being very unpopular, and later the Zashiki Warashi return after a while in the Outside World. The hobgoblins are then absorbed into the Scarlet Devil Mansion staff. More darkly, it looks like Yukari herself arranged their "tour" - they are her spies in the Outside World and the Human Village...
  • In The Zashiki Warashi Of Intellectual Village, one of the main characters is a zashiki warashi.
  • There's one in the Japanese animated film Summer Days with Coo.
  • In Hoozuki no Reitetsu the titular character finds two Zashiki Warashi in an abandoned house, and ends up bringing them to the King Enma's palace and caring for them like two little nieces.
  • In the anime White Album, Zashiki Warashi is referenced many times.

Visual Novel
  • In Enchanted In The Moonlight, the protagonist eventually discovers that Samon, the young man who tends her family's shrine, is actually a zashiki warashi.