There was once a woman who bought a second hand kimono for hanami (花見), a cherry blossom viewing festival. One night, she was abruptly awaken fought with the obi sash around her neck. After a long night’s fight, she finally overcame her ordeal and left her house. Next morning, she returned, to collect the sash-yokai and kimono, and went to a nearby shrine to cleanse and burn them.
Jatai is a type of yokai known as tsukumogami that gains sentience after reaching 100 years old. This yokai evolves from an obi-sash that has absorbed the negative energies of its previous owner over the years. This together with the years of abandonment provides the jatai a poisonous and bad attitude towards human beings
The strongest (and most vengeful) jatai are those that once belong to a spurned wife who used the same obi-sash to commit suicide. Such a corrupt object can develop vampiric energy that effect its new owner. This jatai will be strong enough to, easily, lift a grown man into the rafters.
There is also a superstition that if you sleep on top of an obi sash, you will dream of snakes. And if the obi sash belongs to a spurned woman, the snake would be a large poisonous snake that can easily constrict you to death. So, always, remember to take off your yukata before sleeping.
In any case, if you are thinking of getting a second-hand kimono because they are dirt-cheap, have second thoughts (even thirds). You never know who the kimono belongs to before, or how the obi sash was used then.
Yokai Details
- name: jatai (jah-tah-ee)
- kanji: 蛇帯 (じゃたい)
- meaning: snake obi sash
- ability:
- flight — able to fly silently abilities:
- elasticity — able to stretch twice its length
