Normally, a futon mattress is not a bother, especially one that’s tattered. Boroboroton, on the other hand, is a sentient futon that will suffocate you while you dream away your last sleep. Some feudal tales of bandits hiding in abandoned houses with scenes of worn-out futons constricting the bandits’ corpses. Their uncanny deaths are definitely the boroboroton‘s doing.
This yokai belongs to a group of spirited objects, usually household items, known as tsukumogami. A futon mattress or bedding coverlet become imbued with life after decades of abandonment. It evolves into boroboroton, with traits of extreme loneliness and desolation.
Forgotten Tales
I’ve read a story about a Kyoto woman crying night after night because her husband left her for a richer mistress. Her sorrow and misery continue nightly until she died in her sleep on the 99th night. The futon she slept on, instantaneously turned into a boroboroton and disappeared. Her husband and his mistress were found dead the next day, under mysterious consequences and under a futon mattress! Coincidence? Unlikely.
Some believe that the boroboroton hungers for the human touch. Its desperate desire to hold a human is the final embrace that constricts a man, woman, or both, to death. So if you go on your forest hikes in Japan, remember a granny’s saying “If you have to take shelter in an deserted house, sleep only on the floor and in the corner”.
Yokai Details
- name: boroboroton (boh-roh-boh-roh-ton)
- kanji: 暮露暮露団 (ぼろぼろとん)
- meaning: tattered futon
- abilities:
- levitation — silently float across any surface
- mental sedation — make others feel comfortable & sleepy
