Muku-mukabaki - [Yokai|Tsukumogami]

Muku-Mukabaki - 無垢行騰（むくむかばき) - Aka: "Empty Chaps" - [Yokai | Tsukumogami]  

• About this Yokai: Horse riding chaps made from deer hide that were worn by a nobleman who was assassinated with a longbow during a hunting trip on Mount Akazawa. Kawazu Sukeyasu's death famously inspired his orphaned sons to avenge him. However, unlike the valiant Soga brothers, the chaps themselves seem to have taken on the timid demeanour of a deer instead.

• Origin: This Tsukumogami made its earliest named appearance in Toriyama Sekien’s "Gazu Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro" (1784). Toriyama’s illustration included this description, as translated by Japandemonium (2017),

"Perhaps these were the chaps of Kawazu Saburo, who perished on Mt. Akazawa. So I dreamed."

[Note: Japandemonium, my primary source, refers to the samurai as ”Kawazu Saburo” this most likely refers to “Kawazu Sukeyasu.” In most other historic sources, the names are often swapped out interchangeably or both used at once; however, Sukeyasu is more commonly used. So, for the remainder of this description I will refer to him as either  Sukeyasu or just Kawazu. Just for reference, his full name in Japanese is: “河津三郎祐泰” which seems to use both.]

• The Antique in Question: Mukabaki are riding chaps made from a young deer’s pelt, worn around the waist & over the legs as armour by horseback archers & hunters. As it is the traditional outfit, today you'll most frequently see them worn at Yabusame (Mounted archery competitions!)

[a mounted archer in traditional archers garb]

• History: Kawazu Sukeyasu was a nobleman, samurai (and famous sumo wrestler), who was accidentally assassinated in 1176 while hunting in the mountains of Akazawa with his father Ito Sukechika.  These assassins were hired by his son-in-law Kudō Suketsune because of a bitter disagreement about inheritance and land rights. The hired assassins shot at both men with a long range arrow from behind a nearby tree line. Lord Sukechika escaped, but the arrow meant for him fatally struck & killed Kawazu.

Kawazu left behind two young sons, Juro and Goro, who later grew up to avenge his death eighteen years later. The two were barely toddlers when their father was killed but took on a life long revenge plan. The two would kill Kudo and a number of other samurai and eventually go after the shogun Minamoto Yoritomo. This incident was the basis for the famous revenge tale known as "Soga Monogatari" which inspired its own genre of both noh & kabuki plays called "sogamono" which in turn inspired dozens of Ukiyo-e woodblock prints and art pieces. (Including this yokai!)

[A Ukiyo-e print depicting the assassins taking aim for Ito - print by Utagawa Hiroshige 1847. Note: their hats are similar to the one Muku-mukabaki is holding.]

Today: A memorial to Kawazu still stands at the site of his assassination in Itō City, Shizuoka Prefecture. The city proudly claims that it’s the “starting point of the brothers epic tale of revenge." Incidentally, the line of trees from where the assassins shot Kawazu (pictured in the above assassination print) are also a relevant landmark complete with their own plaque!

Sekien wrote next to nothing about Muku-Mukabaki itself; so details about the yokai and the nature of  whatever it does, are indeed quite hazy!! I like to think it has the temperament of a deer because it seems to just be sitting there, admiring the view. But then again I couldn't help but poinnt out that the hat beside it in Toriyama’s illustration matches the hats that the assassins are wearing in the later Utagawa Hiroshige print! Did Muku-Mukabaki take revenge on his owner’s killers by snatching their hats?? Was it the common uniform for the enemy clan?? Did he just really like the hat?? Is it really a hat? its difficult to say for certain.

But It’s generally thought that Sekien was inspired by the fact that Kawazu was probably wearing mukabe at the time of his death.

It's a bit surprising that so little has been written about this yokai overall! I think as far as Toriyama Sekien’s tsukumogami and yokai go, this one is perhaps one of the least illustrated & probably least speculated about! (A friend of mine suggested he came up with the yokai first and then had the idea of relating it to the story just to make a fancy reference. “I want to make a riding chaps tsukumogami. Now who’s a famous person who died on horseback that I can link it to?” If he had read Shakespeare perhaps he might've linked it to Richard III.) 

Perhaps it’s also worth noting that Muku-mukabi appears on the opposite page to furu-utsubo. A Tsukumogami of a quiver which makes sense when you put the story to the yokai.

[Kabuki actors dressed as the main characters of Soga Monogatari 1893.]

•See also:  A few other mounted equipment inspired Tsukumogami also by Toriyama Sekien include: “Furu-Utsubo”, “Kura yaro” & “Abumi guchi” Incidentally, yet another ‘Soga Monogatari’ inspired yokai is "Torako-ishi!" 

[Art sticker & Writing by @SamKalensky (yo, thats me!) Editing by @Cattype. Part of my Hyakki Yagyo Night Parade of 100 yokai sticker series. check the shop for many more!]