Akiko And The Kasa-Obake

Akiko was seven years old when his Ojiisan and Obaasan (grandfather and grandmother) came from Tokyo to live with him and his parents in San Fransisco. Akiko was a rather shy child and had never met his grandparents before, so having these foreign strangers suddenly living in his home was rather difficult from the start.

They spoke little English, and Akiko spoke little Japanese, so they seldom talked to each other. Adding to the discomfort of the situation, Ojiisan and Obaasan were very reserved and old-fashioned, which meant they expected their grandson to remain quiet in their presence unless they spoke to him first. Being quite old and not having much use for a little boy, they seldom said a word to him at all.

One afternoon, as Akiko was walking past their room on the second floor, his Ojiisan called to him to enter. Warily, he tip-toed in and looked around. There were beautiful paintings, statuettes and hand-painted fans on every surface and every wall. Akiko was fascinated. Everything looked very old and many pieces seemed to be made of precious metals and semi-precious stones. He was particularly taken with a jade dragon on the table near the door.

Sharply, his Obaasan called his attention to a trunk under the bed. With a little difficulty she made him understand that she wanted him to lift it onto the bed and open it for her. He obediently knelt down and began to pull on the heavy trunk. By the time he had pulled it out and hoisted it up onto the bed, he was sweating profusely. The bedroom windows were shut tightly, and there was no fan to pull cool air into the room.

His attention was drawn to the closet door, which was firmly shut. He vaguely heard his Obaasan speaking to him, but he was drawn like a magnet to the closet door. He reached out and grasped the doorknob, and at that same moment, his Ojiisan wrapped a hand as strong as iron around his arm and pulled him away with an angry exclamation in Japanese.

Gently, Obaasan disengaged Akiko's arm from his grandfather's grip and for the first time, she spoke in a kind, gentle voice, saying, "Never open that door. It is not for you to see." Then she led him to the hallway and thanked him for his help, and as he walked towards the stairs he heard the quiet click of the bedroom door being closed once again.

Akiko didn't see them for the rest of the day, and very rarely in the following days. But that closed closet door stuck in his mind. At first he tried to ignore it, tried to push it out of his mind. But it always crept back; what could be in there that prompted such a violent reaction in his Ojiisan? Why did Obaasan tell him never to open the door? What kind of thing could it be, that was not for him to see? Akiko knew that he would never be able to let go of the mystery until he saw what was hidden away.

One day, about a week and a half later, his mother told him that his grandparents were going away for the day to visit their other daughter, who lived about fifty miles away. She also informed him that she was going to drive them there, and his father would be at work; Akiko was being trusted to stay home alone. This had never happened before! He was told that Celeste, their next-door neighbor would be home all day, and if he had any troubles, he was to go to her. He was to expect them home for supper and given a list of chores to do before he could go out to play in the backyard.

Dutifully Akiko cleaned his room, took out the garbage and gave the cat food and fresh water. Then he went to the window and looked out at the street, and saw that it had begun to rain. In fact, it was raining so hard that the gutters were filled with small rivers of water that gushed down the steep hill towards the wharf as if being chased. He stood there for a while longer, but he was no longer thinking about the rain. He had just realized that his Ojiisan and Obaasan were gone for the whole day, and now was his chance to peek into the forbidden closet!

Akiko wondered for a moment if it was a very bad idea after all, but dismissed the thought almost as quickly as it had come. Who knew when he would have another opportunity? Quickly he turned towards the stairs and began to climb, his pace quickening as he went. He was practically breathless with excitement by the time he reached his grandparents' bedroom door. He stood in front of it while he caught his breath, and then slowly, softly, he turned the knob, opened the door and snuck in, closing the door behind him.

With his heart pounding almost deafeningly in his ears, Akiko crept over to the closet door. He reached out and took a firm grip and the doorknob, twisted it and slowly began to pull it ajar. He had barely begun to open it when he heard a papery, rustling noise from deep inside the closet and froze. Just as he had almost convinced himself that he had imagined the sound, he heard a THUMP! Akiko jumped back and froze in place. Then once again he heard THUMP. THUMP THUMP THUMP came the noises from the closet. Suddenly his legs unfroze and he bolted towards the hallway door, nearly running face-first into it. With barely a pause he threw it open and ran down the hallway, down the stairs and into the living room.

Pausing, gasping for air, he realized that the THUMPing noise was growing faster and louder with each passing second, and he looked wildly around for a place to hide. Without a second to lose, he forced his body between the back of the couch and the wall, where he knelt on the wood floor with eyes clenched tightly shut, and hands covering his ears. As he cowered there, Akiko realized that the THUMPing had stopped, and there was silence.

Still he crouched behind the sofa, quailing in fright, when suddenly what felt like a long, damp tongue licked his face from his chin to the top of his head leaving an oily, slobbering trail of slime that stank of rotten meat buried in moldy leaves and dirt. In his shock he lifted his head and opened his eyes, staring out out from his hiding place ~ and what he saw astounded him! There ~ staring right at him with one large eye and a grisly mouth sporting a lolling red tongue was a kasa-obake! He had heard tales about these creatures from his parents when he was younger, but he had never, for a moment, believed they were true!

A ghost-umbrella ~ a thick, oiled paper wagasa balancing on one leg, with a ghoulish foot wedged into an old geta, blocked his exit. The kasa-obake grinned maniacally at him and then whirled around, crashed through the bay window foot-first and Akiko could hear it hopping away, the thumping sound dulled by the sodden grass between the house and the street, until finally, finally all was silent once again.

Chastened, Akiko crept from his refuge and took a deep, shuddering breath. He crossed the room and sat in his father's recliner, breathing deeply until he fell asleep. Towards evening, he was awakened by the front door crashing open and his mother frantically shouting his name. She spied him where he was still curled up, and cried, "There you are! What has happened to the window? Are you all right?"

Akiko could no longer hold back his tears; sobbing, he told parents and grandparents what had happened. His Ojiisan looked at him sternly and steadily for a moment, then turned and climbed the steps and walked towards the bedroom. The rest of the family stood in the living room, looking up as they waited for grandfather to reappear. Soon he stood at the bottom of the steps, looking very grave. "Akiko," said Ojiisan. "You have done a very bad thing. You have let loose a kasa-obake in the city, where it will no doubt cause no end of mischief. You have been very lucky to escape without being harmed. I hope you have learned a valuable lesson today."

Akiko did not feel very lucky at all. He was still quite shaken, but indeed he had learned a valuable lesson: from that day onward he never disobeyed his Ojiisan, Obaasan or either of his parents again.

From that day forward, from time to time people would whisper to each other about terrifying ghost umbrella creatures that popped up out of nowhere, often licking their faces and scaring them quite out of their wits. Since no one ever seemed to be seriously hurt by these fleeting appearances, few people believed the stories. But Akiko never forgot that day, when he loosed the mischievous Japanese spirit into the city he loved.