Chouchin-Obake

A chouchin-obake takes the shape of a paper lantern with a horizontal split near the bottom from which a long tongue protrudes. Upon closer inspection, two eyes appear above the split mouth. Chouchin-obake are anomalous in that they don't awaken in the same way other tsukumogami do. Paper lanterns are nearly impossible to maintain for long enough to spawn tsukumogami. Instead, a chouchin-obake is a kind of fire kami that takes the form of a lantern's flame and inhabits a paper lantern when they manifest.

Tsukumogami are intelligent, mobile objects formed from the union between a 100-year-old object and a kami. Tsukumogami range from harmless to malicious, each individual personality a result of how the object was treated before its awakening. Well-cared-for objects tend to birth helpful, friendly tsukumogami, while mistreated or abandoned objects twist into malevolent and violent beings.Most tsukumogami are, by nature, mischievous, and oftentimes want nothing more than to occupy the attention of living creatures.

Tsukumogami can commonly be found in areas with a strong cultural belief iin the value of caring for objects, which helps items survive long enough to become tsukumogami. Towns and villages with large tsukumogami populations are referred to as "sleepless towns" due to the nightly tsukumogami celebrations, which can become so raucous that they prevent the living residents from sleeping peacefully.