Karakasa-obake.

Karakasa-obake (唐傘お化け, からかさおばけ) is the classic umbrella tsukumogami, usually shown as an old paper umbrella with a single eye, a lolling tongue, and one hopping leg. Some versions add a second leg or small arms, but the familiar one-legged form dominates. It is one of the most iconic object-yōkai in Japan, recognizable even to people who know little else about the tradition.

Its design matters because it is so legible. The umbrella remains clearly an umbrella, yet just human enough to behave like a goblin. Karakasa-obake therefore sits at the center of the tsukumogami imagination, where familiar tools become animated not by losing their identity but by exaggerating it.

Karakasa-obake is generally playful rather than lethal. It startles travelers, hops into view on rainy nights, or flicks its long tongue at the unwary. In later popular culture it becomes a stock haunted-house resident, more likely to produce surprise and laughter than injury. That low threat level helps explain its endurance as a children's monster and mascot-like figure.

The broader folklore of umbrella yōkai is somewhat darker, but the karakasa-obake itself is usually treated as a harmless tsukumogami. Its importance lies not in a single famous legend but in how well it expresses the principle that neglected objects can acquire personality, movement, and a taste for mischief.