Tengu & Zashik-bokko

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tengu

Tengu (天狗, Tengu? "heavenly dogs") are a class of supernatural creatures found in Japanese folklore, art, theater, and literature. They are one of the best known yōkai (monster-spirits) and are sometimes worshipped as Shinto kami (revered spirits or gods). Although they take their name from a dog-like Chinese demon, the tengu were originally thought to take the forms of birds of prey, and they are traditionally depicted with both human and avian characteristics. The earliest tengu were pictured with beaks, but this feature has often been humanized as an unnaturally long nose, which today is practically the tengu's defining characteristic in the popular imagination.

Buddhism long held that the tengu were disruptive demons and harbingers of war. Their image gradually softened, however, into one of protective, if still dangerous, spirits of the mountains and forests. Tengu are associated with the ascetic practice known as Shugendō, and they are usually depicted in the distinctive garb of its followers, the yamabushi.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zashiki-warashi

A Zashiki-warashi (座敷童, Zashiki-warashi?), sometimes also called a Zashiki-bokko (座敷童子, Zashiki-bokko?), is a Japanese yōkai, similar to a domovoi, stemming from Iwate Prefecture.

The name breaks down to zashiki, a tatami floored room, and warashi, an archaic regional term for a child. The appearance of this spirit is that of a 5 or 6 year child with bobbed hair and a red face. The child could be either male or female, though recently the zashiki-warashi are often depicted as girls. Zashiki-warashi can be found in well-maintained and preferably large old houses. It is said that once a zashiki-warashi inhabits a house, it brings the residence great fortune; on the other hand, should a zashiki-warashi depart, the domain soon falls into a steep decline.

To attract and maintain a zashiki-warashi in the home, it is said the spirit must be noticed, appreciated and cared for properly, much in the manner one would raise a child, though too much attention may drive it off. As the zashiki-warashi is child-like in nature, it is prone to playing harmless pranks and occasionally causing mischief. They might for instance sit on a guest's futon, turn people's pillows over or cause sounds similar to kagura music to be heard from rooms no one uses. Sometimes they leave little footsteps in ashes. There are different variations as to who can see the zashiki-warashi; usually this is limited to inhabitants of the house, sometimes to children.

The Ryokufūsō in Kindaichi-Onsen is famous for it's zashiki-warashi. Yōkai similar to zashiki-warashi in other parts of Japan include the makuragaeshi in Ishikawa Prefecture, the akashaguma or kurabokko in Tokushima Prefecture and the akashaguma living in the Kotohira Shrine.

[edit] In popular culture
Author Kenji Miyazawa wrote two stories about zashiki-warashi: "Matasaburo of the Wind" and "The Story of the Zashiki-Bokko".
Zashiki-warashi figure prominently as characters in the webcomic Cafe Tengu [1]
One of the more prominent yōkai in Hell Teacher Nūbē is a small Zashiki Warashi who can give good (and occasionally bad) luck to those it encounters.
In Clamp's manga title xxxHolic, a pretty, sweet, shy, female Zashiki-Warashi developes a crush on the main character Watanuki. Because he can see creatures from the spirit world, he can see her. The Zashiki-Warashi has yet to be named, but has appeared three times thus far (through 8 volumes released in the U.S. by Del Rey).