Saddle FiendToriyama Sekien Plate Conformant

An image based on Toriyama Sekien’s Hyakki Tsurezurebukuro. The saddle itself forms the torso, accompanied by a caption indicating damage around the front bow. Eyes peer from the base of the stirrup leathers, and the mouth splits at the front bridge to reveal fangs. The hands are rendered as extended girth straps, grasping a whip at the tip. As a tsukumogami, it follows the early modern idea that old implements gain spirit through long use or resentment. The saddle, a nexus between lord and retainer and a vessel of battlefield memory, serves as a moral emblem warning against wrongful deaths and negligence. Paired with the stirrup mouth, it thematizes preparedness and care for one’s tack, with its monstrosity reflecting carelessness and impropriety like a mirror.