Zashikiwarashi (座敷わらし) Essay

Youkai are also called Ayakashi or Mononoke. (In Japanese Youkai can be one or many, but when talking in general it is better to use the plural)

They are like ghosts or hobgoblins. (Hobgoblins are rarely used as representative of spirits, I would say "They are like spirits or monsters")

Well, in Japan, there is famous type of Youkai, the Zashikiwarashi.

They looks 5 or 6 years old wearing a Kimono or a Chanchanko.

It is said that if they live in a house, it prospers.

But if it leaves the house, it deteriorates.

So the family take care so that they will not be angry.

They make sounds to surprise the family

and play with the children.

Youkai are very cute

but adults can't see them.

That's natural, considering their origin.

They were born as a result of being killed by their parents so as to reduce the number of mouths that needed to be fed in poor farm villages during the old days.

They are children that don't know why they were killed by their parents,

they probably wanted to play more

Nevertheless they did not intend to become evil spirits, they only want to continue to bring happiness and keep playing. (Not sure about "Nevertheless not to be evil spirits" but I tried based on the Japanese which I couldn't quite understand... それでも悪霊となるわけでもなく as となるわけでもなく has some unfamiliar grammars to me)

I feel one side of way of thought towards Youkai by thinking of Zashikiwarashi. (Not clear to me... Japanese was also too complicated for me to get the idea)

I think we intend to soften the unacceptable tragic facts and feelings by treating them as fantasy.

It is obvious that Zashikiwarashi were created by adults who knew that children were being killed.

It is tragic, (I think probably "It was tragic" is better, as you probably mean to say that back then it was really sad that this was happening)

too tragic. (This way you get a nice emphasis which is what you probably want)

So they created this fantasy to flee from their reality.

And their awareness of their sin appears as the idea that if we offend the Zashikiwarashi they bring misfortune.

It was not rare to kidnap or sell people back then, they could attribute the disappearance of children to Youkai.

But actually they knew children were being kidnapped by others or being sold by none other than themselves. (otherwise themselves is a bit ambiguous)

Using this sad fantasy, I think they alleviated their unacceptable reality by attributing it to the Youkai. (This was a hard sentence to translate... not sure if it's what you wanted and I am not 100% satisfied with the flow)

~While I watched a show about Zashikiwarashi program I was thinking about this.

I'm sorry if the meaning of "fantasy" in English is different from the Japanese "fantasy".

And sorry that it's so long.

Please correct as much as you can.

Youkai are also called ayakashi or mononoke.

In Japan, there is a famous youkai called a zashikiwarashi.    ---->  "Well" sounds odd here.  Also, "well" is not usually used like that in essays and writing.

They look like children.   --->  OR: "They appear in the form of children."

They look 5 or 6 years old and wear kimono or chanchanko.

So the family takes care not to make them angry.

and play with (the) children.   ---> Join to previous sentence.

They are such cute youkai.

It is natural, considering their origin.

They are born from the spirits of children killed by their parents so as to reduce the number of mouths to feed in poor farm villages in the olden days when there wasn't not having enough food.   ---->  You can also say "They are the spirits of children..."

Nevertheless, that doesn't mean that they are evil spirits; they only want to continue to play and bring happiness and play.   --->  It sounds better to say "play and bring happiness" rather than "bring happiness and play" but either is correct.

Zashikiwarashi are that kind of youkai.

I think (that) one way to look at zashikiwarashi is   ---->  connect to the next sentence

(that) we (tend to) deal with unacceptable tragic realities and unbearable feelings by turning them into fantasies such as youkai.   --->  "tend to" ～～する傾向がある  ー＞　そういうことを伝えたいのなら、"tend to" も入れてください。  Also, I understand what you mean by "soften" but it sounds a little odd.  I think that "deal with" reflects what you want to say.

It is obvious that zashikiwarashi were created by adults who were aware of the fact that children were being killed. --->  OR: "by adults who knew that children were being killed."

So they created a fantasy to escape from this fact.    ---> OR: "to escape from this reality."

In the past, it was not rare to kidnap or sell people so they attributed the disappearance of children to youkai.

Actually, they knew (that) children were being kidnapped by others or being sold by the parents themselves.

I think they dealt with this by attributing this unacceptable fact to imaginary youkai.

I thought this when I was watching a program about zashikiwarashi.

I'm sorry if the meaning of fantasy in English is different from the meaning in Japanese..