Susuwatari

Susuwatari

The Soot Sprites (すすワタリ susuwatari, lit. "travelling soot", "soot sprites") are magically-conjured creatures that work in the boiler room with Kamaji in the Japanese animated film Spirited Away. They were also present in other prominent Studio Ghibli films, most notably in My Neighbor Totoro.

Appearance

The Soot Sprites (conjured from soot itself) are small, black, fuzzy creatures with spherical bodies and white eyes with black pupils. Their usual mode of transportation is levitating/hovering, but it is revealed in the film that they can extend black, wiry limbs (arms and legs) from their bodies to accomplish certain tasks (in this case, moving coal into the furnace) and can lift objects many times their own weight. They also dissolve into soot if crushed, but quickly reform themselves shortly after.

Attributes

Soot Sprites are not capable of speaking human languages and instead make certain, squeaky, murmuring sounds when they are excited, angry, annoyed or ecstatically happy. It is mentioned that, because the Soot Sprites in the film are magically conjured, they will turn back into soot without a job for them to do. While they are not capable of speaking the human language, they are shown to be able to understand it, and respond to orders given to them by Kamajii. They are also capable of exhibiting very human emotions such as anger and happiness. They are also capable of showing affection to an individual, as seen when they begin to respect and support Chihiro in small ways after she is accepted by workers of the bathhouse (mainly Kamajii and Lin). They carry Chihiro (or Sen)'s shoes and socks when she can't find them, showing that they care for Chihiro.

Diet

One can feed Soot Sprites like how a farmer feeds chickens, throwing handfuls of Kompeitō (a hard Japanese candy) from a bucket onto the ground for them to pick up and eat. The sootballs are not seen eating anything else other than kompeitō in the film.

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