Shirouneri (a ghost of a white dish towel) (白溶裔)
Shirouneri is a Japanese specter and a type of Tsukumo-gami (artifact spirit) described in "Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro" (One hundred bags in idleness), a collection of specters illustrations, by Sekien TORIYAMA, and it is written 白溶裔, 白容裔 or 白うねり.
It is drawn as a waterfall like figure made with a rag, and according to its explanation, it is a transformed old dish towel. It is a specter of Sekien's creation, and he parodied the name from a character's name, 'Shiroururi', in "Tsurezure gusa" (Essays in Idleness) by Kenko YOSHIDA.
The books about specters published in recent years often contains an explanation that old cleaning rag or dish towel transforms into this specter and attacks humans with unpleasant mucus and emitting an offensive odor, making people faint. However the description originated from tale of monster of old cleaning rag called 'Revenge of old cleaning rag', told in "Tohoku Kaidan no Tabi" (Trip to the scary stories in Tohoku Region) by Norio YAMADA, a novelist. The book describes that a maidservant killed feudal retainer of domain in Iwate Prefecture and when the maidservant tried to flee, old cleaning rag in the house leaped at the maidservant's face, suffocated her to death.