Жәпон инугамисы: Ит рухымен құбылу дәстүрі

Japanese spiritual possession by the spirit of a dog

Inugami ([[Wiktionary:犬神), like kitsunetsuki, is a spiritual possession by the spirit of a dog, widely known about in western Japan. They seemed firmly rooted until recent years in eastern Ōita Prefecture, Shimane Prefecture, and a part of Kōchi Prefecture in northern Shikoku, and it is also theorized that Shikoku, where no foxes (kitsune) could be found, is the main base of the inugami. Furthermore, traces of belief in inugami exists in the Yamaguchi Prefecture, all of Kyushu, even going past the Satsunan Islands all the way to the Okinawa Prefecture. In the Miyazaki Prefecture, the Kuma District, Kumamoto Prefecture, and Yakushima, the local dialect pronounces it "ingami" and in Tanegashima, they are called "irigami."

The phenomenon of inugami spiritual possession was a kojutsu (also called "kodō" or "kodoku", a greatly feared ritual for employing the spirits of certain animals) that was already banned in the Heian period that was thought to have spread throughout the population, and it was known to involve cutting off the head of a starving dog and burying the dog at a crossroads to inflame its grudges as people pass over its head so that its spirit would turn into a curse that could be used. Another method was to bury the dog alive leaving only its head sticking out or attach the dog to a supporting pole, put some food in front of the dog, cut the dog's neck just when it is about to starve so that the head would fly towards and bite at the food, burn the dog into mere bones, put the remains into a vessel, and deify it. By doing so, it will spiritually possess that person forever, granting their wishes. Another method was to set several dogs to fight against each other, give the one dog remaining alive some fish, cut off that dog's head, and eat the remaining fish. In Yamaga, Hayami District, Ōita Prefecture (now Kitsuki), there were actual cases where a miko did cut off a dog's heads this way, dried the maggots that gathered at the heads, and sold them calling it inugami, and there were also people who were thankful for these and bought them. However, in descriptions of an inugami's appearance, it is said that they have a somewhat large patch of color around the size of a mouse, and they have split ends on their tail, and as they were a species of talpidae, their eyes cannot be seen, and moved in single file one after another. Thus, they would seem to be more like kuda gitsune or osaki rather than dogs, so it does not appear as if they were purely following the legends of kodō curses (such as the "dog curse" found in the In Search of the Supernatural). In fact, it would seem more as if the main focus of these descriptions were imitations of the belief in fox spirits. They also seem similar in appearance to house mouse, and their mouths are said be torn vertically with a pointy end, and in the Ōita Prefecture, they are said to resemble a dsinezumi shrew, and in Toyooka town, Hayami District, Ōita, they are said to be a weasel with black and white spots. On the island of Aishima in the aforementioned Yamaguchi Prefecture, they are called "inugami nezumi" (inugami mice), and like the long nosed house mouse, they are said to form groups of 75 mice in a single house. On the mountain of Iyayama, Miyoshi District, Tokushima Prefecture, the inugami type are called "suikazura," and they are said to be a bit larger than mice and warm themselves by the fireside. In a book titled "Chiriyahokori" by the kokugaku Oka Kumaomi, it is stated that they have a body length of 1 shaku and 1 sun and looked like bats. There are several theories about how inugami came to be, including the tale that the body of the nue slain by Minamoto no Yorimasa split into 4 parts and scattered and flew to different lands to become inugami, as well as the tale that it was born from Kōbō Daishi's painting of a dog that was made for the sake of warding off boars. There is also the legend that when Gennō Shinshō attempted to calm the curse of a sessho seki by splitting the stone, the fragments that flew off to Kōzuke Province (now Gunma Prefecture) turned into osaki and the fragments that flew to Shikoku became inugami. Hololive Production features an idol whose name is Inugami Korone, whose name references Inugami. Gantz manga and OVA Gantz take place in Osaka Japan where there seems to be a 100 demon night parade attacking the city. A Inugami is the lowest of the top 3 leaders of the group which also include a Tengu as well as Nurihayon as the boss or leader. In Inukami!, main protagonist Keita Kawahira's clan partners with Inugami to vanquish evil fiends. Keita is saddled with the troublesome Yoko. Tee K. O. from The Jackbox Party Pack 3 features an Inugami as a player icon.

Takeshi Abe, Adam Beltz: The Negima Reader: Secrets Behind the Magic. DH Publishing Inc, 2007, , page 49–51. Stephen H. Sumida: And the View from the Shore: Literary Traditions of Hawaiʻi. University of Washington Press, 1991, , page 228. Moku Jōya: Mock Jōya's Things Japanese. Japan Times, Tokyo 1985, page 408–412. Herbert E. Plutschow: A reader in Edo period travel. Global oriental, 2006, , page 16–19. Michaela Haustein: Mythologien der Welt: Japan, Ainu, Korea epubli, Berlin 2011, , page 19. Keiko I. McDonald: Reading a Japanese Film: Cinema in Context. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu 2006, , page 11.